Recommended Posts

We are talking about browsers here.

Then I don't understand what I quoted above about removing flash on smartphones not being a problem :huh:

If not using Chrome and Flash, how will you be able to enjoy embedded music and movies on the web?

If you were in dire need, and for whatever reason didn't want to use Chrome, and also for whatever reason you didn't want to use Chromium, and also for whatever reason the old Flash plugin (which Adobe will still be supporting for some years, just not releasing new versions) stopped working... in such extreme scenario, you still could run your Windows browser of choice on Wine with the Windows version of the Flash plugin.

Years ago I had to play an online flash based MMORPG running Firefox on Wine because back then the Linux plugin was some major versions behind. Other than the windows styled widgets not matching the aesthetics of my Linux desktop it all worked perfectly fine.

Adobe Flash is a media plug-in that plays a variety of media formats and games - without Adobe Flash, you are left with a less functional browser.

Flash is by no means the only way of watching media content or even the most important one. Flash is becoming less and less important with every passing day.

Flash is by no means the only way of watching media content or even the most important one. Flash is becoming less and less important with every passing day.

How else can you watch h264 videos and listen to MP3s on a Desktop Linux?

To be totally honest, there's not a lot of websites that I visit that require the use of Flash. More and more web-sites are using HTML5 or other comparable technologies to provide rich content without the need for 3rd party plugins. And this isn't a sales pitch for HTML5, I seriously don't visit that many websites that use flash.

How else can you watch h264 videos and listen to MP3s on a Desktop Linux?

With any of the available media players: mplayer, totem, kaffeine, vlc, amarok, clementine, banshee, audacious... they all play any media format you can play on windows.

The two programs I mentioned above, Minitube and Musictube, are playing the h.264 video streams straight from Youtube bypassing flash entirely.

Exception to this is mobile Linux OS which are built with media in mind (more optimized for media and can take full advantage of the hardware's media capabilities), but then again they are not relevant to this topic.

Care to elaborate how a mobile Linux OS is more optimized for media than a desktop Linux OS? Only thing that comes to mind would be h.264 hardware acceleration, and that's available as well on desktop Linux.

There are H.264 and MP3 players for Linux...

With any of the available media players: mplayer, totem, kaffeine, vlc, amarok, clementine, banshee, audacious... they all play any media format you can play on windows.

The two programs I mentioned above, Minitube and Musictube, are playing the h.264 video streams straight from Youtube bypassing flash entirely.

Care to elaborate how a mobile Linux OS is more optimized for media than a desktop Linux OS? Only thing that comes to mind would be h.264 hardware acceleration, and that's available as well on desktop Linux.

Is Flash the only way play those formats on OS X and Windows? No. Well, the same goes for Linux.

You are intentionally confusing browsers with media players.

You are intentionally confusing browsers with media players.

I think you are intentionally mixing both in an attempt to make a point. You asked how you could play h.264 and mp3 on desktop Linux without flash, and we gave you an answer.

Just in case you didn't know, media players such as mplayer or gstreamer also provide browser plugins to play embedded content, so we are still talking about browsers if that's what you want to talk about.

Let's put it this way: you have the same media capabilities on Linux as you have on Windows.

And then, as I pointed above, even in the hypothetical situation that some vital browser plugin became completely unavailable on Linux and there was no native working alternative, you could still resort to running a Windows browser with Wine with whatever Windows plugin you need.

Adobe is still a commercial company and if it turns out that the resources put into keeping Flash on Linux alive isn't worth its while it will get axed. That's what I think happened here.

I can run Safari in 64-bit while using 32-bit plugins. Why won't other browsers go the same route?

I think that's a feature of OS X that 32-bit and 64-bit play so nicely, not so much on Windows and Linux.

I think that's a feature of OS X that 32-bit and 64-bit play so nicely, not so much on Windows and Linux.

I haven't tried myself since I run 32bits Linux, but AFAIK you can run 32 bits NPAPI plugins on 64 bits browsers using nspluginwrapper. Maybe it's not as nice as in OSX, I don't know, but it should work anyway.

  • Like 1

You are intentionally confusing browsers with media players.

You asked a question about how else (besides a browser) to play movies and mp3s on Linux. You got your answer.

My Mac supports Flash perfectly, does that mean I use Safari to watch movies and play music with? No.

I think that's a feature of OS X that 32-bit and 64-bit play so nicely, not so much on Windows and Linux.

It's the "Fat Binaries", where you can put 32 and 64bit code within the same file, and then load either version when you want it.

Linux and Windows on the other hand can't do that, you need separate binaries for each architecture, so in the Firefox case you'd need both 32bit and 64bit versions (When an official one exists) installed to be able to run 32bit plugins with a 64bit host (or 64bit plugins with a 32bit host)

Microsoft DTV-DVD cannot play H.264 outside of the Bluray/HDDVD spec, which is perfectly inside of the H.264 spec. If you would have watched more than Apple trailers, you'd know.

And another moron to fall for the "MKV=Piracy" bull****. I guess all my rips for personal use are also piracy. Oh wait, you are probably from the US. -.-

I haven't tried myself since I run 32bits Linux, but AFAIK you can run 32 bits NPAPI plugins on 64 bits browsers using nspluginwrapper. Maybe it's not as nice as in OSX, I don't know, but it should work anyway.

I remember that now. I think I'm thinking of some weird OS X kernel arrangements - 64-bit apps on a 32-bit kernel. Don't know if Safari could use nspluginwrapper (or indeed any browser not on Linux)

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
    • Or every other browser, because they all behave the same, at least the mainstream ones. Firefox does exactly the same: background updates, restart to install them. Haters gotta hate, I guess.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      AndrewSteel earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Veteran
      Taliseian went up a rank
      Veteran
    • One Month Later
      Clizby earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Timaximus earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Timaximus earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      170
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      162
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      85
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      78
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!