An FFmpeg GUI for Linux: FFmpeg on Ubuntu, Without the Terminal

Published October 25, 2026

On Linux, FFmpeg is one command away, and then everything after that is commands too. FFmpeg Commander is an FFmpeg GUI for Linux desktops like Ubuntu and Linux Mint: the same FFmpeg engine, with menus, sliders and buttons instead of a terminal.

How to install FFmpeg on Linux (the terminal way)

If you just want the FFmpeg command-line tool, it is in the standard repositories. On Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS and other Debian-based systems:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg

Check that it worked with ffmpeg -version. From there you use it by typing commands such as ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx265 -crf 26 -preset slow output.mp4. Powerful, but every task means looking up the right flags, and one wrong character and it fails.

Or skip the terminal: an FFmpeg GUI for Linux

FFmpeg Commander puts a real interface on top of FFmpeg. You open a video, choose what you want from menus, and click a button. It runs the FFmpeg commands for you.

FFmpeg comes bundled: FFmpeg, GStreamer, yt-dlp and Whisper AI are included in the download, so you don't need to install anything separately.
Installs without the terminal: extract the .tar.gz, right-click install.sh and choose Run as a Program. It adds a Desktop icon, pins the app to your dock and adds it to your Applications search. Uninstalling works the same way.
The same app as on Mac and Windows: the full feature set, not a cut-down port.
Runs entirely on your machine: nothing is uploaded, no account, no cloud.

Step-by-step with a video walkthrough: Install FFmpeg Commander on Linux.

What you can do on Linux, without a single command

Convert HEVC to MP4 so videos play everywhere. Guide
Compress big files without wrecking the quality. Guide
Batch convert a whole folder at once. Guide
Convert and replace files on a Plex or Jellyfin server for older TVs. Guide
Burn subtitles into foreign films for Plex and Jellyfin. Guide
Auto-generate and translate subtitles with Whisper AI. Guide
Dub video into 19 languages, offline. How dubbing works
Restore old VHS and home video. Guide
Download online video with the built-in yt-dlp. Guide

Need a screen recorder on Linux? There is a separate, free Screen Capture app for Linux (Beta). One thing to know: it captures through FFmpeg's x11grab, so it needs a real X11 session, not Wayland. On Ubuntu that means logging into an Xfce session; the page explains exactly how.

Which Linux distributions does it run on?

Certified on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (x86_64). That is the version it has actually been tested on.
It should also work on other recent Ubuntu LTS releases and close derivatives such as Linux Mint, Pop!_OS and elementary OS, since they share the same libraries, but those have not been independently verified yet.

Also on Mac (Apple Silicon) and Windows 11: see the FFmpeg GUI for Mac, the FFmpeg GUI for Windows or the FFmpeg GUI overview.

"Linux has had FFmpeg forever. What it was missing was a friendly front door."

FFmpeg Commander is the FFmpeg GUI for Linux: all of FFmpeg's power, none of the terminal. $45 once, no subscription, 14-day money-back guarantee.

Get FFmpeg Commander for Linux — $45 →

FFmpeg Commander Video Toolbox — 2026