If you have recently install ubuntu linux then you must be wondering on how to play mp3 or any other multimedia files.I have mentioned mp3 here because it is the most popular format arround the world.By default ubuntu doesn’t have the required plugins installed to play multimedia files but we don’t need to worry as ubuntu gives us the abililty to install plugins or any other software by issuing just a command.

To play mp3 and other multimedia files you need to install all the plugins required for playing different multimedia files.

Repository List

Many of the multimedia packages you need to install do not reside in the default Ubuntu repository. To get these packages, you will need to add the universe and multiverse repositories to Ubuntu.

Install General-Purpose Libraries and Tools
There are a number of basic libraries and multimedia tools you need to install to get the best support for your multimedia files. These include libraries for MP3 and Ogg Vorbis playback, as well as media players and other tools. If you use Synaptic, select totem-xine from the GNOME Desktop Environment (universe) category, vorbis-tools from the Multimedia category, sox from the Multimedia (universe) category, faad and lame from the Multimedia (multiverse) category, imagemagick from the Graphics category, and finally ffmpeg and mjpegtools from the Graphics (universe) category. Or, if you use apt-get, type:

$ sudo apt-get install totem-xine vorbis-tools sox faad lame \\
imagemagick ffmpeg mjpegtools

Install Gstreamer Libraries
Gstreamer is a new plug-in-based approach to multimedia playback. GNOME uses Gstreamer for much of its own multimedia playback, and, while it is still under heavy development, you will still want to install a number of Gstreamer libraries for GNOME. If you use Synaptic as your package management tool, select the gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse package from the Libraries (multiverse) category; gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg, gstreamer0.8-mad, and gstreamer0.8-plugins from the Libraries (universe) category; and gstreamer0.8-lame from the Multimedia (multiverse) category, and apply your changes. Alternatively, if you use apt-get, type:

$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse \\
gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg gstreamer0.8-mad gstreamer0.8-plugins \\
gstreamer0.8-lame