How to install Ubuntu Restricted Extras without Flash

Ubuntu Restricted Extras without Flash on your fresh minimal install. The ubuntu-restricted-extras is a software package for the computer operating system Ubuntu that allows the user to install essential software which is not already included due to legal or copyright reasons.

Ubuntu 18.04 minimal install but with audio/video codec support

The Ubuntu 18.04 minimal ISO image will download packages from online archives at installation time instead of providing them on the install media itself. Besides the minimal spin that is around to 30MB compressed, the Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver installer recently added an option for a minimal installation from the desktop live environment.

If you performed a minimal install or used a minimal spin, you are not able to play MP3 audio files or watch video on YouTube or something more. This is due to the lack of codecs for common audio and video files and a ubuntu restricted extras without flash installation would be perfect for your needs.

So, to install codecs but without the deprecated and crappy Adobe Flash technology, instead of a full install of the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, you can install only the most used codecs for audio and video files and nothing more.

To do this, in a terminal session:

$ sudo apt install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra gstreamer1.0-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly lame libavcodec-extra libdvdread4