This is a step by step guide shows how to install the most recent Handbrake video transcoder 1.8.0 in 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 1.8.0, that features GTK4 port for Linux, FFV1 video encoder (and new preset “Preservation FFV1”), TrueHD audio encoder, VP9 tunes, multi-pass CQ with VP9, and various other changes. See the release note page for details.
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:
Improved automatic selection of Dolby Vision Level
Fixed crash opening an empty folder, and crash using VideoToolbox encoders on Apple Silicon Ultra.
Workaround to prevent issues decoding H.264 video on Mac OS.
Added Automation Properties to some controls on the audio tab to assist screen readers for Windows.
Fixed NVIDIA NVDEC option being ignored in Windows.
Miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements
How to Install HandBrake 1.7.2
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:
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.
Uninstall:
To uninstall the Ubuntu PPA, either open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
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.
Install HandBrake (1.8.0 Updated) in Ubuntu via PPA
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:
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.
Uninstall:
To uninstall the Ubuntu PPA, either open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
The open source video transcoder Handbrake 0.10.1 was released recently with various fixes. The developers are working on the next major release Handbrake 1.0.
In an attempt to move away from our yearly release cycle, we have decided to start publishing interim fix releases. 0.10.1 marks the first of these releases. It’s focus is to fix some common bugs rather than introduce the new features we are working on in the background for 1.0.
Release highlights in Handbrake 0.10.1:
Various bug fixes for all platforms and the core engine.
Updated x265 to 1.5 which brings numerous bug fixes and some performance improvements.
Install or Upgrade to Handbrake 0.10.1 in Ubuntu:
The developer has made the binaries into PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, and/or Linux Mint 17/17.1.
To add the PPA, open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run:
