mplayer is *the* movie player for Linux. It is the holy grail of multimedia applications, as it can be used for DVDs, Quicktime movies, Windows Media Files, MPEG files, etc., etc., etc. It simply works, and it is the only application that you really need to watch and encode streaming media. mplayer is available in several repositories, but I am going to step through the manual installation, as outlined very nicely by Mauriat Miranda, because it works much more smoothly when configured for your particular hardware. Mauriat's notes are much more complete than those presented here, so if you have a problem, I suggest surfing over to his website.
1. Install Proper Codecs
The first step toward installing mplayer is to first install some additional codecs.
DivX
mplayer used to require the installation of DivX, which is the MPEG-4 codec provided by DivXNetworks, Inc., but mplayer can now properly decode and encode DivX files automatically. Hence, it is no longer necessary to install the codecs manually.
Lame
Lame is an open source MP3 encoder, which can be used to compress audio into MP3 audio when encoding files from MPEG or other sources. Lame is not required to decode MP3 audio, but it is nice to install it nonetheless. Go to:
and click on the can be downloaded from SourceForge link. Click on the latest version of Lame, which at the time of this writing, is Version 3.97. Next, create an appropriate directory to install Lame under /usr/local/src:
~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/lame
Move the source tarball to the
directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/lame-3.971.tar.gz /usr/local/src/mplayer/lame/.
Change into the lame
directory: ~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/lame
and decompress the source: ~>
sudo tar vfzx lame-3.97.tar.gz
Once the package has been
decompressed, delete the source file and change into the lame-3.97
directory: ~>
sudo rm lame-3.97.tar.gz
~> cd lame-3.97
Next, configure Lame:~> cd lame-3.97
~>
sudo ./configure --prefix=/usr
Note: If
you install Lame without --prefix=/usr,
mplayer
may not properly link to the Lame libraries.After Lame is configured, compile it:
~>
sudo make
The process will take a couple
of minutes. When it is done compiling, install it: ~>
sudo make install
The Lame libraries are now
installed on your system.XviD
XviD is an ISO MPEG-4 compliant video codec. Using it, mplayer can encode movie file formats into the XviD format. Go to:
and click on the Xvid 1.1.2 final source code link, which is the latest version of XviD (at the time of this writing). Next, create an appropriate directory to install XviD under /usr/local/src:
~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/xvid
Move the source tarball to the
directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/xvidcore-1.1.2.tar.gz /usr/local/src/mplayer/xvid/.
Change into the xvid
directory: ~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/xvid
and decompress the source: ~>
sudo tar vfzx xvidcore-1.1.2.tar.gz
Once the package has been
decompressed, delete the source file and change into the appropriate xvidcore-1.1.2
directory: ~>
sudo rm xvidcore-1.1.2.tar.gz
~> cd xvidcore-1.1.2/build/generic
Next, configure XviD:~> cd xvidcore-1.1.2/build/generic
~>
sudo ./configure
After XviD is
configured, compile it: ~>
sudo make
The process will take a couple
of minutes. When it is done compiling, install it: ~>
sudo make install
The XviD libraries are now
installed on your system.RealPlayer
RealPlayer is a streaming audio/video/flash/pix/text player with protocols to watch/listen to content on the internet. It is provided by RealNetworks, Inc. You do not need RealPlayer installed to use mplayer to watch RealMedia in mplayer. mplayer will play older and new Real formats and media if you have the codecs properly setup. However, RealPlayer10 will play all newer Real media including 10.0 formats perfectly. If you wish to install RealPlayer, see my RealPlayer page.
LIVE555 Streaming Support
LIVE555 provides additional support for RTP/RTCP/RTSP/SIP multimedia streaming in mplayer. This is useful if you plan to use the mplayerplug-in for Mozilla/Firefox (which we are going to do). Prior to November 2005, LIVE555 was known as LIVE.COM. Go to:
and click on the live555-latest.tar.gz link, which is the latest version of LIVE555 (at the time of this writing). Next, create an appropriate directory to install LIVE555 under /usr/local/src:
~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/live555
Move the source tarball to the
directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/live555-latest.tar.gz /usr/local/src/mplayer/live555/.
Change into the live555
directory: ~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/live555
and decompress the source: ~>
sudo tar vfzx live555-latest.tar.gz
Once the package has been
decompressed, delete the source file and change into the live
directory: ~>
sudo rm live555-latest.tar.gz
~> cd live
Next, generate the appropriate
Linux Makefiles, as the
software distribution does NOT use the normal Unix "configure"
mechanism for generating a Makefile:~> cd live
~>
sudo ./genMakefiles linux
After LIVE555 is
configured, compile it: ~>
sudo make
The process will take a couple
of minutes. When
it is done compiling, copy the entire directory structure over to
/usr/local/lib/live: ~>
cd ..
