PPA Updated for VLC 3.0.21 for Ubuntu 24.04, 22.04 & 20.04

For VLC users who prefer installing the player via the classic .deb package, here’s an Ubuntu PPA contains the most recent (3.0.21 updated) for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04.

VLC media player is available in Ubuntu system repository, but always old. For the most recent version, VideoLAN provides Snap package, which however runs in sandbox environment.

Changes in recent versions of VLC media player:

Features in the most recent VLC 3.0.21 include:

AMD Super Resolution Support.
AMF VQ Enhancer video filter.
D3D11 option to use NVIDIA TrueHDR to generate HDR from SDR sources.
D3D11 HDR option to turn on/off HDR for all sources regardless of the display.

VLC 3.0.20 contains only bug-fixes, including:

Fix crash when AV1 hardware decoder fails
Fix crash with some AMD drivers old versions
Other fixes.

And, VLC 3.0.19 features:

Super Resolution scaling with nVidia and Intel GPUs
Hardware decoding of AV1 on Windows (DxVA)
Improve AV1 HDR support with software decoding
Improve SMB compatibility with Windows 11 hosts.

For more, see the news page in VLC website.

How to Install VLC 3.0.21 via PPA in Ubuntu

As mentioned, the new release is available as Snap package in Ubuntu Software (or App Center), and Flatpak package in Flathub repository.

For those hate running app in sandbox, here’s the unofficial PPA contains the package for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10. Not only for x86_64, but also arm64/armhf CPU architecture types are supported.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/vlc

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication, then hit Enter to continue. For --enable-live555 RTSP input support, use this PPA instead.

2. For Linux Mint, also run command to refresh package cache, which is done automatically while adding PPA in Ubuntu 20.04 +.

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either update VLC package using ‘Software Updater’ or install/upgrade the package directly by running apt command in terminal:

sudo apt install vlc

Uninstall:

If you found any issue about the PPA package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/vlc

This command will install ppa-purge tool and use it to purge the PPA, which also downgrade VLC and its dependencies to the stock versions in your system repository.

For choice, you may run command to just remove VLC media player:

sudo apt remove --autoremove vlc

Then remove the PPA either from ‘Software & Updates’ -> ‘Other Software’ tab, or by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/vlc

Ji m

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I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via ubuntuhandbook1@gmail.com Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1 |

13 responses to PPA Updated for VLC 3.0.21 for Ubuntu 24.04, 22.04 & 20.04

oswald_c October 31, 2023 at 3:48 pm

VLC 3.0.20 has been released, according to 9to5Linux – https://9to5linux.com/vlc-3-0-20-brings-fixes-for-potential-security-issue-av1-hardware-decoder

Reply
- Ji m November 1, 2023 at 2:28 am
  
  Working on the PPA now, thanks for your comment.
  UPDATE: Done.
  
  Reply
  - oswald_c November 1, 2023 at 8:34 am
    
    Ready and waiting for me when I logged on this morning – thank you :)
    
    Reply
Eelco December 22, 2023 at 12:14 am

Thanks bro. I ffed my VLC but thanks to you it works again.
What i do need is a tool that wil keep track of mij internet connection. Do you have a suggestion?

Thanks a lot
Eelco

Reply
Sergiy June 5, 2024 at 9:52 pm

vlc 3.0.21 released

Reply
oswald_c June 6, 2024 at 9:24 pm

Thank you for updating the PPA with vlc 3.0.21. Could you include a build for 24.04 noble please?

Reply
- Ji m June 7, 2024 at 8:21 am
  
  The 24.04 package delayed for hours due to build failure and bedtime. It’s there now for all current Ubuntu releases.
  
  Reply
  - oswald_c June 7, 2024 at 10:49 am
    
    Thank you!
    
    Reply
  - Gus Fantanas February 27, 2025 at 2:23 am
    
    Hi, I installed the vlc PPA, I verified it is active, but apt does not see the 3.0.21 version and insists on the 3.0.20 version that comes standard with Noble.
    
    Reply
    - Ji m February 27, 2025 at 4:31 am
      
      Try running the command below in terminal:
      
      apt policy vlc
      
      It will list all available VLC package versions and which sources they come from.
      
      If successfully added the PPA, it should includes “3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04” and the PPA source under ‘Version table’ as the screenshot shows you.
      
      If VLC 3.0.21 is available in the output, but apt tries to install the old v3.0.20, then there could be priority issue (the old one has higher priority) or some other apps depend on libraries from v3.0.20. You may try running command below to tell apt to install vlc 3.0.21 to see what’s going on:
      
      sudo apt install vlc=3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04
      
      Reply
      - Philip March 2, 2025 at 4:38 am
        
        Hi, same problem here :
        $ apt policy vlc
        vlc:
        Installed: 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1
        Candidate: 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1
        Version table:
        3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ubuntuhandbook1/vlc/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages
        *** 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 510
        510 https://esm.ubuntu.com/apps/ubuntu noble-apps-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
        3.0.20-3build6 500
        500 http://mirror1.totbb.net/ubuntu noble/universe amd64 Packages
        
        and after a remove/purge/autoremove, when reinstalling :
        
        $ sudo apt install vlc=3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04
        Reading package lists… Done
        Building dependency tree… Done
        Reading state information… Done
        Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
        requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
        distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
        or been moved out of Incoming.
        The following information may help to resolve the situation:
        
        The following packages have unmet dependencies:
        vlc : Depends: vlc-bin (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 is to be installed
        Depends: vlc-plugin-base (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 is to be installed
        Depends: vlc-plugin-qt (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 is to be installed
        Depends: vlc-plugin-video-output (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but 3.0.20-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 is to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-l10n (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-plugin-access-extra (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-plugin-samba (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-plugin-skins2 (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-plugin-video-splitter (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: vlc-plugin-visualization (= 3.0.21-0build6~ubuntu24.04) but it is not going to be installed
        E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
      - Ji m March 2, 2025 at 8:14 am
        
        You have Ubuntu pro enabled which has higher priority (510) for its VLC packages.
        
        I just enabled Ubuntu Pro in my laptop and one of the commands below worked in my case to install the VLC 3.0.21:
        
        sudo apt install vlc/noble
        
        or:
        
        sudo apt install vlc -t "o=LP-PPA-ubuntuhandbook1-vlc"
        
        If you prefer the VLC package from PPA, you may then set a higher priority to it (e.g., 520 which is higher than 510), by creating a config file:
        
        sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/vlcupdates
        
        Then, add lines below into that file:
        
        Package: vlc* libvlc* Pin: release o=LP-PPA-ubuntuhandbook1-vlc Pin-Priority: 520
        
        Finally, press Ctrl+S to save file, Ctrl+X to exit, and sudo apt update to apply change and apt policy vlc to verify.
Philip March 2, 2025 at 9:26 am

Hi
Fast answer !
sudo apt install vlc/noble works and install vlc 3.0.21 without problem. Thank you.
I hoped I would be able to see now the option passthrough in vlc Audio, but no.
Thanks for help
Philip

Reply