VLC media player released version 3.0.5 a few days ago with performance improvements and numerous fixes. Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

VLC 3.0.5 release highlights:

• Faster and more complete support for the AV1 codec
• Compatibility with macOS 10.14 “Mojave”, with native dark mode, and notarization
• Improvements for Blu-ray playback, RTP and UDP streams
• Improvements for MP4, MKV, CAF and AV1 media
• Improvements for HDR support, tone-mapping and native Windows HDR support
• Fixes for Chromecast, Direct3D11, Youtube and subtitles rendering

How to Install VLC 3.0.5 in Ubuntu:

Linux Snap package:

The official VLC snap package (containerized software package) has been updated to v3.0.5. For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, simply install it from Ubuntu Software.

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install the snap package:

sudo apt install snapd && sudo snap install vlc

VLC package for Ubuntu:

Ubuntu comes with VLC package (see previous picture), and offers software updates through updates repository.

NOTE VLC 3.0.5 is not available at the moment of writing. As usual, the new release package will be published in a few days.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, simply install VLC .deb package from Ubuntu Software, and VLC 3.0.5 package will be available via Software Updater once published.

VLC media player 3.0.4 was released with support for decoding AV1 streams and various bug-fixes.

According to the changelog file, VLC 3.0.4 contains following changes:

• Decode AV1 streams
• Fix playback of low-fps files
• Fix seeking with streams containing WebVTT subtitles
• Fix decoding some CC-608 streams with roll-up
• Fix crashes with LPCM streams
• Fix colorspace of JPEG, PNG and screen inputs
• Fix MediaCodec rotation handling
• Fixes for ogg, flac, MKV, AVI, MP4, and incomplete RAR streams.
• Support 44.1kHz DTS passthrough
• Fix crashes on DirectSound output
• Fix some crash in Direct3D11/Direct3D9 because of sensors
• Fix some broken DVD subtitles rendering (OpenGL, notably)
• Fix misc display in Direct3D11 due to broken drivers
• Some text rendering fixes.
• Fix ChromeCast compatibility with web interface
• Fix detection SAT>IP servers
• Fix tooltip display when using Wayland
• Various fixes for Mac OS, and other more.

How to Install The Latest VLC in Ubuntu

For Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver, Ubuntu as usual will publish VLC 3.0.4 packages via security & updates repository.

At that time you can upgrade VLC via Software Updater (check the building page, The Bionic Beaver section).

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, the VideoLan team offers the official Snap package, containerised software package designed to work securely within most Linux desktop.

You can simply install the snap (3.0.3 at the moment) via Ubuntu Software, and it will auto-updates to the latest VLC 3.0.4 once it’s published.

Note for Ubuntu 16.04 users who never installed a snap package, make sure if snapd daemon is installed via command:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

VLC media player got a new maintenance release for VLC 3.0 series a few days with numerous bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04.

According to the changelog, VLC 3.0.3 contains following changes:

• Update subtitles display while paused
• Enable srt support on binary builds
• Allow videotoolbox hardware decoding to be disabled
• Disable VideoToolbox for 10bits H.264
• Fix VideoToolbox with some invalid HEVC streams
• Fix subsdec wide character support
• Fix 1st order Ambisonics in AAC
• Miscellaneous ogg improvements & bugfixes, including oggds
• Fix forced tracks selection
• Fix tracks detection issues with DolbyVision and Bluray streams
• Fix crashes on Direct3D11
• Fix tooltip display on some desktop environments
• Fix spurious movement of the main Window
• Fix playlist being displayed in fullscreen
• Fix numerous issues on fonts fallback and font shaping
• Fix subtitles toggle through hotkeys
• Fix buffer over-read in avcodec audio encoding with non-default layouts
• Numerous 3rd party libraries updated, fixing security issues

How to Install VLC 3.0.3 in Ubuntu:

The official snap package of VLC 3.0.3 is available in Ubuntu Software:

or you can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install the snap:

snap install vlc --classic

It automatically upgrade to VLC 3.0.3 if an old version of the snap package was installed.

