chromium on ubuntu

Chromium is a FOSS project that’s the base for various browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. Chrome specifically, is just Chromium with some proprietary features added on.

As Chromium lacks support for things like automatic updates and multimedia codecs, Chrome’s user experience is generally better. But users that value free open-source software tend to prefer Chromium. If you’ve decided to install Chromium as well, this guide will be helpful.

Install from Snap Store

If you’re new to Ubuntu, you might prefer installing Chromium graphically as it’s easier to understand what you’re doing.

  1. Launch the Ubuntu Software app from the dock.
    ubuntu software dock
  2. Search and open the Chromium package’s page.
    chromium snap store
  3. The Stable package is selected by default. You can change to the Beta or Dev (edge) releases if you want and click on Install to install Chromium.
    chromium releases stable edge beta
  4. After installing Chromium, you can launch it from the applications menu.
    chromium app ubuntu

Install from Command Line

Normally, we’d use apt when installing packages from the command line. But the package in the Ubuntu Universe repo is just an empty transitional package that links to a Chromium snap. So, you might as well just install Chromium using snap instead. 

sudo snap install chromium

You can install the Beta or Dev (edge) versions instead using the --channel option.

sudo snap install chromium --channel=latest/beta
sudo snap install chromium --channel=latest/edge

If you want to install the multimedia codecs as well, use

sudo snap install chromium-ffmpeg

After setting up Chromium, you can open it from the applications menu or directly from the terminal by entering 

chromium

Managing and Using Chromium

Snaps auto-update, so you don’t need to worry about keeping Chromium updated. You can check the currently installed version with 

snap info chromium

If you want to urgently run a manual update, you can use

sudo snap refresh chromium

And if you want to uninstall Chromium, you can use

sudo snap remove chromium
Anup Thapa

Senior Writer

Anup Thapa is a Linux enthusiast with an extensive background in computer hardware and networking. His goal is to effectively communicate technical concepts in a simplified form understandable by new Linux users. To this end, he mainly writes beginner-friendly tutorials and troubleshooting guides. Outside of work, he enjoys reading up on a range of topics, traveling, working out, and MOBAs.