How to Install VLC on Linux (apt, dnf, Flatpak and Snap)

Updated: 22 October 2026 · Applies to: VLC 3.0 (Vetinari): 3.0.24 on Debian 13, Fedora 44 and AlmaLinux 9 and 10 (EPEL), 3.0.23 on Ubuntu 26.04 and Flathub, 3.0.20 on Ubuntu 24.04, tested; Snap details from the Snap Store

On Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint, install VLC with sudo apt install vlc. On Fedora use sudo dnf install vlc, and on AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and RHEL enable EPEL first. Flatpak and Snap packages work on almost any distribution. VLC 3 (codename Vetinari) is still the current stable branch: according to VideoLAN, the newest release is 3.0.24, a security update with over 130 fixes, and there is no stable VLC 4 yet.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install vlc           # Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint
sudo dnf install vlc                                # Fedora
sudo dnf install epel-release && sudo dnf install vlc   # AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux 9 and 10
flatpak install flathub org.videolan.VLC            # any distribution with Flatpak
sudo snap install vlc                               # any distribution with snapd
vlc --version                                       # check what you have

1. Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint (apt)

1. Refresh the package lists: sudo apt update
2. Install VLC: sudo apt install vlc
3. Start it from the applications menu, or type vlc in a terminal.

The version you get depends on the release. In our test containers:

• Debian 13: 3.0.24-0+deb13u1 (from the security updates).
• Ubuntu 26.04: 3.0.23-1.
• Ubuntu 24.04: 3.0.20-3build6, several releases behind VideoLAN. If you want the newest VLC there, use the Snap or Flatpak below.

On Ubuntu, vlc is in the universe component (packages.ubuntu.com). Universe is enabled by default: in our 24.04 and 26.04 containers the Components: line of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources read main universe restricted multiverse. If apt cannot find vlc, check that line, then run sudo apt update again.

On a minimal system the package pulls in a lot, because it brings the Qt interface and X11 libraries. In a bare Debian 13 container, apt install vlc wanted 445 new packages, 230 MB to download and 960 MB of disk space (Ubuntu 26.04: 242 MB and 961 MB). On a desktop most of these are already installed, so the download is much smaller.

2. Fedora (dnf)

VLC is in Fedora's own repositories. On Fedora 44, sudo dnf install vlc installed version 3.0.24 from the updates repository, split into packages such as vlc-gui-qt, vlc-plugins-base and vlc-cli. For codecs that Fedora does not ship, add RPM Fusion; it provides the vlc-plugins-freeworld package:

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install vlc vlc-plugins-freeworld

Older guides that say VLC is available only from RPM Fusion are out of date.

3. AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and RHEL (EPEL)

VLC is not in the BaseOS or AppStream repositories of the RHEL family, but EPEL has it: we found vlc 3.0.24-1.el10_2 on AlmaLinux 10.2 and 3.0.24-2.el9 on AlmaLinux 9.8. RPM Fusion adds the extra codec plugins.

1. Enable EPEL and the CRB repository (on RHEL itself, follow Red Hat's EPEL instructions instead):

   sudo dnf install epel-release
   sudo /usr/bin/crb enable

2. Optional, for more codecs, add RPM Fusion free:

   sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %rhel).noarch.rpm

3. Install VLC:

   sudo dnf install vlc

In our minimal AlmaLinux 10 container this was 270 packages (165 MB to download), with vlc-plugins-freeworld from RPM Fusion pulled in automatically. The commands follow the RPM Fusion configuration guide, which asks for EPEL and CRB.

4. Flatpak (Flathub)

The Flathub build runs the same way on every distribution and updates independently of your system packages. These are Flathub's standard commands (we tested the first one and remote-info):

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub org.videolan.VLC
flatpak run org.videolan.VLC

Flathub listed VLC 3.0.23 in our test. flatpak remote-info flathub org.videolan.VLC showed a 52.7 MB download and 139.4 MB installed, plus the KDE runtime it needs if you do not have it yet. Install Flatpak itself with sudo apt install flatpak or sudo dnf install flatpak.

5. Snap

sudo snap install vlc

The Snap Store lists VideoLAN as the verified publisher, and its stable channel carried the 3.0.24 build (labelled 3.0.24-rc1, the same git tag that Debian's 3.0.24 package reports). Snaps need the snapd service; if it is missing on Ubuntu, install it with sudo apt install snapd (version 2.76.3 on 24.04 and 26.04), and on Fedora see How to install snapd on Fedora Linux system using dnf command. We could not run snapd inside a test container, so this part comes from the Snap Store page.

6. Check the version and start VLC

vlc --version

Output:

VLC version 3.0.24 Vetinari (3.0.24-rc1-0-g6de05adcba)
Compiled by Debian buildd for trixie-security on Debian amd64 buildd (...)

Do not start VLC as root. It refuses with this message:

VLC is not supposed to be run as root. Sorry.
If you need to use real-time priorities and/or privileged TCP ports
you can use /usr/bin/vlc-wrapper (make sure it is Set-UID root and
cannot be run by non-trusted users first).

7. VLC on a server without a desktop (cvlc)

On a VPS or dedicated server you do not need the graphical player. Install only the command-line parts:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends vlc-bin vlc-plugin-base   # Debian, Ubuntu
sudo dnf install vlc-cli                                           # Fedora, EPEL

Then use cvlc, which is VLC without an interface (on Debian it is a small script that runs vlc -I dummy). Run it as a normal user, for example a dedicated media account. Tested examples:

cvlc --play-and-exit -A dummy input.wav      # play a file once, no sound card needed
cvlc -q input.wav --sout "#transcode{acodec=mp3,ab=128}:std{access=file,mux=raw,dst=output.mp3}" vlc://quit
cvlc -q --loop input.wav --sout "#transcode{acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:std{access=http,mux=raw,dst=127.0.0.1:8080/radio.mp3}"

The second line converted a WAV file to a 128 kbps MP3 (Debian's VLC uses the shine MP3 encoder). The third streams in a loop over HTTP; in our test, bound to 127.0.0.1 only, curl and a second cvlc received a valid MP3 stream. To let listeners connect, bind to the server's address and open the port in the firewall (How to Open Port in Linux). On a server without a desktop session, VLC also prints dbus interface error lines; they are harmless, and -q hides them.

For a public internet radio station with AutoDJ and listener statistics, a Shoutcast or Icecast server is the usual choice; see internet radio hosting.

Remove VLC

• apt: sudo apt remove vlc (add sudo apt autoremove to remove the extra libraries).
• dnf: sudo dnf remove vlc
• Flatpak: flatpak uninstall org.videolan.VLC
• Snap: sudo snap remove vlc

Official documentation: RPM Fusion configuration and VLC on the Snap Store.