Vlc not playing .mkv?

Ask Fedora
1

Here is how i solve this problem.

  1. I tried this solution and it did not work for me but it gave me an idea to ask chatgpt.
  2. from chatgpt response together with the above solution, i solved the problem on my fedora 40 laptop with 4 steps:

step 1: sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm sudo dnf install vlc

step 2: sudo dnf install gstreamer1-libav gstreamer1-plugins-ugly

step 3: sudo dnf autoremove

step 4: sudo dnf group upgrade --with-optional Multimedia --allowerasing

I hope that helps someone like me who does not want to install the flathub version of vlc. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
2

Hi @675mrdee and welcome, is there a specific reason why you didn’t want to install the flathub version?

Regarding the MKV playback, it’s perhaps good to note that MKV isn’t a video format but rather a container. Inside the container are the actual media files which can consist of a variety of different codecs. So it may depend on the contents of the MKV which plugins are needed in order to get a working playback.

3

Reasons are mostly immaterial. The rpm version works well without the overhead of a flatpak and the necessary runtime packages. Users are free to choose without needing to justify their decision.

Your comment about the mkv container and required codecs is spot on. The codec issue is mainly what is managed by doing the group upgrade of the Multimedia group.

Just as an aside comment.
I use totem (videos), mpv and vlc among other multimedia tools and do not have any flatpaks installed to support multimedia. I am able to play all forms of multimedia I have encountered to date.

4

I was just curious, i’m allowed to ask aren’t i? That remark about ‘not needing to justify’ feels a little unnecessary to be honest.

1 Like
5

Of course you are allowed to ask. I interpreted that as a suggestion which seemed to imply he should use the flatpak when he had already stated

This is off topic, since he merely showed us how he solved the problem and was adverse to using the flatpak.

I apologize for upsetting you with that comment.

@675mrdee
Please mark your original post as the solution since this appears to be an information only topic.