Related articles

*   [Wine](/index.php/Wine "Wine")
*   [Browser plugins](/index.php/Browser_plugins "Browser plugins")

Pipelight is a special browser plugin which allows one to use Windows-only plugins inside Linux browsers. The main focus of the project is on Silverlight and its features, such as watching DRM protected videos. It works by creating a bridge between a Windows application, which handles the Windows-only plugin (e.g. Silverlight), and a native Linux browser plugin. The Windows application is run using a patched version of Wine, therefore requiring Pipelight users to move to this version. Pipelight can be used in browsers that support NPAPI plugins. It does not work with Chrome/Chromium, Firefox or Opera.

**Tip:** If you are here because you want to watch Netflix or Amazon Video, you do not need to install Silverlight/Pipelight. It is easier to install [Firefox](/index.php/Firefox "Firefox") or [google-chrome](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/google-chrome/), which include the Widevine content decryption plugin which satisfies Netflix's DRM requirements.

## Contents

*   [1 Installation](#Installation)
*   [2 Managing plugins](#Managing_plugins)
    *   [2.1 Plug-in(s) not visible in Mozilla Firefox](#Plug-in.28s.29_not_visible_in_Mozilla_Firefox)
*   [3 User agent](#User_agent)
*   [4 Verification](#Verification)
*   [5 GPU Acceleration in Silverlight](#GPU_Acceleration_in_Silverlight)
    *   [5.1 Default behavior](#Default_behavior)
    *   [5.2 Force hardware acceleration](#Force_hardware_acceleration)
    *   [5.3 Disable graphics card verification](#Disable_graphics_card_verification)
*   [6 Troubleshooting](#Troubleshooting)
    *   [6.1 Silverlight plug-in error with Firefox and apparmor](#Silverlight_plug-in_error_with_Firefox_and_apparmor)
    *   [6.2 Videos playing very fast and no sound / bad sound quality](#Videos_playing_very_fast_and_no_sound_.2F_bad_sound_quality)
    *   [6.3 GNOME 3/Firefox fullscreen issues](#GNOME_3.2FFirefox_fullscreen_issues)
    *   [6.4 Pipelight renders all Chinese characters as squares](#Pipelight_renders_all_Chinese_characters_as_squares)
    *   [6.5 No sound when using PulseAudio](#No_sound_when_using_PulseAudio)
*   [7 Tips](#Tips)
    *   [7.1 Test 1080p video playback](#Test_1080p_video_playback)
*   [8 See also](#See_also)

## Installation

**Note:** Pipelight requires a browser with NPAPI support. NPAPI support is **not** present in Chrome/Chromium, Firefox or Opera.

**Warning:** Pipelight project itself is discontinued, which means no security fixes will be released which can make your system vulnerable.

Pipelight can be [installed](/index.php/Install "Install") with the [pipelight](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pipelight/) package.

If you want to use Pipelight with a non-standard version of Wine, or want to install it somewhere else, modify the following variables in the PKGBUILD:

*   `_prefix`

	Allows setting a custom location. Default is `/usr`.

*   `_wine`

	Location of Wine-Silverlight.

## Managing plugins

Pipelight can be used to manage browser plugins including Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player/Shockwave Player.

Update the plugins:

```
# pipelight-plugin --update

```

To list all available plugins:

```
$ pipelight-plugin --help

```

Enable the plugin globally:

```
# pipelight-plugin --enable *plugin*

```

or locally:

```
$ pipelight-plugin --enable *plugin*

```

### Plug-in(s) not visible in Mozilla Firefox

**Note:** Pipelight is a NPAPI-only plugin and doesn't work in the regular Firefox. It still works in [firefox-esr52](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/firefox-esr52/), which is supported until August 2018.

If upon starting [Firefox](/index.php/Firefox "Firefox") the enabled plugin doesn't appear under `about:plugins`, try running the following command before starting Mozilla Firefox:

```
# pipelight-plugin --create-mozilla-plugins

```

## User agent

Since some sites refuse to stream to a Linux browser, the user agent may have to be [changed](https://answers.launchpad.net/pipelight/+faq/2351).

## Verification

There is a test page available [here](http://bubblemark.com/sl3/TestPage.html). Alternatively, detected plugins can be listed in `about:plugins`.

## GPU Acceleration in Silverlight

### Default behavior

Silverlight applets may include an option called `enableGPUAcceleration` which controls whether or not [hardware acceleration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_acceleration "wikipedia:Hardware acceleration") should be used (i.e. use the graphics card for video playback). This option is under the control of specific website's administrator, but this option can also be forced from the client's side (see below). By default, GPU acceleration is only enabled on verified systems cards **and** pages that require it. Herein, system verification is executed through the bash script `/usr/share/pipelight/hw-accel-default` that checks the graphics card vendor. Note that this script depends on the `glxinfo` utility, which is part of [mesa-demos](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=mesa-demos). Make sure this package is installed if you want to Pipelight's graphics verification method.

