How to play .wmv video files?

Please try this procedure from Marco Braida:

"
Play mp3 and dvd under Ubuntu install skype googleearth acroread and other stuffs using Medibuntu

First please install https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

You need to have extra repositories enabled..

Please first enable the universe and multiverse repository:

Open System → Administration → Software sources → [ Tab Ubuntu software ]

enable "Community-maintained Open Source software ( universe )"
enable "Proprietary drivers for devices ( restricted )"
enable "Software restrictecd by copyright or legal issue ( multiverse )"

Close and confirm the repository reload.

Type the following command in a terminal (applications → accessories → terminal)

sudo aptitude install vlc smplayer mplayer xine

To get better dvd playback and optional packages here the medibuntu available software list http://packages.medibuntu.org/
you need to add the medibuntu http://www.medibuntu.org/ repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:
( here the medibuntu howto https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu but see below )

In short type or better copy and paste the rows, below one row a time then press enter:

ubu_codename=$(sudo lsb_release -c | cut -d: -f 2 | sed 's/^[ \t]*//;s/[ \t]*$//')
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$ubu_codename.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

Now to install, type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras libxine1-ffmpeg
sudo aptitude install libdvdread3 libdvdnav4 libdvdcss2 regionset gnome-mplayer
sudo aptitude install non-free-codecs w32codecs
sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-plugins-good
sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

You can also install other Medibuntu repository provided optional software http://packages.medibuntu.org/ :

sudo apt-get install skype
sudo apt-get install googleearth
sudo apt-get install acroread

"

After installing all of this, please try playing the .wmf file using mplayer, xine or vlc

Please test a few different .wmf files, not just one.

What exactly do you mean by: play

From Synaptic libwmf-bin : Windows metafile (WMF) is a picture format used by many Windows
programs, e.g. Microsoft Word. libwmf is a library for interpreting
metafile images and either displaying them using X or converting them
to standard formats such as PNG, JPEG, PS, EPS and SVG(Z)...

I take from this that it is a static picture. Do you mean show and not play?

(There is also .wmv (Windows Media Video) which as a video will "play." This needs w32codecs (or w64codecs if appropriate) and ubuntu-restricted-extras might help)

Yes, my suggestions above are valid if you need to PLAY .wmv files. If you need to DISPLAY .wmf files, then you need to install Irfanview using wine:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine/IrfanView
http://irfanview.com/main_formats.htm

Made a small mistake. It´s WMV file. So video.

Why do I need to install those programs? I don´t need this on my system. I just need a plug-in or what ever for playing WMV files.

Rob

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

will give you a great many plugins. You can also use the medibuntu repo to install w32codecs or w64codecs (depending on Ubuntu architecture) to get more plugins and codecs

Just try the w32codecs or w64codecs first and see if it works with that...

Hi :)

The medibuntu repos just give you access to a huge bunch more packages that you can choose to download and install if you want to straight from Synaptic or using apt-get. Marcobra wasnt saying too actually install google-earth or those at the bottom. he was just saying that by adding the repos you can if you want to.

Once you have got the repos then these are the lines for installing the packages he was saying need to be installed

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras libxine1-ffmpeg
sudo aptitude install libdvdread3 libdvdnav4 libdvdcss2 regionset gnome-mplayer
sudo aptitude install non-free-codecs w32codecs
sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-plugins-good
sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

These are all "lib" = library files, or codecs or plugins.
I hope this helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thank you all guys. But installing all this software is not needed. The file I downloaded was corrupt. I downloaded an other one and everything is working great. Without any of the software suggested. I only installed the restricted stuff.

Thank you but all of this procedure take a lot of time,