~> sudo cp -a live /usr/local/lib/live
The LIVE555 libraries are now
installed on your system.~> sudo cp -a live /usr/local/lib/live
2. Install mplayer
Win32 Codecs
There are some additional codecs available on mplayer's website that are used to read formats that do not have an open source decoder. These include Win32 codecs for Windows Media, Quicktime, Real, etc. Go to:
Click on the all-20061022.tar.bz2 link, which is the latest version of the codecs (at the time of this writing). Next, create a directory to install the Win32 codecs under /usr/local/src:
~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/codecs
Move the source tarball to the
directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/all-20061022.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/codecs/.
Change into the codecs
directory: ~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/codecs
and decompress the source: ~>
sudo tar vfjx all-20061022.tar.bz2
Please note the use of the 'j' option
instead of the 'z'
option since we have to use bunzip2
opposed to gunzip
to decompress the tarball. Once the package has been decompressed,
delete the source file. ~>
sudo rm all-20061022.tar.bz2
The codecs need
to be installed into
the /usr/local/lib/codecs
directory, so let's create it: ~>
sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib/codecs
Then copy the
decompressed codecs
over to the appropriate directory: ~>
sudo cp -a all-20061022/* /usr/local/lib/codecs/.
NOTE:
Previously, Win32 codecs were placed in /usr/lib/win32.
Applications like Xine use the win32
directory for the same
purpose. Therefore, we need to create an appropriate symlink: ~>
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/codecs/ /usr/lib/win32
The Win32 codecs
are now installed on your
system.MPlayer Files
Obtain the following files for installation:
1. mplayer Source Code
2. mplayer Skins
Go to:
Click on the US link under HTTP for Mplayer v1.0rc1 source, which is the latest version of mplayer (at the time of this writing).
Scroll down further, and you will come to the mplayer skin section. The skins are required if you want to have a GUI for mplayer. You will need at least one skin. I typically download the Blue, BlueHeart, proton, and PowerPlayer skins, with the PowerPlayer being my preferred choice. At the time of this writing, the latest versions are Blue-1.6.tar.bz2, BlueHeart-1.5.tar.bz2, proton-1.2.tar.bz2, and PowerPlayer-1.1.tar.bz2.
Next, create an appropriate directory to install mplayer under /usr/local/src:
~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/mplayer
Move the source tarball to the
directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/MPlayer-1.0rc1.tar.bz2
/usr/local/src/mplayer/mplayer/.
Change into the mplayer
directory: ~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/mplayer
and decompress the source
(again using the 'j'
option): ~>
sudo tar vfjx MPlayer-1.0rc1.tar.bz2
Once the package has been
decompressed, delete the source file and change into the MPlayer-1.0rc1
directory: ~>
sudo rm MPlayer-1.0rc1.tar.bz2
~> cd MPlayer-1.0rc1.tar.bz2
Configuring mplayer
requires a bit more thought than just using the ./configure
script. To see all of mplayer's
configuration options, run:~> cd MPlayer-1.0rc1.tar.bz2
~>
./configure --help
I strongly
suggest including the GUI, to
allow access to
large files over 2 GB, which is useful to rip DVD's or record Digital
Video (without
pirating, of
course), and to allow for menus in the On Screen Display (OSD).
With this in mind, in addition to the location of X11R7, and the
default install directory, ~>
sudo ./configure --enable-gui --enable-largefiles --enable-menu
--prefix=/usr --confdir=/etc/mplayer
Older versions of
the mplayer
GUI
used GTK 1.2. With version 1.0pre8 and newer, the preferred GUI uses
GTK 2. The GUI requires both gtk2
and glib2
to be installed, as well as their devel libraries. Make sure that you
have the following RPMS (or newer): gtk2-2.8, gtk2-devel-2.8,
glib2-2.10,
glib2-devel-02.10.
You can download these, if necessary, using yum (use "rpm -q gtk2 gtk2-devel
glib2 glib2-devel" to check if they are installed on your
system).Once the configure script has been run, check to make sure that it has successfully configured. If you scroll up a bit, you should see something similar to the following:
Config
files successfully generated by ./configure !
