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Choppy video playback in sites other than youtube. [Firefox 79.0 (64bit)] [mozilla flatpack 1.0] [elementary OS]

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I recently transitioned from Windows 10 to elementary OS. Video playback in sites other than youtube (facebook, messenger, news) are very choppy, audio is okay though.

tried playing around with and disabling "use recommended performance settings", no changes.

please help.

I recently transitioned from Windows 10 to elementary OS. Video playback in sites other than youtube (facebook, messenger, news) are very choppy, audio is okay though. tried playing around with and disabling "use recommended performance settings", no changes. please help.

All Replies (5)

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Do you have FFmpeg and perhaps libavcodec packages installed?

Patent and copyright restrictions are among reasons why many Linux distros do not come with packages such as FFmpeg in a new install as it provides codecs needed to fully support HTML5 players that sites use now days instead of using the Flash Player Plugin. Adobe is completely ending all support of their Flash at end of 2020.

Modified by James

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James said

Do you have FFmpeg and perhaps libavcodec packages installed? Patent and copyright restrictions are among reasons why many Linux distros do not come with packages such as FFmpeg in a new install as it provides codecs needed to fully support HTML5 players that sites use now days instead of using the Flash Player Plugin. Adobe is completely ending all support of their Flash at end of 2020.

How do I do that exactly?

Seems like I do have some version of FFMPEG but videos on facebook remain choppy.


$ ffmpeg -version

ffmpeg version 3.4.8-0ubuntu0.2 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers built with gcc 7 (Ubuntu 7.5.0-3ubuntu1~18.04) configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.2 --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librubberband --enable-librsvg --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencv --enable-libx264 --enable-shared libavutil 55. 78.100 / 55. 78.100 libavcodec 57.107.100 / 57.107.100 libavformat 57. 83.100 / 57. 83.100 libavdevice 57. 10.100 / 57. 10.100 libavfilter 6.107.100 / 6.107.100 libavresample 3. 7. 0 / 3. 7. 0 libswscale 4. 8.100 / 4. 8.100 libswresample 2. 9.100 / 2. 9.100 libpostproc 54. 7.100 / 54. 7.100

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[delete duplicate]

Modified by FirefoxFanWhisky

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initial reference PPA was no longer updated. https://ostechnix.com/install-ffmpeg-linux/ installed a new one from here: https://launchpad.net/~jonathonf/+archive/ubuntu/ffmpeg-4

still same issues. no change

$ ffmpeg -version

ffmpeg version 4.3-2~18.04.york0 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers built with gcc 7 (Ubuntu 7.5.0-3ubuntu1~18.04) configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version='2~18.04.york0' --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --arch=amd64 --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --disable-filter=resample --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libcodec2 --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libjack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librabbitmq --enable-librsvg --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-pocketsphinx --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-shared libavutil 56. 51.100 / 56. 51.100 libavcodec 58. 91.100 / 58. 91.100 libavformat 58. 45.100 / 58. 45.100 libavdevice 58. 10.100 / 58. 10.100 libavfilter 7. 85.100 / 7. 85.100 libavresample 4. 0. 0 / 4. 0. 0 libswscale 5. 7.100 / 5. 7.100 libswresample 3. 7.100 / 3. 7.100 libpostproc 55. 7.100 / 55. 7.100

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okay more updates,

I did a "about:config" in firefox and set: layers.acceleration.force-enabled = true

videos in facebook are now slightly less choppy, but still not a watchable experience < 30 fps.

Modified by FirefoxFanWhisky