NOTE for Ubuntu 16.04 uses who never installed a snap package, first run command in terminal to install snapd daemon via command:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

VLC media player 3.0.2 was released a few days ago. The release fixed more than 150 bugs since the 3.0.0 release, and improves decoding speed on macOS.

Changes in VLC 3.0.2 include:

• Fix snapshotting with subtitles when using hardware acceleration
• Fix green/missing line/column when the picture dimensions are odd
• Important improvements in hardware decoding for macOS, notably faster, supporting more samples and removing crashes/deadlocks
• Improve compatibility for DxVA2 and D3D11 decoding, fix crashes when seeking and fix blacklisting of broken drivers
• Fix SSA subtitles forced alignment
• Fix E-AC-3 stuttering
• Fix MIDI playback on macOS
• Add playback support for ProRes 4444 XQ
• Fix IFO files playback to start DVDs
• Fix a crash with missing/invalid MPEG SDT
• Update VP8/9/10 ISOBMFF bindings and improve HDR for those cases
• Fix TTML inside MP4
• Fix flac seeking and improve flac parsing
• Improve mkv opening & seeking speed
• Miscellaneous MKV crash fixes
• Fix crash with multi-region DVDs
• Fix audio being muted on DVD chapter change
• Fix audio being muted when seeking in a BluRay disc
• Avoid a crash/assert in FTP after seeking
• Fix “reset audio volume” being forcefully deactivated
• Improve resampling and latency computation for CoreAudio
• Fix audio stutter after unpausing with headphones
• Fix OpenGL crashes or bad display with semi-planar chromas
• Fix OpenGL interop (zero-copy) disabled for tvOS
• Fix transform filters with hardware decoding
• Fix snapshot and filters with HEVC hardware decoding
• Fix a buffer overrun during GPU/CPU image copy
• Fix last folder used in open dialogs
• Allow to customize the seek jump when using the mousewheel
• Fix pasted URLs not being trimmed
• Fix jump size not being configurable
• Fix playback speed slider not accepting 1.0x value
• Fix raw input dump
• Fix window size after a fullscreen playback
• Fix crashes when searching for renderers
• Fix VDPAU GLX usage on Linux
• Fix libvlc_media_list not going to next media
• Miscellaneous chromecast improvements
• Fix missing OSD navigation feedback

How to Install VLC 3.0.2 in Ubuntu:

The VideoLAN team offers official snap package, so Ubuntu users can easily install the latest VLC package from Ubuntu Software.

or you can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install the snap:

snap install vlc --classic

NOTE for Ubuntu 16.04 uses who never installed a snap package, first run command in terminal to install snapd daemon via command:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

VLC media player reached new major 3.0 release a day ago. Now you can directly install the latest VLC in Ubuntu Software utility.

VLC 3.0 “Vetinari” features:

• VLC 3.0 activates hardware decoding by default, to get 4K and 8K playback!
• It supports 10bits and HDR
• VLC supports 360 video and 3D audio, up to Ambisoncics 3rd order
• Allows audio passthrough for HD audio codecs
• Can stream to Chromecast devices, even in formats not supported natively
• Can play Blu-Ray Java menus: BD-J
• VLC supports browsing of local network drives and NAS

How to Install VLC 3.0 in Ubuntu:

VLC 3.0 is available as snap, the universal Linux app packaging format, for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04.

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

Open Ubuntu Software utility, search for and install VLC, though there are two versions available.

As an alternative, you can run command in terminal to install the snap:

snap install vlc

The snap is kinda large in file size since it contains all required run-time libraries.

Uninstall traditional VLC package:

If you’ve a previous version of VLC media player installed, you’ll have two launcher icons and two VLC options in video files’ open with menu.

So you may want to remove the old traditional VLC package via Synaptic Package Manager, Ubuntu Software, or by running command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove vlc