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With Ubuntu Linux 6.06, it is much clear how to install those codecs in order to get broad multimedia file support.

In Ubuntu, the multimedia infrastructure is handled by GStreamer; you install GStreamer plugins and any application that uses GStreamer can immediately benefit from the new codec support.

A typical installation of Ubuntu will bring in the free and open-source codecs by default. This includes the base gstreamer plugins package, gstreamer0.10-plugins-base that covers

1. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstadder.so
2. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstaudioconvert.so
3. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstaudiorate.so
4. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstaudioresample.so
5. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstaudiotestsrc.so
6. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstcdparanoia.so
7. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdecodebin.so
8. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstffmpegcolorspace.so
9. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstogg.so
10. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstplaybin.so
11. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstsubparse.so
12. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsttcp.so
13. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsttheora.so
14. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsttypefindfunctions.so
15. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideo4linux.so
16. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideorate.so
17. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideoscale.so
18. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideotestsrc.so
19. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvolume.so
20. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvorbis.so

With a properly encoded multimedia file, you can play music or video with subtitles. Such good codecs are Ogg, Vorbis and Theora. You can also rip CDs; cdparanoia is also there.
By default you also get the good package, gstreamer0.10-plugins-good
It contains

1. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgst1394.so
2. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstaasink.so
3. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstalaw.so
4. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstalpha.so
5. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstapetag.so
6. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstavi.so
7. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstautodetect.so
8. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstcacasink.so
9. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstcdio.so
10. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsteffectv.so
11. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstgoom.so
12. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstid3demux.so
13. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstlevel.so
14. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstefence.so
15. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmulaw.so
16. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstossaudio.so
17. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstrtp.so
18. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstrtsp.so
19. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstsmpte.so
20. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsttaglib.so
21. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstudp.so
22. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideobox.so
23. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideoflip.so
24. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstwavenc.so
25. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstwavparse.so
26. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstauparse.so
27. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdebug.so
28. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstnavigationtest.so
29. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstalphacolor.so
30. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstcairo.so
31. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstflxdec.so
32. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmatroska.so
33. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideomixer.so
34. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstcutter.so
35. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmultipart.so
36. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstflac.so
37. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstjpeg.so
38. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstpng.so
39. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstspeex.so
40. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstgconfelements.so
41. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstshout2.so
42. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideobalance.so
43. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsticydemux.so
44. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstximagesrc.so
45. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstannodex.so
46. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstgdkpixbuf.so
47. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsthalelements.so
48. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdv.so

This includes generic AVI support, access to digital video and Firewire devices, visualisers, the Matroska codec, access to shoutcast servers, the speex audio codec, the flac codec and many more.

At this point, you can install Pitivi, a gstreamer-enabled video editor written in Python that helps you create your own movie. Make sure you install gstreamer0.10-gnonlin which enables non-linear editing in gstreamer.

Up to here you got free and open-source software.

You can continue with more codecs by installing the package gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly. This package is not part of the official Ubuntu distribution; you need to enable the Universe repository. Use System/Administration/Synaptic Package Manager to install these additional packages.
Ugly are the plugins and codecs that may have distribution problems in some countries.

Ugly includes

1. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsta52dec.so
2. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstasf.so
3. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdvdlpcmdec.so
4. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdvdread.so
5. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdvdsub.so
6. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstiec958.so
7. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmad.so
8. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmpeg2dec.so
9. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmpegaudioparse.so
10. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmpegstream.so
11. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstrmdemux.so
12. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstsid.so

This package will bring in, among others, DVD playback and subtitle support, ASF file support, MP3 support (MAD package) and MPEG2 video playback.
You can also get MP3 support if you install the gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 plugin which is available from Universe as well. This package is probably free to use in any country thanks to the efforts of the Fluendo team.

It appears that if you install ugly, it is good to install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg so that you get support for

FFmpeg plugin for GStreamer

This GStreamer plugin supports a large number of audio and video compression
formats through the use of the FFmpeg library. The plugin contains GStreamer
elements for encoding 40+ formats (MPEG, DivX, MPEG4, AC3, DV, ...), decoding
90+ formats (AVI, MPEG, OGG, Matroska, ASF, ...), demuxing 30+ formats, and
colorspace conversion.

Finally, there is a package gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad with plugins of potentially suboptimal quality. It includes

1. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstbz2.so
2. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstcdxaparse.so
3. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstdtsdec.so
4. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstfreeze.so
5. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstgsm.so
6. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmms.so
7. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmodplug.so
8. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstmusepack.so
9. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstqtdemux.so
10. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsttrm.so
11. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstspeed.so
12. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstswfdec.so
13. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgsttta.so
14. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstvideo4linux2.so
15. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstwavpack.so
16. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstxingheader.so
17. /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstneonhttpsrc.so

With bad you get GSM audio codec support, MMS support, QT playback support for some formats, Flash (SWF) playing support, Video4Linux2 support, MUSEPACK support and a few more.