Install prefix: /usr
Data directory: /usr/share/mplayer
Config direct.: /etc/mplayer
Byte order: little-endian
Optimizing for: prescott mmx mmxext sse sse2 mtrr
Languages:
Messages/GUI: en
Manual pages: en
Enabled optional drivers:
Input: ftp network tv-v4l2 tv-v4l tv live555 mpdvdkit2 vcd dvb smb
Codecs: qtx xvid libavcodec real xanim win32 faad2 libmpeg2 liba52 mp3lib tr emor(internal)
Audio output: alsa esd arts oss sdl mpegpes(dvb)
Video output: xvidix cvidix md5sum sdl pnm jpeg png mpegpes(dvb) opengl dga xv x11 xover tga
Audio filters:
Disabled optional drivers:
Input: vstream pvr radio cdda dvdread dvdnav
Codecs: x264 libdv amr_wb amr_nb faac musepack libdts libtheora speex twolam e toolame libmad liblzo gif
Audio output: sun openal jack polyp ivtv dxr2 nas
Video output: winvidix bl zr zr2 ivtv dxr3 dxr2 vesa gif89a fbdev svga caca aa ggi xmga mga xvmc dfbmga directfb tdfx_vid s3fb tdfxfb 3dfx
Audio filters: ladspa
Notice the
inclusion of live555,
win32,
etc. If you wish to verify that the libraries and codecs were
properly detected, scroll up further, and look for the appropriate
lines. For example, if the Lame libraries were detected, you
should see:Install prefix: /usr
Data directory: /usr/share/mplayer
Config direct.: /etc/mplayer
Byte order: little-endian
Optimizing for: prescott mmx mmxext sse sse2 mtrr
Languages:
Messages/GUI: en
Manual pages: en
Enabled optional drivers:
Input: ftp network tv-v4l2 tv-v4l tv live555 mpdvdkit2 vcd dvb smb
Codecs: qtx xvid libavcodec real xanim win32 faad2 libmpeg2 liba52 mp3lib tr emor(internal)
Audio output: alsa esd arts oss sdl mpegpes(dvb)
Video output: xvidix cvidix md5sum sdl pnm jpeg png mpegpes(dvb) opengl dga xv x11 xover tga
Audio filters:
Disabled optional drivers:
Input: vstream pvr radio cdda dvdread dvdnav
Codecs: x264 libdv amr_wb amr_nb faac musepack libdts libtheora speex twolam e toolame libmad liblzo gif
Audio output: sun openal jack polyp ivtv dxr2 nas
Video output: winvidix bl zr zr2 ivtv dxr3 dxr2 vesa gif89a fbdev svga caca aa ggi xmga mga xvmc dfbmga directfb tdfx_vid s3fb tdfxfb 3dfx
Audio filters: ladspa
Checking
for libmp3lame (for mencoder) ... yes
If you need to
add additional codecs, or
modify the configuration settings, you must re-run
the configure script.At this point, Mauriat Miranda makes some good points about the configure output, so I would like to quote him here:
The following explains some of the configure output.
- Input
These are input sources or devices. Most are self explanatory and should be standard. Example: cdda, mpdvdkit2, and vcd are for playing CD's, DVD's and VCD's. - Codecs
These are input and output codecs for media. Using this guide you must at least see: qtx, xvid, real, live.com, and win32. Some are internally built into MPlayer others are standard in Linux. - Audio output - VERY IMPORTANT
These are your output audio drivers. you must at least have one of the following: alsa, esd, arts, or oss. Without one of these you CANNOT hear audio.- ESounD: esd - (used in Gnome) requires: esound, esound-devel, audiofile and audiofile-devel RPM's.
- aRts - (used in KDE) requires: arts and arts-devel RPM's (as well as any other KDE components).
- ALSA - FC2 and newer include ALSA. If you installed ALSA by RPM, then alsa-lib and alsa-lib-devel RPM's are required. FC1 and older did not include ALSA.
- Video
output - VERY IMPORTANT
These are you output video drivers. They include output to BOTH the screen/x-server and to file (png, jpeg). You should have xv and x11 to output to the x-server (i.e., if you use Graphics in Linux). You will need the XFree86-libs and XFree86-devel RPM's. For FC2 - FC4 the 2 RPM's are named: xorg-x11-libs and xorg-x11-devel. For FC5, have the X Software Development packages installed: yum groupinstall "X Software Development".
