Celluloid (Gnome MPV) Now GTK4 + LibAwaita Video Player for Linux

By releasing v0.24, Celluloid (formerly Gnome MPV) is now a LibAwaita app. Meaning it works good on any screen sizes, including mobile or tablet devices.

Celluloid is a graphical front-end for MPV, defaults in Linux Mint. As MPV is a command line video player, Celluloid adds graphical controls and options to make the player easy to use.

Now, the app has ported to GTK4 plus LibAwaita. Which makes it look modern and stylish, and works good on small screen sizes.

MPV was just OK when it was in Ubuntu 20.04. But in Ubuntu 22.04, it lacks window border due to switch to Wayland (though there are workarounds). And, the UI looks outdated as more and more apps ported to GTK4.

If you’re going to make a switch, then Celluloid is really a good choice, especially for Gnome desktop Linux, such as Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation.

How to Install latest Celluloid in Ubuntu 22.04 / 22.10

1. Firstly, press Ctrl + Alt + T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add the official PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue

2. Then either use “Software Updater” (or Update Manager) to update the player if stock version was installed.

Or, run the command below to install/upgrade the app:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install celluloid

For other Linux, go to the project page.

Enable Hardware Acceleration

The player in my case does not use GPU rendering out-of-box. However, it’s easy to enable the features.

Simply click the hamburger menu and go to “Preferences”. Under “Miscellaneous” tab, add --hwdec in the ‘Extra MPV options’ box.

Uninstall Celluloid

To remove the software package, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove celluloid

And, remove the Ubuntu PPA either via the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv

Or use the ‘Software & Updates’ utility under ‘Other Software’ tab: