Chromium web browser not showing mp4 videos

Bug #991758 reported by Laura Czajkowski
44
This bug affects 9 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
chromium-browser (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Wishlist
Unassigned

Bug Description

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PROBLEM ::
::::::::::::::::::::::
embedded playback of mp4 videos works in Firefox, fails in Chromium

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
REPRODUCE ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
examples are the videos in coursera.org If you are signed up for ml class,
start chromium-browser with url
https://class.coursera.org/ml/lecture/view?lecture_id=1
If chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra is not installed, which it isn't by default, you get a black screen for the video.
Reproduced on Ubuntu12.04 and 11.10
    chromium-browser --version
Chromium 18.0.1025.151 Ubuntu 12.04

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SOLUTION ::
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Ubuntu software center should suggest the addon plugin equivalent to:
sudo apt-get install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

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DETAILS ::
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To tell if the library is installed:
dpkg-query -l chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

The needed library is installed as:
/usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpegsumo.so

I found this out with the command
dpkg-query -L chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

affects: launchpad → ubuntu
Revision history for this message
Micah Gersten (micahg) wrote :

chromium-browser already has an alternate dependency: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg (>= 0.6) | chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra (>= 0.6)
We can add an Enhances for the plugins on chromium-browser which should make it show up in USC

affects: ubuntu → chromium-browser (Ubuntu)
Changed in chromium-browser (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Anita (a-lewis) wrote :

I found a fix for this from Coursera: Install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

Revision history for this message
David Biesack (david-biesack-sas) wrote :

I'm running chromium-browser Version 41.0.2272.76 Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit) and installed the chromium-codecs-ffmpeg and chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra but I still can't play mp4/H.264 videos in the browser. I get a black window with a play button, an empty progress bar, "0:00" and a disabled audio button, but no video frame or playback.

The same video plays in Firefox.

VLC reports Stream 0 is Video, H264 - MPEG AVC (part 10) (avc1), decoded format Planar 4:2:0 YUV; Stream 1 is audio MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a1)

I believe I've installed these correctly:

    $ dpkg-query -l chromium-browser
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
    +++-========================-=================-=================-=====================================================
    ii chromium-browser 41.0.2272.76-0ubu amd64 Chromium web browser, open-source version of Chrome

    $ dpkg-query -l chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
    +++-========================-=================-=================-=====================================================
    ii chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-e 41.0.2272.76-0ubu amd64 Extra ffmpeg codecs for the Chromium Browser

    $ dpkg-query -l chromium-codecs-ffmpeg
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name Version Architecture Description
    +++-========================-=================-=================-=====================================================
    ii chromium-codecs-ffmpeg 41.0.2272.76-0ubu amd64 Free ffmpeg codecs for the Chromium Browser

Revision history for this message
David Biesack (david-biesack-sas) wrote :

It turns out that chrome fails to play the videos when they are served from a SharePoint server (on our intranet). If I download the videos, I can Ctrl-O Open them in Chrome and view them. Same if I move them to a web server instead of a document folder in SharePoint. (Note that Firefox can view the files in the SharePoint folder)

Developer Tools in chrome shows the attached source.

Revision history for this message
Chad Miller (cmiller) wrote :

Please open a terminal and run, with a URL of a video that does not play in its place,

$ wget -O /dev/null --server-response URLHERE

Paste the result. exit the terminal.

Changed in chromium-browser (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
David Biesack (david-biesack-sas) wrote :

attached is the wget log.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

[Expired for chromium-browser (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in chromium-browser (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
Revision history for this message
Chad Miller (cmiller) wrote :

Hrm, a proxy and two HTTP 401s and then a 200-success. That's interesting.

Let's try seeing what the browser does for that sequence. Open the network trace. Ctrl-Shift-I . "Network" tab. Go to the containing page, and then try to play a video. I'm interested in the requests that come out after that.

Changed in chromium-browser (Ubuntu):
status: Expired → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
David Biesack (david-biesack-sas) wrote :

Attached is a screenshot of the Network view.
The video is 68MB, so the content size is correct.
Hope it helps.

Revision history for this message
Chad Miller (cmiller) wrote :

That's damned interesting. I don't know what it means yet.

Changed in chromium-browser (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Triaged
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