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[How To] Install H.265 HEVC codec on Ubuntu

The use of H.265/HEVC video codec is increasing day by day since it is easy to achieve the best video quality in small size (best compression).
Most of the players will play the media containing H.265/HEVC codec. If player does not then one must install H.265/HEVC decoder in the system.

Let see how to install H.265/HEVC decoder in Ubuntu Desktop:

1) Enable the third party repository / PPA

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:strukturag/libde265

2) Run the package update

sudo apt-get update

3) Install GStreamer application:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0-libde265

The above application will install H.265/HEVC decoder a default video player will be able to play the media files.

4) If using VLC, then install following VLC plug-in

sudo apt-get install vlc-plugin-libde265

To upgrade VLC player:

1) Install the below PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media

2) Upgrade existing VLC player

sudo apt-get install vlc

Enjoy playing HD video files!

Abhijit Sandhan

Love to Automate, Blog, Travel, Hike & spread Knowledge!

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13 Comments

  1. Thanks guys..did all of the above and VLC Player has stopped telling me 'there is nothing you can do to fix this' and is playing H.265 files ok now. The VLC version was 2.1.6. Rincewind - August 11 2017 - which just seemed to support the H.264 codec.

  2. When I pasted sudo apt-get install vlc-plugin-libde265 into the terminal I got this:

    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    E: Unable to locate package vlc-plugin-libde265

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