15.10 Beta 2 fails HTML5 audio test for MP3

[fethiye]

(1) http://hpr.dogphilosophy.net/test/
(2) https://html5test.com/

Unlike Xubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OS Core and other distros, Ubuntu-Mate 15.10 Beta 2 fails the basic Firefox HTML5 audio test for MP3 and M4A audio files. This means that it will not play MP3 files directly in the browser without the assistance of security-vulnerable Adobe Flash players.

Single file example:

https://ia801406.us.archive.org/19/items/IsaacAsimov-TheFoundationTrilogy/IsaacAsimov-Foundation1Of8.mp3

HTML5-only web site example:

http://www.gooplusplus.com/jukebox

A fix is simple: just add the 350KB gstreamer1.0-plugins-libav

[fethiye (x-yxax)]

All major Windows and Android browser except Opera pass the HTML5 audio MP3 test. All Linux distros using Chrome or Chromium also passed this test.

[gravy45 (gravy45)]

Unfortunately as far as implementation it isn't that simple due to Ubuntu's policies on restricted formats.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

The reason chromium (and chrome) is working may be due to chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extras being installed, or some similar package to enable playback of the restricted format mp3.

Generally users are told to install Ubuntu Restricted Extras to play mp3 files. You narrowed it down to the one you need instead of getting all the other formats.

[fethiye (x-yxax)]

Thanks for the reply, however, ...

... given the restriction you mention, why would Xubuntu (and Mint / Zorin) Firefox play HTML5 MP3 files just fine?

[fethiye (x-yxax)]

A few gstreamer items from Distrowatch pkglists for Xubuntu, Linux Mint and Zorin OS Core

Xubuntu 15.04

  • gstreamer1.0-libav:amd64^1.4.5-1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-base:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-good:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2

  • gstreamer0.10-nice:amd64^0.1.7-1
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:amd64^0.10.36-2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps^0.10.36-2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:amd64^0.10.31-3+nmu1ubuntu6

Linux Mint 17.2

  • gstreamer1.0-libav:amd64^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-nice:amd64^0.1.4-1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad:amd64^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-faad:amd64^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-videoparsers:amd64^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-base:amd64^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-good:amd64^1.2.4-1~ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly:amd64^1.2.3-2build1

  • gstreamer0.10-nice:amd64^0.1.4-1
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad:amd64^0.10.23-7.2ubuntu1.1
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse^0.10.21-1ubuntu3
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:amd64^0.10.36-1.1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps^0.10.36-1.1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:i386^0.10.36-1.1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:amd64^0.10.31-3+nmu1ubuntu5
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:i386^0.10.31-3+nmu1ubuntu5
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly:amd64^0.10.19-2ubuntu5

Zorin OS 10 Core

  • gstreamer1.0-libav:amd64^1.4.5-1
  • gstreamer1.0-nice:amd64^0.1.7-1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-faad:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-videoparsers:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-base:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps^1.4.5-1ubuntu1
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-good:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2
  • gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly-amr:amd64^1.4.5-1ubuntu2

  • gstreamer0.10-nice:amd64^0.1.7-1
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad:amd64^0.10.23-7.4ubuntu2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse^0.10.21-1ubuntu3
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:amd64^0.10.36-2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps^0.10.36-2
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:amd64^0.10.31-3+nmu1ubuntu6
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly:amd64^0.10.19-2.1ubuntu1

[gravy45 (gravy45)]

Mint and Zorin are different distros with different objectives. It seems one of those objectives is more multimedia support out of the box so I am not surprised there.

The Xubuntu documentation reads like mp3 support isn't installed by default, so maybe they have included some other package that installs the package you mention, hard to say. Since that package is in the universe repository, it isn't officially supported by Ubuntu.

As far as I know, Mozilla doesn't provide true native support for Linux, that it is still OS dependent.

[Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg)]

I am seeking clarification as to whether Ubuntu MATE can/should ship gstreamer1.0-libav by default. That said, Ubuntu MATE Welcome, now default in Ubuntu MATE 15.10 does have a one click installer for codecs which provides the required packages :-)

[Martin Wimpress (flexiondotorg)]

I have the clarification I need from a discussion in #ubuntu-devel.

gstreamer1.0-libav can't not be distributed by default due to the legal issues this causes in some countries. These are nicely explained below.

  * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libavcodec#Legal_aspects

Therefore, Ubuntu MATE will not ship gstreamer1.0-libav by default and I will close this ticket. For example, Ubuntu MATE has been the cover DVD for German magazine Linux Welt twice already and is due to feature again next month. They've already pressed 100,000 DVDs (with another 50,000 due next month) which if gstreamer1.0-libav was present would be illegal distribution.

However, as I said earlier, the codecs are easily installed via Ubuntu MATE Welcome. I'll also update the Firefox entry in Ubuntu MATE Welcome for 16.04 so that if a re-install of Firefox is requested it will also install gstreamer1.0-libav. That's the best I can do :-)