Arch Linux

prettywiltingroses

Member

Registered: 2025-08-06

Posts: 5

[RESOLVED] No video in VLC or other media players, online is fine

Hi!

I've been having this issue for a little while and thought I would tackle it now. Basically, when I play a video file in VLC media player it plays audio, but no video shows up and I get the messag " Codec not supported:
VLC could not decode the format "h264" (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10)))", this is regardless of what video is playing and how it was encoded. In other media players the issue stays similar: audio, no video.

I did a -Syu and tried to reinstall vlc and installing the recommended plugins I found in response to another person who had a similar issues, it told me there were conflicting files which i deleted from the vlc /lib/usr/ directory, after which the plugins installed without issues, but the problem remained.

Next I tried to reinstall pipewire etc with "sudo pacman -S pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-alsa wireplumber", which at first gave me a conflict between pipewire and pulse audio, so I removed pulse audio. After trying to reinstall again, this is the response:

 
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libpostproc.so.55 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavfilter.so.7.110.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavutil.so.56 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswresample.so.3.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavfilter.so.7 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so.1.35 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavdevice.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavdevice.so.58.13.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswscale.so.5 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavutil.so.56.70.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavformat.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libpostproc.so.55.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavcodec.so.58.134.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswresample.so.3 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavcodec.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so.1 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswscale.so.5.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavformat.so.58.76.100 is empty, not checked.

Thank you so much for any help, I'm quite at a loss here!

Last edited by prettywiltingroses (2025-08-06 17:24:57)

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 71,610

Re: [RESOLVED] No video in VLC or other media players, online is fine

pacman -Qs vlc # do you have the required plugins?
sudo LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk |& grep -v ', 0 altered files' | grep -v backup # at least some files seem corrupted…

---

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prettywiltingroses

Member

Registered: 2025-08-06

Posts: 5

Re: [RESOLVED] No video in VLC or other media players, online is fine

Hi!! Thank you so much for your help! All the plugins were already installed but when running the reinstall I did get the same message as before, but the install does run.
Here's the message:

ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libpostproc.so.55 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavfilter.so.7.110.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavutil.so.56 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswresample.so.3.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavfilter.so.7 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so.1.35 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavdevice.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavdevice.so.58.13.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswscale.so.5 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavutil.so.56.70.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavformat.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libpostproc.so.55.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavcodec.so.58.134.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswresample.so.3 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavcodec.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so.1 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswscale.so.5.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavformat.so.58.76.100 is empty, not checked.

I then ran

 sudo LC_ALL=C pacman -Qkk |& grep -v ', 0 altered files' | grep -v backup 

which returned:

e2fsprogs: 212 total files, 0 altererror: error while reading file /var/lib/pacman/local/ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-1/mtree: Unrecognized archive format
ed files
ffmpeg4.4: no mtree file
gnome-disk-utility: 279 total files, 0 alteredwarning: intel-ucode: /boot/intel-ucode.img (Permissions mismatch)
 files
intel-ucode: 160 total files, 1 altered file
libdvdread: 28 total fileerror: error while reading file /var/lib/pacman/local/libmfx-23.2.2-4/mtree: Unrecognized archive format
libmfx: no mtree file
libplacebo: 48 total files, 0 alterwarning: libutempter: /usr/lib/utempter/utempter (GID mismatch)
warning: libutempter: /usr/lib/utempter/utempter (Permissions mismatch)
warning: libvlc: /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/plugins.dat (Modification time mismatch)
warning: libvlc: /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/plugins.dat (Size mismatch)
warning: libvlc: /usr/lib/vlc/plugins/plugins.dat (SHA256 checksum mismatch)
ed files
libutempter: 20 total files, 1 altered file
libvlc: 120 total files, 1 altered file
libxrender: 18 total files, 0 altered fiwarning: nodejs-nopt: /usr/bin/nopt (Permissions mismatch)
les
nodejs-nopt: 30 total files, 1 altered file
sequoia-sqv: 16 total files, 0 altered fiwarning: shadow: /usr/bin/groupmems (GID mismatch)
warning: shadow: /usr/bin/groupmems (Permissions mismatch)
warning: systemd: /var/log/journal (GID mismatch)
les
shadow: 576 total files, 1 altered file
systemd: 1569 total files, 1 altered file

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 71,610

Re: [RESOLVED] No video in VLC or other media players, online is fine

Saw the "mtree: Unrecognized archive format" messages?

