How To Install HandBrake on Debian 12

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install HandBrake on Debian 12. Video transcoding is a common task for those who want to convert video files into different formats or compress them without losing quality. One popular tool for this purpose is HandBrake, a versatile and open-source transcoder.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the HandBrake transcode video on a Debian 12 (Bookworm).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Debian 12 (Bookworm).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• You will need an active internet connection to download and install HandBrake via Flatpak.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install HandBrake on Debian 12 Bookworm

Step 1. Before diving into the installation process, it’s important to ensure that you have a working Debian 12 system. If you haven’t already, make sure to update your system to its latest state using the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Installing Flatpak.

Flatpak is a modern and universal package management system that simplifies software installation on Linux. It allows you to install and run applications in a secure and isolated environment. If you don’t already have Flatpak installed, here’s how to do it:

sudo apt install flatpak

During the installation, you will be prompted to confirm. Type ‘Y‘ to proceed.

Now that you have Flatpak installed, the next step is to add the Flathub repository. This repository contains a wide variety of applications, including HandBrake:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

This command ensures that your system can access applications available on Flathub.

Step 3. Installing HandBrake on Debian 12.

HandBrake is a powerful, open-source transcoder for video files. Now that you have Flatpak and Flathub set up, it’s time to install HandBrake. In your terminal, type the following command to search for HandBrake on Flathub:

flatpak search HandBrake

This command will display a list of available versions of HandBrake. Note the app ID for the version you want to install.

To install HandBrake, use the following command, replacing your_app_id with the app ID from the previous step:

flatpak install flathub your_app_id

For example, if you want to install HandBrake’s stable version, you would use the following command:

flatpak install flathub fr.handbrake.ghb

During the installation, you’ll be asked to confirm. Type ‘Y‘ to proceed.

Step 4. Launching HandBrake.

Launching HandBrake is straightforward, whether you prefer using your desktop environment’s application menu or the terminal. If you prefer using the terminal to launch HandBrake, you can do so with the following command:

flatpak run fr.handbrake.ghb

Congratulations! You have successfully installed HandBrake. Thanks for using this tutorial to install the latest version of the HandBrake open-source transcode video on Debian 12 Bookworm. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official HandBrake website.