### Force hardware acceleration

To take control of the `enableGPUAcceleration` option yourself and enable hardware acceleration by default, perform the following steps:

```
# nano /usr/share/pipelight/configs/pipelight-silverlight5.1

```

Change the following line:

```
# overwriteArg      = enableGPUAcceleration=true

```

to:

```
overwriteArg      = enableGPUAcceleration=true

```

### Disable graphics card verification

Change:

```
silverlightGraphicDriverCheck  = true

```

To:

```
silverlightGraphicDriverCheck = false

```

## Troubleshooting

### Silverlight plug-in error with Firefox and apparmor

If you are running [AppArmor](/index.php/AppArmor "AppArmor") and Firefox, you may see an error when loading Silverlight plug-in. You will need to modify or create an apparmor profile.

### Videos playing very fast and no sound / bad sound quality

**Note:** This solution is taken from [this](https://answers.launchpad.net/pipelight/+question/236240) page at the Pipelight's LaunchPad page and editted to reflect changes in newer version of Pipelight.

One of the causes of bad sound quality or laggy playback might be the use of [PulseAudio](/index.php/PulseAudio "PulseAudio"). Since Pipelight uses wine to handle the audio playback, changing the audio output module there can solve some problems. A good alternative to [PulseAudio](/index.php/PulseAudio "PulseAudio") is [alsa](/index.php/Alsa "Alsa") and can be enabled as follows.

First download, install and run the winetricks plugin.

```
$ wget -O ~/.wine-pipelight/winetricks [http://winetricks.org/winetricks](http://winetricks.org/winetricks)
$ chmod +x ~/.wine-pipelight/winetricks
$ WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-pipelight WINE=/opt/wine-compholio/bin/wine WINEARCH=win32 ~/.wine-pipelight/winetricks

```

Choose: "Select the default wineprefix" -> "Change Wine settings" -> "sound=alsa"

Then test whether this solves your problem (restart your browser and open a Silverlight video). If not, change the audio output device in wine to analog. Run the wine configuration utility:

```
WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-pipelight WINE=/opt/wine-compholio/bin/wine WINEARCH=win32 /opt/wine-compholio/bin/winecfg

```

Open the *Audio* tab and change the **Output device** to `Out: HDA Intel - ALC1200 Analog`

**Note:** The actual device name may vary from system to system.

This may solve video lagging issues if PulseAudio was causing it. ALSA audio might still go through PulseAudio though, if you have pulseaudio-alsa installed. This is not a problem by itself, but you may have to restart PulseAudio. This is done by runnning:

```
$ pulseaudio -k

```

### GNOME 3/Firefox fullscreen issues

In GNOME 3, fullscreen pipelight windows do not focus properly in Firefox. This can be fixed using [devilspie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Pie_(software) "wikipedia:Devil's Pie (software)"):

First, install [devilspie](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=devilspie) from the official repositories,

Create the `~/.devilspie` directory:

```
$ mkdir ~/.devilspie

```

Next, create the following file:

 `~/.devilspie/pipelight-fullscreen-firefox.ds` 
```
(if
    (and
        (is (window_class) "Wine")
        (or
            (is (application_name) "Adobe Flash Player")
            (is (application_name) "Microsoft Silverlight")
        )
    )
    (begin
        (focus)
    )
)
```

Finally we need to make devilspie autostart. This can be accomplished by creating the following file:

 `~/.config/autostart/devilspie.desktop` 
```
[Desktop Entry]
Name=devilspie
Exec=devilspie
Hidden=false
NoDisplay=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
```

### Pipelight renders all Chinese characters as squares

Silverlight will only use ”Microsoft Yahei” font to render Chinese characters, you need to install this font (probably from other Windows OSes) to support Chinese character rendering

Other known issues and solutions are often listed in the [Pipelight FAQ](https://answers.launchpad.net/pipelight/+faqs).

### No sound when using PulseAudio

If you are using PulseAudio you may get no sound from Silverlight applications. To allow wine to use PulseAudio you have to install [libpulse](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=libpulse) and [pulseaudio-alsa](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=pulseaudio-alsa). On 64-bit systems use [lib32-libpulse](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=lib32-libpulse) and [lib32-alsa-plugins](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=lib32-alsa-plugins). You can configure the used audio device using `WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine-pipelight" winecfg`

## Tips

### Test 1080p video playback

To verify your Pipelight installation and check its performance on high definition videos, you can use [this](http://www.iis.net/media/experiencesmoothstreaming1080p) video for testing purposes.

## See also

*   [Launchpad FAQ](https://answers.launchpad.net/pipelight/+faqs)
*   [Official website](http://fds-team.de/cms/articles/2013-08/pipelight-using-silverlight-in-linux-browsers.html)
*   [Launchpad](https://launchpad.net/pipelight/)