Kdenlive Ubuntu

Kdenlive is a powerful open-source video editor that’s currently developed and maintained by the KDE community. 

It offers consistently reliable performance while also being resource friendly. Add to this the score of features it provides and it’s not hard to see why it’s one of the top video editors on Ubuntu.

We’ll cover various ways to install Kdenlive on Ubuntu in this article. You can use your preferred method, and once that’s done, skip ahead to the last section to get started with Kdenlive. 

Install Kdenlive Snap

The Kdenlive snap will provide you with the latest Kdenlive version in most cases while also being very easy to maintain.

sudo snap install kdenlive

Afterward, you can launch Kdenlive from the Applications menu, or directly from the terminal by entering

kdenlive

Snaps auto-update, so you won’t need to manually update the Kdenlive snap. If you need to remove it instead, you can use

sudo snap remove kdenlive

Add Kdenlive PPA (apt)

If you’re not a fan of snaps and would like to manage Kdenlive with apt instead, you have two options. 

Kdenlive is present in the Ubuntu repository, but that version is usually outdated. If you don’t want any potential headaches from PPAs and are fine with a slightly older version of Kdenlive, you can install it from the default repository.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install kdenlive

Alternatively, if you want the latest version, you can add the official PPA and install it.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable
sudo apt update && sudo apt install kdenlive

In either case, you can launch Kdenlive from the Applications menu, or directly from the terminal by entering

kdenlive

To update Kdenlive in the future, you can use

sudo apt update && sudo apt install --only-upgrade kdenlive

Finally, to remove the Kdenlive PPA and the app itself, you can use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable
sudo apt remove kdenlive

Download Kdenlive AppImage

AppImages are sandboxed programs designed to work on most Linux distros. Rather than installing Kdenlive, if you want a portable version that you can take to another system and run easily, you should download the Kdenlive appimage.

Make the appimage executable using chmod. Don’t forget to replace filename with the actual filename.

chmod a+x filename.AppImage

Then, double-click the appimage to launch it, or run it from the terminal like so

./filename.AppImage

With AppImages, you simply download the newer version when it’s available. And to remove it, all you need to do is delete the appimage.

Getting Started with Kdenlive

You’ll probably want to start by going to Settings > Configure Kdenlive and configuring things like the Project Defaults, Playback preferences, and so on.

And before you start a new project, you can customize settings for the current project from File > New.

Then, press the button under File to add new clips.

Drag and drop the added clip to the timeline to start editing.

You can also switch to other modes like Audio, Effects, or Color as required from the top-right.

Once you’re done editing, you can press Ctrl + Enter or select Project > Render to render and export the video.

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.