Firefox 50 - libavcodec older than 54.35.1 [SOLVED]

[jimallyn]

I assume you are using Firefox? In the address bar, type about:config and press enter. Then in the search box, enter libav and by the time you get that much entered, media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete should appear below. Double click where it says False, and it will turn to true. I'm not sure that you have to restart Firefox, but it couldn't hurt.

[chazb]

I am running Qiana 17 LTS, and it hasn't been updated yet. The libavcodec is a sub-program of ffmpeg, and those developers at ffmpeg.org released a new program in October. So I just now downloaded an Ubuntu file from ffmpeg. So now I guess need to figure out how to get it out of downloads and into Software Manager or Synaptic. I extracted the file but I 'll be damned if I know where I extracted to.
The file I downloaded is; ffmpeg_2.8.6.orig.tar.xz

[jimallyn]

You mention that you haven't updated yet. Does that mean you haven't installed the updates that are available in Update Manager? If so, I would probably do that first.

If I wanted to upgrade ffmept, I think I would install from the PPA rather than a tar.gz. Instructions here:

https://launchpad.net/~mc3man/+archive/ ... usty-media

I noticed that they include the apt-get dist-upgrade command in the instructions. Mint recommends that you NOT use dist-upgrade, so I would just skip that and scroll down to where they give the command to add the repository to your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media
sudo apt-get update

I would follow those commands with:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

A lot of people have been getting the message about libavcodec. You might search the forums and see if anybody has a different solution.

[I2k4]

I assume you are using Firefox? In the address bar, type about:config and press enter. Then in the search box, enter libav and by the time you get that much entered, media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete should appear below. Double click where it says False, and it will turn to true. I'm not sure that you have to restart Firefox, but it couldn't hurt.

This worked on FF 50.0 - Mint 17.3 XFCE. Thanks.

[chazb]

Okay, that solved the problem.

As a newby though, this business begs a question; If ppa's are the are the principle way to down load and install files, what good is the download file? Further is there actually away to get files out of the downloads and into the OS.

[mintymatrix]

Someone sent me a link which some audio clip.
When I view it in my mobile, it plays well but when I try to open it in browser in Mint, it gives the following error :
libavcoder may be vulnerable or is not supported, and should be updated to play video
What can be done to play that audio clip in Mint ?

[WharfRat]

I just did what was suggested here

Basically it entails

type about:config in the address bar, enter
click "I accept the risk" search libavcodec
change media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete;false to true

It might not be the right thing to do as per this

This seems like really bad advice to me. You're basically telling people to explicitly open a security vulnerability on their system rather than fix it.

but it works

[mintymatrix]

I just did what was suggested here

Basically it entails

type about:config in the address bar, enter
click "I accept the risk" search libavcodec
change media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete;false to true

It might not be the right thing to do as per this

This seems like really bad advice to me. You're basically telling people to explicitly open a security vulnerability on their system rather than fix it.

but it works

Dont we have an update for that ?

[mintymatrix]

Error stopped but media did not start playing.

[karlchen]

Hi, mintymatrix.

There have been at minimum a dozen recent threads on "Firefox 50" and "libavcodec". So using the forum search functionality and searching for both terms in the Main Edition Forums will return a lot of hits (41 to be precise) where you will also find the answer that Ubuntu currently does not offer a newer libavcodec version in the official software repositories: "Firefox 50" "libavcodec"

So you either live with the warning which Firefox 50 will display when it comes across libavcodec 54.35.0 and older, or you use the (somewhat doubtful) workaround which WharfRat explained. Or you resort to getting libavcode56 or libavcodec57 from a PPA, which is mentioned in some of the threads as well. Actually it is a piece of advice given on Askubuntu. (cf. How to update libavcodec on ubuntu 14.04 <== you know this one, provided you have read WharfRat's post carefully.)

By the way, the libavcodec warning will be triggered if any multi-media content on a webpage would require using libavcodec 54.35.0 or older. This need not necessarily be the main multimedia content which you wish to play. So silencing the warning is not guaranteed to make your video play.