pacman -S --dbonly ffmpeg4.4 libdvdread libmfx
pacman -S ffmpeg4.4 libdvdread libmfx

pacman -Qs vlc

was to see whether you've the necessary vlc plugins installed, but you didn't post the output of that.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

prettywiltingroses

Member

Registered: 2025-08-06

Posts: 5

Re: [RESOLVED] No video in VLC or other media players, online is fine

Oh I'm so sorry, I just installed them without thinking further, here's the output I got

local/libvlc 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - library
local/phonon-qt6-vlc 0.12.0-5
    Phonon VLC backend
local/vlc 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework
local/vlc-cli 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - command line interface
local/vlc-gui-qt 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Qt GUI
local/vlc-plugin-a52dec 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - ATSC A/52 (AC-3) plugin
local/vlc-plugin-alsa 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - ALSA plugins
local/vlc-plugin-archive 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - stream extractor plugin
local/vlc-plugin-ass 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - SSA/ASS subtitle plugin
local/vlc-plugin-bluray 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Blu-ray plugin
local/vlc-plugin-dav1d 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - dav1d AV1 plugin
local/vlc-plugin-dbus 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Dbus plugin
local/vlc-plugin-dbus-screensaver 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - dbus screensaver plugin
local/vlc-plugin-dvd 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - DVD plugins
local/vlc-plugin-faad2 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - FAAD2 AAC plugin
local/vlc-plugin-ffmpeg 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - FFMPEG plugins
local/vlc-plugin-flac 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - FLAC plugin
local/vlc-plugin-gnutls 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - GnuTLS plugin
local/vlc-plugin-inflate 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - inflate plugin
local/vlc-plugin-journal 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Systemd journal plugin
local/vlc-plugin-jpeg 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - JPEG plugin
local/vlc-plugin-lua 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Lua scripting plugins
local/vlc-plugin-matroska 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Matroska plugin
local/vlc-plugin-mpeg2 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - MPEG2 plugin
local/vlc-plugin-mpg123 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - MPG1/2/3 plugin
local/vlc-plugin-ogg 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - OGG plugins
local/vlc-plugin-opus 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Opus plugin
local/vlc-plugin-png 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - PNG plugin
local/vlc-plugin-pulse 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - PulseAudio plugins
local/vlc-plugin-shout 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - shoutcast plugin
local/vlc-plugin-soxr 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - SoX Resampler plugin
local/vlc-plugin-speex 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Speex plugins
local/vlc-plugin-srt 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - SRT subtitle file support
local/vlc-plugin-tag 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - tag plugin
local/vlc-plugin-theora 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Theora plugins
local/vlc-plugin-twolame 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - TwoLAME plugins
local/vlc-plugin-vorbis 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - Vorbis plugin
local/vlc-plugin-vpx 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - VP8 and VP9 plugin
local/vlc-plugin-x264 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - H264/AVC encoding
local/vlc-plugin-x265 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - H265/HEVC encoding
local/vlc-plugin-xml 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - XML plugin
local/vlc-plugins-base 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - base plugins
local/vlc-plugins-video-output 3.0.21-27
    Free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework - video output plugins

Either way, I ran

pacman -S --dbonly ffmpeg4.4 libdvdread libmfx
pacman -S ffmpeg4.4 libdvdread libmfx

And now my VLC does work again, thank you so much for all your help, for posteriority and completeness, this it the input + output:

$ sudo pacman -S --dbonly ffmpeg4.4 libdvdread libmfx                                                                    

warning: ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: libdvdread-6.1.3-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: libmfx-23.2.2-4 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (3) ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-1  libdvdread-6.1.3-2  libmfx-23.2.2-4

Total Installed Size:  24,02 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      23,71 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] 
(3/3) checking keys in keyring                                                                [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) checking package integrity                                                              [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) loading package files                                                                   [#######################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libpostproc.so.55 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavfilter.so.7.110.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavutil.so.56 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswresample.so.3.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavfilter.so.7 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so.1.35 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavdevice.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavdevice.so.58.13.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswscale.so.5 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavutil.so.56.70.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavformat.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libpostproc.so.55.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavcodec.so.58.134.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswresample.so.3 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavcodec.so.58 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libmfx.so.1 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libswscale.so.5.9.100 is empty, not checked.
ldconfig: File /usr/lib/libavformat.so.58.76.100 is empty, not checked.

and

$ sudo pacman -S ffmpeg4.4 libdvdread libmfx                                              
warning: ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: libdvdread-6.1.3-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: libmfx-23.2.2-4 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (3) ffmpeg4.4-4.4.6-1  libdvdread-6.1.3-2  libmfx-23.2.2-4

Total Installed Size:  24,02 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       0,00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] 
(3/3) checking keys in keyring                                                                [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) checking package integrity                                                              [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) loading package files                                                                   [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) checking for file conflicts                                                             [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) checking available disk space                                                           [#######################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/3) reinstalling libmfx                                                                     [#######################################################] 100%
(2/3) reinstalling ffmpeg4.4                                                                  [#######################################################] 100%
(3/3) reinstalling libdvdread                                                                 [#######################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...