News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
HandBrake video transcoder announced new 1.9.0 release few days ago. Here’s new features and native .deb package for Ubuntu users.
The new HandBrake 1.9.0 added Intel QSV VVC hardware video decoding support, and an option to enable AV1 screen content coding(SCC) on Intel Lunar Lake QSV AV1 encoder.
It also added support for lossless VP9 encoding, meaning it can convert videos to VP9 codec while keeping 100% original quality.
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This is a step by step guide shows how to install the most recent Handbrake video transcoder 1.9.0 in Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 22.04. There’s also an option for those who are stick to the old Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 16.04.
Handbrake is a popular free open-source tool for converting video from nearly any format, including DVD video (disc or ISO image), Matroska MKV, AVI, MP4, TS, M2TS. It has presets to easily output to Android, Apple, Chromecast compatible, and various other devices. And, it supports hardware acceleration to speed up transcoding using Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD GPUs.
The most recent version so far is HandBrake 1.9.0, that features Intel QSV VVC hardware video decoding, lossless VP9 encoding, and some Linux fixes. See the release note page for details.
HandBrake video transcoder announced a new update for the 1.7.x release a few days ago.
This release includes only bug-fixes and minor improvements. They include:
HandBrake, the popular free open-source video transcoder, released a new update for the new 1.7 series yesterday.
The new release fixed encoding issue for AMD VCN, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, NVIDIA NVENC, and VP9 encoders, which could cause the creation of an excessive number of keyframes.
It fixed unintentional automatic pass through of closed caption side data when using NVIDIA NVENC encoder.
For Linux, the release includes performance improvements by removing duplicate graphic assets and reducing file size, as well as fixes to Flatpak file chooser, file destination path, and memory leaks in the graphical interface.
Other changes include:
HandBrake provides official Windows, MacOS, and Linux packages available to download at Github releases page under Assets
For Linux users, it’s Flatpak package which also available in Flathub repository, though NOT updated at the moment of writing.
For Ubuntu & Linux Mint users who prefer the classic .deb package, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/handbrake
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Linux Mint users need to manually update the system package cache, after adding PPA, by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the new HandBrake package via command:
sudo apt install handbrake
For choice, you may also run sudo apt install handbrake-cli to install the command line tool
When installation done, search for and launch the video transcoder from either start/application menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.
To uninstall the Ubuntu PPA, either open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/handbrake
or, just remove the source line using ‘Software & Updates’ tool under “Other Software” tab.
To remove the HandBrake video transcoder, use command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove handbrake handbrake-cli
That’s all. Enjoy!
For HandBrake users who prefer the classic .deb package, there’s now new PPA for all current, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and their based systems, such as Linux Mint 20/21, Pop! OS, Zorin OS 17.
HandBrake announced the new major 1.7.0 release a few days ago. The release features new AMD VCN AV1 encoder, NVIDIA NVENC AV1 encoder, SVT-AV1 multi-pass ABR mode, Apple VideoToolbox hardware presets, improved QSV support, drag and drop support for video scanning, and various other changes. See the github releases page for details.
HandBrake 1.7.0 Dark Mode
HandBrake provides official Linux package through .flatpak package (see link above). It’s can be installed in most Linux, however, run in sandbox.
For those prefer Ubuntu PPA, I’ve uploaded the new release package into this unofficial PPA with all current Ubuntu releases, on amd64 (Intel/AMD) and arm64 (Apple Silicon, Raspberry Pi) CPUs support.
Thanks to the official guide, the new package in PPA is built with the latest run-time libraries (e.g., FFmpeg 7.0, libdvdnav & libdvdread, SVT-AV1 1.7.0) into single bundle. Meaning, it can be installed on old Ubuntu releases (22.04), without worrying about dependencies mis-match. Though, the .deb package size increased to be around 10 MiB.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/handbrake
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Linux Mint users need to manually update the system package cache, after adding PPA, by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the new HandBrake package via command:
sudo apt install handbrake
For choice, you may also run sudo apt install handbrake-cli to install the command line tool
When installation done, search for and launch the video transcoder from either start/application menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.
To uninstall the Ubuntu PPA, either open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/handbrake
or, just remove the source line using ‘Software & Updates’ tool under “Other Software” tab.
To remove the HandBrake video transcoder, use command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove handbrake handbrake-cli
That’s all. Enjoy!
HandBrake video transcoder 1.3.3 was released today with a number of bug-fixes and improvements.
Changes in HandBrake 1.3.3 include:
HandBrake has an official PPA which so far supports for Ubuntu 19.10 and Ubuntu 20.04.
1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from ‘Show Applications’ menu. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue adding the PPA.
2.) Once the PPA is updated with the new release packages, you can run following commands one by one to install it on your system:
sudo apt update sudo apt install handbrake-gtk
(Optional) To remove the handbrake PPA repository, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software, or run command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
In addition, HandBrake also available to install in Ubuntu via Flatpak package.
HandBrake video transcoder 1.3.2 was released a day ago with many improvements and bug-fixes.
According to the release note, HandBrake 1.3.2 release highlights include:
HandBrake has an official Ubuntu PPA. It is however not updated timely, and Ubuntu 18.04 is no longer supported due to old system libraries.
The github release page offers official flatpak packages that work on 64-bit Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.
Grab the .flatpak and install it via command:
flatpak install /path/to/package_name.flatpak
NOTE: flatpak runs in sandbox and HandBrake flatpak package requires Gnome 3.36 runtime platform. See more at this page.
Handbrake video transcode 1.2.1 was released a few days ago with numerous bug-fixes and improvements.
Handbrake 1.2.1 release highlights:
The official HandBrake PPA offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and Linux Mint 19.x.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
Type user password (no asterisks feedback) when it asks for sudo command and hit Enter to add PPA.
2. Then install the video transcoder via command:
sudo apt install handbrake-gtk handbrake-cli
Linux Mint needs to run command sudo apt update first to refresh system package cache.
To remove the software, open terminal and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove handbrake-gtk handbrke-cli
To remove the PPA, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.
The open source video transcoder HandBrake 1.1.2 was released a day ago with various bug-fixes.
Changes in HandBrake 1.1.2 include:
The software has an official PPA repository for current Ubuntu releases. As usual, HandBrake 1.1.2 will be available via PPA a few days later.
At that time, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or from software launcher, and run following commands one by one to install the latest handbrake:
1. Run command to add the PPA repository:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
Type your password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.
2. Refresh system repositories cache via command:
sudo apt update
3. Remove Ubuntu build of handbrake if installed:
sudo apt remove --autoremove handbrake
4. Finally install the video transcoder from the PPA:
sudo apt install handbrake-gtk handbrake-cli
To remove the PPA repository, open Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.
To remove HandBrake, run command in terminal:
sudo apt remove --autoremove handbrake-gtk handbrake-cli
In addition, the latest HandBrake also available as Flatpak (containerised software package) for 64-bit Ubuntu.
Handbrake 1.1.1, the first bug-fix release for Handbrake 1.1 series, was released yesterday.
Handbrake 1.1.1 release highlights:
The official HandBrake PPA has built the 1.1.1 release for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10.
The Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 14.04 builds are broken at the moment, check the PPA link before getting started.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then use Synaptic package manager or run following commands to install the video transcoder:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk handbrake-cli
Note: If you installed the distribution build of HandBrake from Ubuntu Software, you need to remove it before installing the new release from PPA.
To remove the software, simply run command in terminal:
sudo apt-get remove --autoremove handbrake-gtk handbrake-cli
And launch “Software & Updates -> Other Software” to remove PPAs.
