Why aren't video players working (especially SMplayer)?

I've been test-driving the new Zorin Pro, and I really like it, except for one odd quirk: my favorite media player, SMplayer, won't play any audio. And other media players (Videos, Celluloid, VLC, etc) often will play, but the controls don't seem to work.

I've installed the Ubuntu restricted extras and rebooted, but nothing changed. I'm assuming the SMplayer issue is a codec problem, but can't imagine why the controls of other players don't want to work. Has anyone else encountered this? Or found a fix?

Open gnome software and scroll to the bottom. There is a button called ''Codecs''. Click on it and install the codecs. Also install ffmpeg.

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Test if it works then. If the players are installed as flatpaks and they still play no sound, it can also be a permissions problem. Then flatseal can help to set the correct permissions.

You could also test it with the Zorin apt packages instead.

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Hi and welcome.

Additionally, if you need to convert audio and video fornats I highly recommend WinFF which will install ffmpeg as it needs this to work.

Don't forget to download the Unofficial Manual for Zorin 18 Core. Whilst it doesn't have elements of Pro it covers the essentials with tips and guides along with personally recommended software, and solutions to different problems should they rear their ugly heads.

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Welcome to the Forum!

Does Your system run in Wayland or X11? You can check that with the Command echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE via Terminal.

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