UbuntuHandbook

New PPA for Installing VLC (3.0.20 Updated) in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

Last updated: November 1, 2023 — 8 Comments

This simple tutorial is going to introduce the new Ubuntu PPA for installing VLC media player as native .deb package format.

VLC is easy to install in Ubuntu through either Snap (available in Ubuntu Software) or Flatpak.

If you don’t like applications run in sandbox, then a third-party PPA can be a good choice besides building from the source tarball.

Rob Savoury is maintaining a PPA with most recent VLC as native .deb package. However, the dependency PPA goes private recently. So, I created a new one for choice.

Install VLC 3.0.20 from PPA:

The package in this unofficial PPA is just a backport from Debian upstream. No change except for the build and run-time libraries depends on your Ubuntu edition.

It seems working good but without well testing. So, there’s always use it as your own risk!

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.

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 VLC 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 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

In Howtos VLC PPA

How to Install VLC 3.0.12 via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04 / 18.04 / 20.10

Last updated: February 18, 2021

For those prefer installing app via apt method, there’s now an Ubuntu PPA that contains the latest VLC 3.0.12 deb packages.

VLC 3.0.12 was released a few weeks ago. It features native Apple Silicon support, RIST protocol, YouTube & Vocaroo scripts updates, and various bug-fixes.

The VideoLAN team offers the official Snap package which can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software. If you don’t like the Snap package however, you can now install the media player from the unofficial PPA.

1.) Add the VLC PPA:

Firstly open terminal from system app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3

Type user password when it asks, while no asterisk feedback, and hit Enter to continue.

For the MATE desktop users, run this command instead to add another PPA with patch from full-screen issue:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3-mate

2.) Add the dependency PPA:

Secondly, add the dependency PPA for updated media tools:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

3.) Install or update VLC:

Finally, either run command to install VLC media player:

sudo apt install vlc

Or open Software Updater and update the software packages:

Uninstall:

You can purge the Ubuntu PPA which also downgrade the installed packages to their stock versions:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo apt install ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/vlc3

Keep an eye when purging the dependency PPA, as it may also remove some media packages.

sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

Alternatively, you can just remove the Ubuntu PPAs via commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

And remove VLC if you want by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove vlc

In Howtos VLC PPA

VLC 3.0.7 Released! Improved Blu-ray, MP4 Support (How to Install)

Last updated: June 8, 2019

VLC media player 3.0.7 was released a day ago. The new release features numerous security fixes and many improvements.

VLC 3.0.7 release highlights:

Improvements on the Blu-ray support, notably for menus
Improve MP4 support
Improvements for HDR support on Windows, including for HLG streams
Improve Chromecast support with new ChromeCast apps
Fixes for UPnP discovery on MacBooks with a TouchBar
Fixes for some 10bit and 12bit rendering on Windows 10
And numerous security fixes.

How to Install VLC 3.0.7 in Ubuntu:

The official VLC 3.0.7 snap package (containerised software package) is available in Ubuntu Software for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, and higher.

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and make sure snapd daemon is installed.

sudo apt-get install snapd

Then install VLC 3.0.7 snap package via command:

sudo snap install vlc --classic

Once installed, open VLC from your system application launcher and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove the snap package, either use Ubuntu Software or run command in terminal:

sudo snap remove vlc

VLC 3.0.7 PPA:

For those who are looking for traditional VLC .deb package, the unofficial PPA contains the latest VLC 3.0.7 packages for Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04.