After you have carefully configured mplayer, compile it:
~>
sudo make
Depending on your processor
speed, this process may take quite some time. When it is done
compiling, install it: ~>
sudo make install
MPlayer
OSD/Fonts & SkinsAfter mplayer is finished installing the appropriate files, the last few lines of the output will indicate where we should install the fonts and skins:
***
Download font at http://www.mplayerhq.hu/dload.html
*** for OSD/Subtitles support and extract to /usr/share/mplayer/font/
*** Download skin(s) at http://www.mplayerhq.hu/dload.html
*** for GUI, and extract to /usr/share/mplayer/skins/
The On Screen
Display (OSD) and Subtitles
need to have
fonts properly installed. To do this, setup a symlink from one of
your msttcorefonts
fonts, assuming you have installed them (if not, see the MSFonts page):*** for OSD/Subtitles support and extract to /usr/share/mplayer/font/
*** Download skin(s) at http://www.mplayerhq.hu/dload.html
*** for GUI, and extract to /usr/share/mplayer/skins/
~>
sudo ln -s /usr/share/fonts/msttcorefonts/arial.ttf
~/.mplayer/subfont.tff
To install the skins, create an appropriate directory under /usr/local/src: ~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins
Move the source tarballs that
you downloaded earlier into the directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/Blue-1.6.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo mv ~/Desktop/BlueHeart-1.5.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo mv ~/Desktop/PowerPlayer-1.1.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo mv ~/Desktop/proton-1.2.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
Change into the skins
directory:~> sudo mv ~/Desktop/BlueHeart-1.5.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo mv ~/Desktop/PowerPlayer-1.1.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo mv ~/Desktop/proton-1.2.tar.bz2 /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins/.
~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/skins
and decompress the source
files (again using the 'j'
option): ~>
sudo tar vfjx Blue-1.6.tar.bz2
~> sudo tar vfjx BlueHeart01.5.tar.bz2
~> sudo tar vfjx PowerPlayer-1.1.tar.bz2
~> sudo tar vfjx proton-1.2.tar.bz2
Once the package has been
decompressed, delete the source files:~> sudo tar vfjx BlueHeart01.5.tar.bz2
~> sudo tar vfjx PowerPlayer-1.1.tar.bz2
~> sudo tar vfjx proton-1.2.tar.bz2
~>
sudo rm *.bz2
Next, copy the
directories over to /usr/share/mplayer/skins: ~>
sudo cp -a Blue /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo cp -a BlueHeart /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo cp -a PowerPlayer /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo cp -a proton /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
Change your
directory over to /usr/share/mplayer/skins:~> sudo cp -a BlueHeart /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo cp -a PowerPlayer /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
~> sudo cp -a proton /usr/share/mplayer/skins/.
~>
cd /usr/share/mplayer/skins
And finally,
choose one of the skins to be
your default. This can be done by creating a softlink from the
directories to "default": ~>
sudo ln -s PowerPlayer default
With that, mplayer is
finally ready for use. To launch the graphical version, type
the following in a terminal window: ~>
gmplayer
3.
Install mplayerplug-inmplayerplug-in is a wonderful little plugin that allows mplayer to play your digital media directly from websites on your web browser without reading the source html by getting the url directly. Media is played embedded within the webpage, or in a separate window, depending on how the author of the page intended for the media to be seen. To use it, go to the appropriate sourceforge page:
Click on Download, and choose the source code (at the time of this writing, the version number is mplayerplug-in-3.31.tar.gz.) The source code should be chosen over the rpm file since yum will recognize the plugin and will try to download mplayer from the repositories. Next, create an appropriate directory to install mplayerplug-in under /usr/local/src:
~>
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/src/mplayer/mplayerplug-in
Move the source tarball to the
directory: ~>
sudo mv ~/Desktop/mplayerplug-in-3.31.tar.gz
/usr/local/src/mplayer/mplayerplug-in-3.31.tar.gz/.
Change into the mplayerplug-in
directory: ~>
cd /usr/local/src/mplayer/mplayerplug-in
and decompress the source: ~>
sudo tar vfzx mplayerplug-in
Once the package has been
decompressed, delete the source file, rename the directory, and change
into the appropriate mplayerplug-in-3.31
directory: ~>
sudo rm mplayerplug-in-3.31.tar.gz
~> sudo mv mplayerplug-in mplayerplug-in-3.31
~> cd mplayerplug-in-3.31
Next, configure mplayerplug-in:~> sudo mv mplayerplug-in mplayerplug-in-3.31
~> cd mplayerplug-in-3.31
~>
sudo ./configure
After mplayerplug-in
is configured, compile it: ~>
sudo make
The process will take a couple
of minutes. When it is done compiling, install it: ~>
sudo make install
mplayerplug-in
is now installed on your system.4. Install mplayerplug-in.xpi
As a final step, go back to the sourceforge page for mplayer:
Now click on the link for the .xpi file (mplayerplug-in-0.3.xpi), which is an extension for Firefox that converts OBJECT tags to EMBED tags for sites that only support Internet Explorer. Once downloaded, open a new tab in Firefox, and open the mplayerplug-in-0.3.xpi file. Install it, and restart Firefox.
That's it. If you want to try it out, surf over to Apple's site, and take a look at their movie trailers (http://www.apple.com/trailers/). Click on a trailer, and you should be able to watch it embedded directly within the web page! The more you use it, the more you will realize just how powerful mplayer really is.