Plexamp Opus error -132 on Linux

[naxels]

Hi team,

I found an issue similar to Plexamp (iOS) not playing opus / Youtube audio

Except Plexamp on iOS and Plexamp on macOS WILL play the audio file (container/extension: .m4a)

while neither the Plexamp Flatpak or the AppImage on Linux (tried both Arch & Pop OS) will play the file.

Here is the relevant piece of the log (taken from AppImage on Arch):

Aug 27, 2025 22:10:28.629 [0x6cff16c0] DEBUG - Opus: Creating a new stream for file 0x2c4804c0c000

Aug 27, 2025 22:10:28.629 [0x6cff16c0] DEBUG - Opus: Creating stream plugin.

Aug 27, 2025 22:10:28.629 [0x6cff16c0] ERROR - Opus: Failed to initialize the stream (Opus error -132)

Aug 27, 2025 22:10:28.629 [0x6cff16c0] DEBUG - Opus: Destroying stream plugin.

When I open the file in MediaInfo it says under General (without errors):

dash: x MiB, x min x s

1 Audio stream: AAC LC

Trying another m4a file, not downloaded from Youtube it says:

“MPEG-4” instead of “dash”

I’m using the latest available version on all devices, the AppImage version from the log:

Aug 27, 2025 22:09:47.943 [Javascript] INFO - Starting Plexamp 4.12.4 - linux 6.16.3-arch1-1

A regular media player on Linux plays the audio just fine.

The file is downloaded using yt-dlp, using format 140:

140 m4a audio only 2 │ 54.08MiB 129k https │ audio only mp4a.40.2 129k 44k [en] medium, m4a_dash

So I don’t understand why it even looks at Opus in the first place..

[naxels]

Am very unfamiliar with Opus, but found this while googling for Error -132:

opusfile: Error Codes

OP_ENOTFORMAT (-132)

[elan]

The Opus is a bit of a red herring, it’s just given the option to open the file and it’s (correctly) saying “hey I don’t know anything about this” so then the other codecs are attempted.

Almost certainly what you’re running into is that the specific flavor of AAC LC isn’t supported by the AAC codec.

[naxels]

Thank you for responding @elan

I’m familiar with installing the multimedia codecs on Linux, but not with which one Plexamp needs (or maybe has included in the AppImage/Flatpack build?)

Is there anything I need to do/can do on my end or is the included AAC codec the problem?

I already have ffmpeg and gstreamer installed if my system is the problem..

Keep up the good work

[elan]

I think Plexamp includes the AAC codec on Linux, so it may be the one unable to decode. A fuller Plexamp log would tell more.

[naxels]

After consulting ChatGPT on the matter as well, it turned out that I was missing gst-libav and gst-plugins-good on my Arch install.

When I installed those, the testing app, gst-play-1.0 started playing the file..

Before that, I kept receiving the error: No suitable plugins found.

Then I started Plexamp again and unfortunately still no playback.

According to ChatGPT, the Plexamp AppImage package doesn’t include the correct codec for playback, and I couldn’t find the option to switch to FFMPEG in the Settings.

Here is the response screenshot:

[naxels]

Can I send you the log privately as I’m not comfortable sharing all the details in public.

I’ve removed all logs, opened Plexamp, then pressed play and then closed the app again, so it contains just the start/fail/stop

(I also checked the log on Plex Server in the console, but nothing of interest there compared to a file that does actually play on Plexamp)

And regarding AAC being included, I do see this in the log:

Aug 28, 2025 20:30:07.408 [0x47209240] INFO - BASS: Loaded AAC plug-in version 2.4.6.1 (Advanced Audio Coding .aac; Advanced Audio Coding MPEG-4 .m4a;.m4b;.mp4;)

[elan]

ChatGPT is smoking crack.

There is no such thing as “enabling ffmpeg inside Plexamp”.. Option (2) is similarly hallucinatory.

Plexamp comes with libbass_aac.so which is responsible for decoding the AAC. You can DM me the log and the sample file.

[naxels]

Quick update:

Elan is going to update the BASS AAC plugin.

I discovered that doing even the simplest ffmpeg in/out of the file turns the dash into MPEG-4 in MediaInfo and then the file works on Plexamp Linux.

Very strange that this is the new YouTube behavior you have to adjust for (or get the plugin to detect for)..