How to Install VLC Media Player on Ubuntu 20.04

If you’re looking for a full-featured replacement for Microsoft’s media player OR finding some trouble for playing your favourite videos on media player due to some compatibility issues then the VLC Media Player is a serious contender.

VLC media player is popular, no doubt because VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

Rest all media formates can be easily converted to supported ones using same interface.

When WinAmp and Windows Media Players fail, then you can expect right solution for VLC platform.

VLC is currently serving a large community throughout the world and it has all powerful features that beginners and professionals often demand from media players.

Key Features of VLC Media Player:

• VLC plays Files, Discs, Webcams, Devices and Streams.
• This media player is available for various platforms i.e. Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Android, Linux, iOS.
• No spyware, No ads, No user tracking.
• VLC has hardware decoding on most platforms. It supports 0-copy on the GPU and can fallback on software when required.
• Supports almost all Audio and Video formats without the need for additional codecs, Here are some Examples:
  • Video Formats: MPEG-1/2, DivX® (1/2/3/4/5/6), MPEG-4 ASP, XviD, MPEG-4 AVC, WMV 1/2, WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1, Sorenson 1/3, DV, Indeo Video v3 (IV32), Real Video (1/2/3/4).
  • Audio Formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, AMR,[a] DTS, DV Audio, XM, FLAC, It, MACE, MOD, Monkey’s Audio, MP3, Opus,[93] PLS, QCP, QDM2/QDMC, RealAudio,[c] Speex, Screamtracker 3/S3M, TTA, Vorbis, WavPack,[d] WMA (WMA 1/2, WMA 3 partially).
  • DVD Formats: DVD, Text files (MicroDVD, SubRIP, SubViewer, SSA1-5, SAMI, VPlayer), Closed captions, Vobsub, Universal Subtitle Format (USF), SVCD / CVD, DVB, OGM, CMML, Kate.
• VLC has the most complete feature-set over the video, subtitle synchronisation, video and audio filters.
• Enjoy taking screenshots while playing video on VLC and it will be saved to your documents folder with MPG extension.
• It can also stream music and play videos while they are downloading.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Every media player has some advantages and disadvantages. Here we have listed our observations on VLC Media Player.

Pros:

• It can play almost any media file format that you want to add to its platform. If it cannot play directly, then it can offer easy conversion without quality loss.
• No spyware or tracking
• It has ability to encode outbound streams.
• Fully customizable
• VLC Media Player cab play TV and Internet radio as per your choice.
• Open source tool and available for free with all incredible features.
• Free to use
• Great, responsive community of developers.

Cons:

• Doesn’t support Cloud
• It lacks in Blue-Ray playback compatibilities.
• Outdated interface.
• Not made to play or catalog a music library.

This article explains two methods of installing VLC Media Player on Ubuntu 20.04.

VLC Media Player can be installed as a snap package via the Snapcraft store or as a .deb package through apt.

Choose the installation method that is most appropriate for your environment.

Method 1: Installing VLC Media Player as a Snap Package

The VLC Media Player snap package is distributed and maintained by the VideoLAN Organization.

A snap package is a type of universal Linux package that you can enjoy irrespective of the distro. Its an self-contained software packages that include the binary all dependencies needed to run the application.

All you need is the snap service pre-configured, In the case of Ubuntu 20.04, it comes with snap pre-installed.

If snapd package is not already installed then you can install it by running following command.

$ sudo apt install snapd

Note: Snap packages can be installed from either the command-line or via the Ubuntu Software application.

This is actually the Snap version of the VLC Media Player. It can be used on any Linux distribution that has Snap support.

Open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type the following command to install the VLC package.

$ sudo snap install vlc

That’s It. Now you can open the VLC Media Player application with the help of Activities search bar.

Note: Whenever a new version is released, the VLC snap package will be automatically updated in the background.

If you are not comfortable with the command line, open Ubuntu Software, search for “VLC” and install the application.

Method 2: Installing VLC Media Player via apt

Step #1

Installing VLC Media Player using apt is a relatively easy process and takes only a few minutes to complete.

Open a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and execute the below commands to update packages.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Note: The user must have sudo privileges to run all these commands.

Step #2

Now execute the following command to install the VLC Media Player package.

$ sudo apt install vlc

When a new version of VLC Player is released you can update the package by executing the following commands.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Or if you are not comfortable with commands then you can always update the package graphically. You can do so through your desktop standard Software Update tool.

Starting VLC Media Player

In the Activities search bar type “VLC Media Player” and click on the icon to launch the application.

VLC Media Player Welcome Screen:

How to Uninstall VLC Media Player from Ubuntu 20.04

For some reason, If you want to uninstall VLC Media Player, then here are some methods you can follow.

If you installed via Snap:

$ sudo snap remove vlc

If you installed via apt:

$ sudo apt remove vlc

Or If you installed via Ubuntu Software, open Ubuntu Software, look for the app in the installed category, and click on remove.

Bottom Line:

It is a versatile and free of cost media player that extends its interactive support to many other files formats. Users can also record as well as stream their audio and video content on this platform.

Conclusion

I hope that now you have a good understanding of How to Install VLC Media Player on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa.

If anyone does have any questions about what we covered in this guide then feel free to ask in the comment section below and I will do my best to answer those.