More package choice is a reason to rejoice

OpenShot video editor is now (officially) available as a snap

by · omg! ubuntu · Join

The OpenShot video editor is now available on the Canonical Snap Store.

An official snap package of the Qt-based editing tool went live today (22 September). The new snap is already available to install via App Center on all supported Ubuntu releases, though a Deb package is carried in the Ubuntu archives1 so two results appear in search:

The open-source video editor is now available as a Snap

Adding a snap package will make it easier for Ubuntu users to install the video editor. It also makes newer versions available to users on older Ubuntu LTS releases, whose Qt versions may prevent them from using the official PPA packages.

The OpenShot 4.0 release in August added a swathe of notable improvements, including long-awaited colour grading tools, better multitrack recording and deeper integration with the cloud-based ComfyUI AI service.

How to install OpenShot snap package

OpenShot 4.0 is more capable than ever

To install the OpenShot snap from the command-line:

sudo snap install openshot-qt

The sandboxed version of OpenShot isn’t quite “install and go” at the time of writing. It will require you the to grant explicit permissions before the app can acess the microphone, webcam or open/save files on removable/external drives.

Grant those permissions via Settings > Apps > OpenShot, or do it from the command line:

sudo snap connect openshot-qt:audio-record
sudo snap connect openshot-qt:camera
sudo snap connect openshot-qt:removable-media

Jonathan Thomas, developer of OpenShot, has requested auto-connect approval (and also to change the snap name to simple openshot, both of which may be approved in the coming days – I’ll revise this post if they change).

OpenShot Deb packages?

What does this mean for the OpenShot PPA?

Probably not much.

OpenShot’s PPA has been around for a long time, and gives those who don’t want to use snaps (or the official AppImage) a means to install the app and receive ongoing updates.

While OpenShot is on Flathub, it’s an unverified package that has not, as of writing this post, been updated to the latest version (4.0) – with its Snap store debut checked off, perhaps a formal Flathub release is next?

Let’s hope!

  1. The OpenShot Debian package hasn’t been updated to v4.0, so the Deb version you’ll find in the Ubuntu 26.10 archives is still v3.4. ↩︎