How to Install Chromium Browser via .deb in Ubuntu 20.04

Prefer installing Chromium browser via DEB rather than using SNAP package? Here’s how to install Chromium .deb package in Ubuntu 20.04 via PPA.

In Ubuntu 20.04, Chromium deb in the main repository is empty!! It will automatically install the containerized snap package when you trying to install it via apt command.

For those prefer Chromium in deb to in snap, there’s an unofficial PPA maintains the .deb packages for Ubuntu 20.04 with VAAPI support.

1.) Open terminal either from ‘Show Applications’ menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.

When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xalt7x/chromium-deb-vaapi

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

2.) Run command to “pin” the PPA to avoid installation of snap package in Ubuntu 20.04:

NOTE 1: This is a single command though it has multiple lines, simply paste them to terminal (Ctrl+Shift+V) and hit enter.

NOTE 2: This step is optional at the moment as Chromium in main repository is old than version in this PPA.

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-xalt7x-chromium-deb-vaapi
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-xalt7x-chromium-deb-vaapi
Pin-Priority: 1337
EOF

3.) Finally run 2 commands to refresh package cache and install Chromium deb:!

sudo apt update

sudo apt install chromium-browser chromium-codecs-ffmpeg

Once installed, search for and open the browser from ‘Show Applications’ menu and enjoy!

To Remove Chromium browser:

To remove the PPA, either go to Softwarew & Updates > Other Software or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xalt7x/chromium-deb-vaapi

And remove the rule you did in step 2 by running command:

sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-xalt7x-chromium-deb-vaapi

And remove Chromium browser deb package by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove chromium-browser