How to Install KdenLive in Linux/Ubuntu

What is Kdenlive?

Kdenlive is an open-source video editor. The project was started around 2003. Kdenlive is built on Qt and the KDE frameworks libraries. Most of the video processing is done by the MLT Framework, which relies on many other open-source projects like FFmpeg, frei0r, movit, ladspa, sox etc.

Kdenlive is a professional video editor developed by the people working at KDE. It is cross-platform, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Kdenlive is known for its ability to support multiple video formats, such as 3Gp, MKV, MP4, etc., in addition to providing loads of powerful features to its users. Some of the most prominent features include multi-tracks for audio and video editing, a variety of effects and transitions, and customizability.

Kdenlive Features

Kdenlive has multi-track editing with a timeline and supports an unlimited number of video and audio tracks.

A built-in title editor and tools to create, move, crop and delete video clips, audio clips, text clips and image clips.

Ability to add custom effects and transitions.

A wide range of effects and transitions. Audio signal processing capabilities include normalization, phase and pitch shifting, limiting, volume adjustment, reverb and equalization filters as well as others. Visual effects include options for masking, blue-screen, distortions, rotations, colour tools, blurring, obscuring and others.

Rendering is done using a separate non-blocking process so it can be stopped, paused and restarted.

Installing Kdenlive

Linux/Ubuntu offers multiple ways for users to install Kdenlive on their computers.

Method 1: Installing Kdenlive using Snap

The simplest way of installing Kdenlive is by using the Snap store. Snaps are packages that belong to the Snap package manager developed by Canonical for Linux OS.

The advantage of using Snaps versus other repositories is that it does not rely on any particular app store, and these programs are available for all Linux distributions.

To install Kdenlive using Snap, simply enter the following command.

$ sudo snap install kdenlive

Method 2: Installing Kdenlive using the PPA Repository

Snaps, however, has faced several criticisms regarding instability. A better alternative for this is to install Kdenlive by using the PPA repository.

To do this, open the terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching terminal in the Ubuntu Dash. Once the Terminal is opened, enter the following command.

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

Next update your systems by running the following command.

$ sudo apt-get update

Finally, enter the following command to install Kdenlive onto your Ubuntu system.

$ sudo apt install kdenlive

Method 3: Installing Kdenlive using the AppImage

Another way of installing Kdenlive is by using the AppImage. This allows users to run applications as they would run in Windows. To use this application, go to the official website of Kdenlive and click on the download section.

https://kdenlive.org/en/

Next, click on the AppImage button, which will start downloading your file.

After downloading the file, go to the directory where you downloaded it and run the following command to give it an executable status.

$ sudo chmod +x ./*.appimage

Now, double-click on the AppImage file and Kdenlive will start.