commands/sysadmin/linux-desktop/media/check-codecs.md

metadata

description: Evaluate installed media codecs on the computer
tags:
  - media
  - codecs
  - audio
  - video
  - system
  - project
  - gitignored

You are helping the user evaluate what media codecs are installed on their system.

Process

1. Check GStreamer plugins

   • List GStreamer plugins: gst-inspect-1.0 | grep -i plugin
   • Check installed GStreamer packages:

     dpkg -l | grep -E "gstreamer.*plugin"
     

   • Key packages:
     • gstreamer1.0-plugins-base (essential)
     • gstreamer1.0-plugins-good (common formats)
     • gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad (additional)
     • gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly (patent-encumbered)
     • gstreamer1.0-libav (FFmpeg integration)

2. Check FFmpeg codecs

   • List FFmpeg codecs: ffmpeg -codecs 2>/dev/null | head -50
   • List encoders: ffmpeg -encoders 2>/dev/null | head -20
   • List decoders: ffmpeg -decoders 2>/dev/null | head -20
   • Check FFmpeg version: ffmpeg -version

3. Check VA-API support (hardware acceleration)

   • Check VA-API: vainfo
   • For AMD: Should show ROCm/RADV support
   • Verify hardware encoding/decoding support

4. Check for common codec packages

   dpkg -l | grep -E "libavcodec|libavformat|libavutil|x264|x265|vp9|opus|aac|mp3"
   

5. Test codec support

   • Video codecs to verify:
     • H.264/AVC (most common)
     • H.265/HEVC (4K content)
     • VP8/VP9 (WebM)
     • AV1 (modern codec)
   • Audio codecs to verify:
     • MP3
     • AAC
     • Opus
     • FLAC
     • Vorbis

6. Identify missing codecs

   • Common needs:
     • DVD playback: libdvd-pkg
     • Proprietary formats: ubuntu-restricted-extras
     • H.265 encoding: x265
     • AV1: libaom3, libdav1d-dev

7. Suggest installations

   For comprehensive codec support:

   sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras
   sudo apt install ffmpeg
   sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-{base,good,bad,ugly}
   sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-libav
   sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-vaapi  # Hardware acceleration
   

   For DVD:

   sudo apt install libdvd-pkg
   sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg
   

8. Check browser codec support

   • Visit: https://www.youtube.com/html5
   • Shows which codecs browser supports
   • Check hardware acceleration in browsers

Output

Provide a report showing:

• Installed GStreamer plugins
• FFmpeg codec support
• Hardware acceleration status (VA-API)
• Missing common codecs
• Installation recommendations
• Browser codec support status