A major new update to the powerful open source video converter HandBrake is available.

In the 6 months (give or take) since the HandBrake 1.8 release arrived with its GTK4 (but not libadwaita) GUI in tow, the team has furnished this free media conversation software for Windows, macOS, and Linux with a fresh batch of features.

HandBrake 1.9 adds support for lossless VP9 encoding. Now, the app already supports converting to VP9, but lossless support means it can convert videos while retaining 100% of the original input quality.

The downside to lossless video formats in general is huge file sizes – not quite “fill up your whole hard drive” huge, but large enough to make a USB thumb-drive cry!

Elsewhere, HandBrake 1.9 also adds support for Intel QSV VVC hardware video decoding (aka H.266); and adds an option for AV1 screen content coding (SCC) in the Intel Lunar Lake QSV AV1 encoder – QSV is Intel’s Quick Sync Video tech built-in to its CPUs.

Those who like to back up optical media they own—the legality of which varies from country to country, of course—will find a new preference to keep duplicated Blu-Ray titles, and an option to set the max duration of titles during scanning.

Max duration setting compliments HandBrake’s existing ‘set minimum title duration’, which skips video titles on a DVD or Blu-Ray that are shorter than the value entered.

Being able to skip video titles which are longer than a specific length makes it much faster to scan and rip shorter video clips, e.g, special features rather than the main feature, without the entire disc being scanned first.

In addition to the items in bold above, HandBrake 1.9 also includes:

  • ALAC encoder
  • Vorbis passthru
  • DTS audio profile scanning improvements
  • Better quality subtitle burn-in
  • Update libraries including FFmpeg 7.1 & SVT-AV1 2.3
  • Swedish translation in Windows and macOS apps
  • Range Limit controls in Add to Queue dialog (macOS & Windows)
  • DirectX video decoding with Media Foundation encoder (Windows ARM)

Linux fixes in HandBrake 1.9 cover:

  • Queue being stopped when removing completed items
  • Power Save option will pause the encodes when enabled
  • Chapters names not being saved properly
  • Assorted quirks with presets

More details on this release can be found by checking out the official release notes available on HandBrake GitHub releases page.

Install HandBrake 1.9 on Ubuntu

I’ve got an MKV I need to compress simply so it can fit on a USB stick I can stab in the side of the TV downstairs – this release of HandBrake has come at a great time for me.

So how to install it on Ubuntu?

Well, don’t use the HandBrake snap app Ubuntu’s App Center suggests. It’s about as up-to-date as a Windows 7 installation (jokes—not that bad, but getting there).

Instead, the easiest way to get the latest version on Ubuntu is to Install HandBrake from Flathub. It’s an official, verified package that gets updates within a few days of a new release.

I’m kind of surprised there’s no AppImage, but there are unofficial Handbrake PPAs knocking around, not all of which get much attention, testing, or kudos. But if you’re absolutely certain you want a DEB build, those are an option.

Whichever way you get it, you may want to learn how to use it. Helpfully, the HandBrake Docs is already up-to-date to walk you though both the latest features and all of the existing ones.