How to Install Qmmp on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
If you’ve been hunting for a lightweight, feature‑rich music player that won’t eat up RAM, Qmmp is a solid pick. Below are the exact steps to get it running on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, plus a quick note on why each part matters.
1. Why bother with Qmmp?
Qmmp gives you all the usual playback controls and a clean interface, but it also ships plugins for pretty much every codec you can throw at it. I’ve seen people stuck on the default Ubuntu repo version that lacks MP3 support unless they add an extra PPA.
2. Add the official Qmmp PPA
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qmmp/ppa
Why this matters: The PPA hosts newer builds with up‑to‑date dependencies, including the latest libfaad for AAC and libflac for FLAC. Without it you’ll end up with a crippled player.
3. Update your package list
sudo apt update
Why this matters: Refreshing the cache ensures apt knows about the freshly added PPA packages.
4. Install Qmmp (and recommended plugins)
sudo apt install qmmp qmmp-plugins
The second package pulls in most of the useful plug‑ins by default—audio effects, visualizers, and support for newer formats.
5. Fix any missing libraries
Sometimes a fresh install will complain about libfaad2 or ffmpeg. If that happens:
sudo apt install libfaad2 ffmpeg
Why this matters: Qmmp’s core doesn’t bundle these codecs to keep the binary small; you’ll need them for full format coverage.
6. Launch and tweak settings
Run qmmp from the terminal or find it in your application launcher. In the preferences, set your default audio output (ALSA/pipewire) and choose a visualizer if you’re into those flashy screens.
That’s all there is to it—just a few lines of commands and you’re back to enjoying music without the bloat. If you hit a snag, drop a comment; I’ve seen folks run into a “No matching distribution found” error when they try to install from the Ubuntu archive instead of the PPA.
