How to Install OpenShot on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

In this guide, we’ll cover how to install OpenShot on Ubuntu for professional video editing. So, let’s get started

OpenShot Video Editor

OpenShot, an open-source video editor, has several professional video editing features. These features include timeline editing, image sequences, audio mixing, keyframe editing, drag-and-drop sorting, and many other features. This application is available for both Linux and Windows. 

OpenShot Editor is a good choice for those who want to edit videos using an open-source tool. Furthermore, it also allows users to create content videos for social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. 

OpenShot Features

Here is a list of OpenShot features that makes it a great video editing application:

• Support for several video, audio, and image formats
• Digital video effects such as brightness, contrast, gamma, hue, saturation, and chroma key adjustments
• Audio mixing with video editing
• Time-mapping and speed tracking on clips
• 3D animated effects and titles for videos
• Title templates, subtitles support, and title creation
• Video transitions with live previews
• Keyframe animations
• Desktop integration
• Clip cutting, rotation, snapping, trimming, scaling, and resizing
• Adding visual elements to videos, such as compositing, watermarks, and image overlays
• Supports drag and drop, scrolling, snapping, zooming, and panning

Prerequisites

For this tutorial, you’ll need the following:

• Basic knowledge of using shell commands in Linux
• A Ubuntu machine with sudo access or root privilege. 

How to Install OpenShot on Ubuntu

In this section, we’ll cover how to install OpenShot on Ubuntu. You can follow the same method for other Debian-based Linux distributions. Follow the steps discussed below to set up and use OpenShot.

Update the Ubuntu System

The first step to ensure a successful installation is to update your machine. For this step, we’ll use the apt update and upgrade commands as shown below:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

You should get a similar output:

Wait for the installation to complete.

Install the Required Packages

Next, we’ll install the file packages required for the OpenShot installation. This includes wget, CA certificates, and GNU packages. Execute the command given below to start the installation process: 

sudo apt install wget dirmngr ca-certificates software-properties-common gnupg gnupg2 apt-transport-https

Once all the packages have been successfully installed, move to the next step. 

Install OpenShot on Ubuntu

In this section, we’ll cover three methods you can opt for to install OpenShot. Read below to find out.

Install OpenShot on Ubuntu Using the APT Package

Now, we’ll install OpenShot using the APT package. For this step, use the install command:

sudo apt install openshot -qt

Output:

Install OpenShot on Ubuntu Using the PPA Package

By default, OpenShot isn’t available in any Ubuntu distribution. Therefore, we’ll first add the OpenShot PPA repository. Specifically, type:

echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/openshot.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/openshot.developers/libopenshot-daily/ubuntu jammy main' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openshot.list

Next, we’ll import the GPG key. For instance, type:

sudo gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/openshot.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys FBA0C227099A5360635E3D9152165BD6B9BA26FA

This will add the repository successfully. Alternatively, you can also execute this command to add OpenShot using the PPA repository:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:openshot.developers/libopenshot-daily

After that, we’ll start the OpenShot installation. For this step, use the install command. Specifically, type: 

sudo apt install openshot-qt python3-openshot

You should get a similar output:

Wait for the installation to complete before launching the application. 

Install OpenShot Using Flatpak

In this section, we’ll install OpenShot using Flatpak. For this step, first, install Flatpak as shown below:

sudo apt install flatpak

Secondly, add the Flathub repository on your Linux machine. For this step, we’ll use the add command. For example:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

After that, reboot your system as shown below:

sudo reboot

Once the system has rebooted, we’ll install OpenShot using the install command. Specifically, type:

flatpak install flathub org.openshot.OpenShot

Wait for the installation to complete.

Run OpenShot in Ubuntu

To access Ubutu from GUI, open the Applications Manager. In the search bar, type OpenShot and click on the search results that appear.  Output:

Alternatively, if you want to access from CLI, open the terminal and type openshot. For example:

openshot-qt

You should get an interface like this:

Now you can start from scratch or start editing existing videos.

The third method you can use to launch OpenShot is the Flatpak method. However, that’ll only work if you’ve installed it using the Flatpak package. For this step, open the terminal and use the run command. Specifically, type:

flatpak run org.openshot.OpenShot

Update OpenShot on Ubuntu

If you want to use the latest version of OpenShot on Ubuntu, make sure to update it using the update command. Specifically, type:

sudo apt update

Alternatively, to update it using Flatpak, type:

flatpak update

The last method to update OpenShot is to update it from the Applications Manager. Open the OpenShot Video Editor by opening Applications, you’ll see an update button beside it. However, you’ll only see the button if an update is available for this software.

Remove OpenShot From Ubuntu

If you no longer need to use the video editor, you can easily uninstall it. To install it from the Applications Manager, just click the Applications Manager icon. After that, locate OpenShot Editor from the list of installed applications. Click it once to view the uninstall button. Lastly, click to remove it from the machine.

Alternatively, you can remove it using the terminal as well. For this step, use the uninstall command. Make sure to add the –purge option to remove all data files, configurations, and dependencies.  

sudo apt-get -y --purge openshot-qt

Another method to remove OpenShot for Ubuntu is to use Flatpak. For this step, use the remove command. Specifically, type:

flatpak remove flathub org.openshot.OpenShot

In this article, we covered how to install OpenShot on Ubuntu in several ways. We also looked at multiple ways to launch, update and remove this application from the Linux machine. For additional information, check its official website. 

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