qubes-doc/user/troubleshooting/media-troubleshooting.md

---
lang: en
layout: doc
permalink: /doc/media-troubleshooting/
ref: 235
title: Media Troubleshooting
---

## Can't play media videos in a VM due to missing codecs

If you’re having trouble playing a video file in a qube, you’re probably missing the required codecs.
The easiest way to resolve this is to install VLC Media Player and use that to play your video files.
You can do this in multiple different template distros by following the instructions [here](/faq/#how-do-i-play-video-files).

## Video lagging

Playing videos may cause lags since software decoding uses a lot of CPU.

Depending on your video player, there are some settings that may smoothen video plays:

* If using VLC media player, go to Tools--> Preferences --> Video --> Output.
By default, the Output is set to "Automatic".
Go through the list and try out other output options to see if any makes videos run smoother.
* If using mpv media player, you may be able to improve performance by entering `mpv --profile=sw-fast --vo=x11` in a terminal.
* For video lags when playing videos from a browser, disable hardware acceleration in the browser. If the problem arises when watching streams, it may be smoother to use `streamlink` to view streams in mpv instead of using the browser.
-												Create media-troubleshooting.md
											
										
										
											2020-10-23 09:05:23 -04:00
+								---
-												Add lang + ref tags to frontmatter

Those are fields used by the language switcher to correlate pages across
different languages, even if they have different names/paths/titles.
They are generated with the prepare_for_translation.py script.

											
										
										
											2021-03-13 13:06:18 -05:00
+								lang: en
-												Create media-troubleshooting.md
											
										
										
											2020-10-23 09:05:23 -04:00
+								layout: doc
-												Revert "Remove all instances of `permalink:` in YAML frontmatter"

This reverts commit c815e4c54c315dfca30c66f6a33e07b1ff90b786.

https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/6701#issuecomment-862822827

											
										
										
											2021-06-16 22:56:25 -04:00
+								permalink: /doc/media-troubleshooting/
-												Add lang + ref tags to frontmatter

Those are fields used by the language switcher to correlate pages across
different languages, even if they have different names/paths/titles.
They are generated with the prepare_for_translation.py script.

											
										
										
											2021-03-13 13:06:18 -05:00
+								ref: 235
-												Revert "Remove instances of `title:` from YAML headers"

This reverts commit 24e6a8a616bfba80534d5d700b2f6b02745561fe.

https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/6701#issuecomment-862060759

											
										
										
											2021-06-16 02:19:45 -04:00
+								title: Media Troubleshooting
-												Create media-troubleshooting.md
											
										
										
											2020-10-23 09:05:23 -04:00
+								---
-												Markdown formatting fixes

- mark all code blocks with ```
- unify empty lines between sections
- adjust list syntax (no space before dash)
- adjust headers to use Atx-style syntax
- remove trailing spaces

											
										
										
											2021-03-13 12:03:23 -05:00
-												Create media-troubleshooting.md
											
										
										
											2020-10-23 09:05:23 -04:00
+								## Can't play media videos in a VM due to missing codecs
-												Markdown formatting fixes

- mark all code blocks with ```
- unify empty lines between sections
- adjust list syntax (no space before dash)
- adjust headers to use Atx-style syntax
- remove trailing spaces

											
										
										
											2021-03-13 12:03:23 -05:00
+								If you’re having trouble playing a video file in a qube, you’re probably missing the required codecs.
 								The easiest way to resolve this is to install VLC Media Player and use that to play your video files.
-												Mass replace "TemplateVM" with "template"

QubesOS/qubes-issues#1015

											
										
										
											2021-06-18 05:16:40 -04:00
+								You can do this in multiple different template distros by following the instructions [here](/faq/#how-do-i-play-video-files).
-												Create media-troubleshooting.md
											
										
										
											2020-10-23 09:05:23 -04:00
 								## Video lagging
-												Markdown formatting fixes

- mark all code blocks with ```
- unify empty lines between sections
- adjust list syntax (no space before dash)
- adjust headers to use Atx-style syntax
- remove trailing spaces

											
										
										
											2021-03-13 12:03:23 -05:00
+								Playing videos may cause lags since software decoding uses a lot of CPU.
-												Create media-troubleshooting.md
											
										
										
											2020-10-23 09:05:23 -04:00
 								Depending on your video player, there are some settings that may smoothen video plays:
-												Markdown formatting fixes

- mark all code blocks with ```
- unify empty lines between sections
- adjust list syntax (no space before dash)
- adjust headers to use Atx-style syntax
- remove trailing spaces

											
										
										
											2021-03-13 12:03:23 -05:00
+								* If using VLC media player, go to Tools--> Preferences --> Video --> Output.
 								By default, the Output is set to "Automatic".
 								Go through the list and try out other output options to see if any makes videos run smoother.
 								* If using mpv media player, you may be able to improve performance by entering `mpv --profile=sw-fast --vo=x11` in a terminal.
 								* For video lags when playing videos from a browser, disable hardware acceleration in the browser. If the problem arises when watching streams, it may be smoother to use `streamlink` to view streams in mpv instead of using the browser.