Installing on Linux

Check the Downloading Blender page to find the minimum requirements and the different versions that are available for Blender (if you have not done so yet).

Install from blender.org

Download the Linux version for your architecture and uncompress the file to the desired location (e.g. ~/software or /usr/local).

Blender can now be launched by double-clicking the executable.

When using this method of installation, it is possible to have multiple versions of Blender installed.

For ease of access, you can configure your system by adding a menu entry or shortcut for Blender. You may also associate blend-files with Blender so that when selected from the file browser, they will automatically open in Blender. These settings are typically found in conjunction with the Window Manager settings. (Gnome or KDE.)

Install from Package Manager

Some Linux distributions may have a specific package for Blender in their repositories.

Installing Blender via the distribution's native mechanisms ensures consistency with other packages on the system and may provide other features (given by the package manager), such as listing of packages, update notifications and automatic menu configuration. Be aware, though, that the package may be outdated compared to the latest official release, or not include some features of Blender. For example, some distributions do not build Blender with Cycles GPU rendering support, for licensing or other reasons.

If there is a specific package for your distribution, you may choose what is preferable and most convenient, otherwise, the official binary is available on blender.org.

Install from Snap

Snap is a universal package manager designed to work across a range of distributions. Assuming snap is already installed, Blender can be installed through snap with:

snap install blender

Installing from this method has a benefit that updates to Blender are automatically installed. Blender from Snap should have a more consistent distribution then individual package managers.

Running from the Terminal

See Launching from the terminal.

Graphics System (X11 & Wayland)

Blender supports both X11 and Wayland, see Linux Windowing Environment for details.

Avoiding Alt-Mouse Conflict

Some window managers default to Alt-LMB and Alt-RMB for moving and resizing windows.

Blender uses these for various operations, notably:

To access Blender's full feature set, you can change the window manager settings to use the Meta key instead (also called Super or Windows key):

Gnome

Enter the following in a command line (effective at next login):

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences mouse-button-modifier '<Super>'

KDE

System Settings ‣ Window Management ‣ Window Behavior ‣ Window Actions, Switch from 'Alt' to 'Meta' key.

Updating on Linux

On Linux there are various ways of updating Blender. This section covers the most common approaches.

Updating from blender.org

When an update for Blender is released, it can be downloaded directly from the Blender website and installed using the steps described in the section Install from blender.org.

Updating with a Package Manager

Many Linux distributions have packages for Blender available, which can be installed using the distribution's package manager. After installation, Blender can be updated using the same steps as updating any other application.