YouTube Music Desktop

YouTube Music for Linux

Install the free YouTube Music desktop app on Linux via AppImage, deb, rpm or the AUR. Includes MPRIS media-key support, an ad blocker and a downloader.

Download for Linux

Free · MIT licensed · Most modern distributions (AppImage, deb, rpm, AUR)

Linux gets the widest choice of packaging: an AppImage that runs anywhere, deb and rpm packages for Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora, and the community-maintained youtube-music-bin package in the AUR for Arch.

The Shortcuts plugin exposes the player over MPRIS, so GNOME’s media widget, KDE’s media controller and playerctl treat it like any native player.

Installation options

AppImage (any distribution)

  1. Download the .AppImage file from the latest release.
  2. Make it executable: chmod +x YouTube-Music-*.AppImage.
  3. Run it directly, or integrate it with a tool such as AppImageLauncher.
chmod +x YouTube-Music-*.AppImage && ./YouTube-Music-*.AppImage

Arch Linux (AUR)

  1. Use your preferred AUR helper.
  2. Install the youtube-music-bin package.
  3. Updates arrive with your normal system upgrades.
yay -S youtube-music-bin

Debian / Ubuntu

  1. Download the .deb from the latest release.
  2. Install it with dpkg or by double-clicking it in your file manager.
  3. Run sudo apt -f install if dependencies are reported missing.
sudo dpkg -i youtube-music_*_amd64.deb

Fedora / openSUSE

  1. Download the .rpm from the latest release.
  2. Install it with rpm or your graphical package manager.
sudo rpm -i youtube-music-*.x86_64.rpm

After installing

Open the Plugins menu and turn on what you need — the plugin guide covers a good starter set. Most people begin with Ad Blocker, Downloader, Synced Lyrics and Shortcuts.

Frequently asked questions

Do my media keys work on Linux?

Yes. Enable the Shortcuts plugin, which turns on MPRIS support — after that, desktop media widgets and playerctl play-pause control the app.

The AppImage will not start on Wayland.

Electron apps sometimes need explicit flags on Wayland. Launching with --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland resolves most cases; otherwise it falls back to XWayland.

Is the AUR package official?

It is community-maintained and tracks the official releases. The AppImage and deb/rpm packages come straight from the project’s release pipeline.