Enable H.264 codec support for Opera browser

opera_x264_support.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Author: Marco Carletti
# Date: May 2022
# Version: 0.2.0

# Last update: July 17, 2023
# Changed comments, tested versions and added other distros info, such as Debian and Fedora.

# Thanks to everyone for comments, suggestions, fixes and testings!

# Tested on
# ---------
#
# Ubuntu 18.04
#
# v0.1.0
#       62.0.3331.116
#       63.0.3368.66
#
# Ubuntu 20.04
#
# v0.1.0
#       70.0.3728.95
#       73.0.3856.284
#       74.0.3911.107
#       74.0.3911.232
#
# v0.2.0
#       87.0.4390.25
#
# Ubuntu 22.04
#
# v0.2.0
#       99.0.4788.13

# Other distros
# THIS SCRIPT WILL NOT WORK AS IS IS. EACH OS REQUIRES SPECIFIC FIXES.
# Search in the comments for further details :)
# -------------
#
# Debian 11.4
# Requires `-c` option in `sudo` commands (credits: `gidici`)
#
# v0.2.0
#       90.0.4480.80
#
# Fedora 37
# Requires to copy the lib file to opera lib folder and chown to root (credits: `JPDucky`)
#
# v0.2.0
#       100.0.4815.54 (Opera One)

# Release notes
# -------------
#
# v0.2.0   Smarter use of curl options to fix failing permalink. Special thanks to `dotarr` for the fix!
#          Last update: May 18, 2022
#
# v0.1.0   It is basically a cleaned version of what you can find in this post from Opera forum:
#          https://forums.opera.com/topic/34659/opera-linux-browser-h-264-support-through-x264-open-source-codec
#          Last update: Aug 18, 2020


# Retrieve latest FFMPEG release version.
# We get the complete url pointing to the latest zip package via the curl command.
#
# -L             If the server reports that the requested page has moved to a different location
#                this option will make curl redo the request on the new place.
#
# -o <file>      Write output to <file> instead of stdout.
#
# -s             Silent or quiet mode. Don't show progress meter or error messages.
#
# -w <format>    Make curl display information on stdout after a completed transfer. The format is
#                a string that may contain plain text mixed with any number of variables.
URL=`curl -L -o /dev/null -s -w %{url_effective} https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/latest`
FFMPEGVER=${URL%\"*}
FFMPEGVER=${FFMPEGVER##*/}
FFMPEGZIP=${FFMPEGVER}-linux-x64.zip


# Download library from complete url and save it locally.
# Archive is extracted in the working directory and immediately deleted.
#
# -L (see above)
# -O             Write output to a local file named like the remote file we get.
#                Only the file part of the remote file is used, the path is cut off.
curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/${FFMPEGVER}/${FFMPEGZIP}
unzip ${FFMPEGZIP}
rm ${FFMPEGZIP}


# Overwrite Opera libffmpeg (requires root privileges).
# Install (ie. copy) the latest version of the library in the system library folder.
# Before overwriting the Opera library file, make a copy... So we can manually rollback if we messed up things :)
sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffmpeg_h264.so
sudo mv /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so.orig
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffmpeg_h264.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so

Need to run the script after updating Opera to ver. 63.0.3368.66

Still working fine with ubuntu 20.04 and opera 70.0.3728.95

Hi! There's an even simpler way that survives updates:

curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/${FFMPEGVER}/${FFMPEGZIP}
unzip ${FFMPEGZIP}
rm ${FFMPEGZIP}
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra
sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra

Opera will automatically use the version in lib_extra and the mod will survive updates. So you'll only need to do it once.

Thanks a lot! This script works also on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS (Focal Fossa) 64-bit + Opera 73.0.3856.284.

Thanks!! It worked perfectly for me on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa) 64-bit + Opera 74.0.3911.107.

Thanks :) Still works on Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS, Opera 74.0.3911.232

I found that the extraction of variables from URL into FFMPEGVER and FFMPEGZIP had started failing pointing to the redirection between /latest and the permalink to the numbered version no longer being output by curl, adding some switches appeared to fix:

URL=$(curl -Ls -o /dev/null -w %{url_effective} https://github.com/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/latest)
FFMPEGVER=${URL%\"*}
FFMPEGVER=${FFMPEGVER##*/}
FFMPEGZIP=${FFMPEGVER}-linux-x64.zip
curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/${FFMPEGVER}/${FFMPEGZIP}
unzip ${FFMPEGZIP}

sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra

Thanks everyone! I've updated the script with your notes and fixes. I've also tested the script with the latest Opera version (currently, it is 87.0.4390.25).

Works with Opera 90.0.4480.80 on Debian 11.4. Thanks. I only changed sudo with su -c "...."

Works with Opera version :99.0.4788.13 and System:Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (x86_64; ubuntu:GNOME)
Chromium version:113.0.5672.127
Thank you !!

Opera One(version: 100.0.4815.54)
fedora 37: had to change the bottom 3 lines to make it work, opera would not launch with the symlink

sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib64/opera/libffmpeg_h264.so
sudo mv /usr/lib64/opera/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib64/opera/libffmpeg.so.orig
sudo cp /usr/lib64/libffmpeg_h264.so /usr/lib64/opera/libffmpeg.so

also had to change ownership of libffmpeg.so to root

Система:Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS (x86_64; ubuntu:GNOME)
Версия Chromium:116.0.5845.141
Thank you

Will this work with flatpak package?
I'm using Opera's flatpack package form flathub on Fedora.

@butter-fly04 I don't know how Fedora+flatpak+flathub works since I use Ubuntu+apt, however OperaOne was tested under Fedora by @JPDucky. Check it here!