Install video codecs on Linux

Album and chat videos are H.264. Most distributions do not install an H.264 decoder by default.

Run the commands for your distribution, then quit Open Grind completely and open it again.

Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-tools

Fedora

sudo dnf install openh264 gstreamer1-plugin-openh264
rpm -qf /usr/lib64/libopenh264.so.8

The second command must print openh264-…. If it prints noopenh264-…, or the install said No match for argument:

sudo dnf config-manager setopt fedora-cisco-openh264.enabled=1
sudo dnf install openh264

If videos still fail:

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install libavcodec-freeworld
rm -f ~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0/registry.*.bin

Fedora Silverblue, Kinoite, Bazzite

Each step takes effect only after its reboot.

sudo rpm-ostree install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo systemctl reboot

sudo rpm-ostree install --allow-inactive gstreamer1-plugin-libav libavcodec-freeworld
sudo systemctl reboot

rm -f ~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0/registry.*.bin

After a Fedora release upgrade:

sudo rpm-ostree update --uninstall rpmfusion-free-release --install rpmfusion-free-release

Arch Linux, Manjaro, EndeavourOS

sudo pacman -Syu --needed gst-libav gst-plugins-good

openSUSE Tumbleweed, Leap

sudo zypper install --from repo-openh264 libopenh264-8
rpm -q libopenh264-8

The printed version must not contain noopenh264. If zypper reports no repo-openh264:

sudo zypper addrepo -f https://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/ repo-openh264
sudo zypper --gpg-auto-import-keys refresh

On Leap 16, put openSUSE_Leap_16 in that URL.

NixOS

Add to /etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

{ lib, pkgs, ... }:
let
  gstPlugins = with pkgs.gst_all_1; [
    gstreamer
    gst-plugins-base
    gst-plugins-good
    gst-plugins-bad
    gst-libav
  ];
in
{
  environment.systemPackages = gstPlugins;
  environment.sessionVariables.GST_PLUGIN_SYSTEM_PATH_1_0 =
    lib.makeSearchPathOutput "out" "lib/gstreamer-1.0" gstPlugins;
}

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Then log out and back in.

Alpine Linux

doas setup-apkrepos -o
doas apk add gstreamer-tools gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-libav

Void Linux

sudo xbps-install -Su
sudo xbps-install -S gst-libav gst-plugins-good1

Gentoo

sudo emerge --ask media-libs/gst-plugins-good media-plugins/gst-plugins-libav

Check it worked

gst-inspect-1.0 avdec_h264

Plugin details mean the decoder is installed. No such element or plugin means it is not. On Fedora and openSUSE, use the rpm check from those sections.

Still not working

1. Quit Open Grind completely and open it again.
2. Clear the codec cache:

   rm -rf ~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0

3. Check the MP4 container reader:

   gst-inspect-1.0 qtdemux

4. Open an issue with your distribution, its version, and the output of the check above.