How to install Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

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Popcorn Time streams movies and TV shows from torrents directly into your screen. Although this procedure should work on any other Linux distributions such as Linux Mint, Debian, CentOS etc., the objective is to install Popcorn Time movie streamer on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa.

In this tutorial you will learn:

  • How to download Popcorn Time
  • How to extract and install Popcorn Time
  • How to create Popcorn Time launcher
  • How to start Popcorn Time
WARNING
There are multiple projects under different domain names claiming to be the “Popcorn Time” movie player on the Internet. These projects are malware clones, so avoid for all cost. The official website of the Popcorn Time movie player is https://popcorntime.sh/.

Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

Software Requirements and Conventions Used

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions
Category Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System Installed Ubuntu 20.04 or upgraded Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa
Software Popcorn Time 3.10
Other Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command.
Conventions # – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

How to install Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 20.04 step by step instructions

  1. First step is to install all prerequisites. Open up your terminal and enter the following commands: 
    $ sudo apt update && sudo apt install libcanberra-gtk-module libgconf-2-4
  2. Next, download and install Popcorn Time binaries: 
    $ sudo mkdir /opt/popcorn-time
$ sudo wget -O- https://get.popcorntime.sh/build/Popcorn-Time-0.3.10-Linux-64.tar.xz | sudo tar Jx -C /opt/popcorn-time
  3. Create executable link: 
    $ sudo ln -sf /opt/popcorn-time/Popcorn-Time /usr/bin/popcorn-time
  4. At this stage you are ready to start Popcorn Time movie player from a command line by executing the below command: 
    $ popcorn-time
  5. Optionally, you can create a desktop launcher to start the Popcorn Time from your desktop menu. To do so as an administrative user create a file /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop: 
    $ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop

    and insert the following content into this file:

    [Desktop Entry]
Version = 1.0
Type = Application
Terminal = false
Name = Popcorn Time
Exec = /usr/bin/popcorn-time
Icon = /opt/popcorn-time/popcorntime.png
Categories = Application;

    Once ready download the Popcorn Time icon:

    $ sudo wget -qO /opt/popcorn-time/popcorntime.png goo.gl/wz8ifr
  6. All done. Use activities menu to start Popcorn Time movie player.
    Start Popcorn Time Movie Player

    Start Popcorn Time Movie Player
    Accept terms and Conditions

    Accept terms and Conditions

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