Best regards,
Karl

[mintymatrix]

Hi, mintymatrix.

There have been at minimum a dozen recent threads on "Firefox 50" and "libavcodec". So using the forum search functionality and searching for both terms in the Main Edition Forums will return a lot of hits (41 to be precise) where you will also find the answer that Ubuntu currently does not offer a newer libavcodec version in the official software repositories: "Firefox 50" "libavcodec"

So you either live with the warning which Firefox 50 will display when it comes across libavcodec 54.35.0 and older, or you use the (somewhat doubtful) workaround which WharfRat explained. Or you resort to getting libavcode56 or libavcodec57 from a PPA, which is mentioned in some of the threads as well. Actually it is a piece of advice given on Askubuntu. (cf. How to update libavcodec on ubuntu 14.04 <== you know this one, provided you have read WharfRat's post carefully.)

By the way, the libavcodec warning will be triggered if any multi-media content on a webpage would require using libavcodec 54.35.0 or older. This need not necessarily be the main multimedia content which you wish to play. So silencing the warning is not guaranteed to make your video play.

Best regards,
Karl

Is there any way I could make out why the Audio is not playing ?
So that I could look for solution.
.

[JCSenar]

Here is the problem solved. There are several solutions:

viewtopic.php?f=68&t=234479

One of them: you can download from the Debian repository these four packages and install them with the order sudo dpkg -i *.deb. At the end restart Firefox:

lbavcodec56

libavresample2

libavutil54

libopenjpeg5

[xdicey]

Update Manage brought a Libav update today and that fixed my libavcodec warning issue with FF 50.0.2

[WharfRat]

Update Manage brought a Libav update today and that fixed my libavcodec warning issue with FF 50.0.2

Yep, finally

Now I can undo the media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete hack.

[dermage1]

When I open a browser, I get this message along the top: - "Libavcodec may be vulnerable or is not supported, and should be updated to play video." I've noticed that certain video links on sites like Primewire don't play. I'm wondering if this Libavcodec may be the reason. Does anyone one how to do this update ? I'd appreciate hearing your answers.

[rene]

Just update your system from an up to date mirror; a libavcodec update came through today.

[xdicey]

I guess the OP can mark this as 'Solved' -hoping he/she got the update and is okay now too .

[mintymatrix]

Update Manage brought a Libav update today and that fixed my libavcodec warning issue with FF 50.0.2

Yep, finally

Now I can undo the media.libavcodec.allow-obsolete hack.

There is no error being displayed but the audio clip is not being played on this page :
http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/517xnXcZmfeAo6GWbfyDSw

A friend of mine who studies Chinese language received that link which played fine on his mobile but he wanted to download that audio from that page, which he did not how to do. So he forwarded that link to me and I tried to open it in my computer but it did not play there and gave the Libavcodec error. I am not sure what is written in that page, seems to be a couple of asian languages

The problem is partially solved, the error is not being displayed but the audio is also not being played. How can I play and download that audio ?

[karlchen]

Note:
As has been reported in some of the previous posts above mine (first one here):
Yesterday Ubuntu deployed to their software repositories an updated libavcodec54 package which updates libavcodec54 from 54.35.0 to 54.35.1.
This update applies to Ubuntu 14.04.x and therefore to Linux Mint 17.x.
As a result Firefox 50.0 or newer should no longer complain about libavcodec on Mint 17.x and should no longer display the alert message

Code: Select all

libavcodec may be vulnerable or is not supported, and should be updated to play video

Hence for Mint 17.x the reported problem should be fixed.
To the best of my knowledge no such libavcodec update has been made available for Linux Mint 13 (Ubuntu 12.04)
And I am not even sure that Linux Mint 18 (Ubuntu 16.04) has ever been affected.

So personally I tend to consider this thread solved.

[hanson53]

Problem fixed in the libav update of the 8 December 2016 - videos now work again