Ctrl+Shift+right-click any file in Files, pick a format, done.
A free, offline file converter for the Linux desktop: photos, videos, audio and documents.
wget -qO- https://guilyx.github.io/roue/install.sh | shUbuntu 22.04+ and Debian 12+ · updates through Software Updater · other distributions
Linux has excellent conversion tools (FFmpeg, libvips, Ghostscript, Pandoc, LibreOffice) and almost no fast, friendly way to use them. Roue is that way in.
| You have… | Pick |
|---|---|
📱 An iPhone photo (.HEIC) that won't open anywhere |
JPG |
| 💬 A screen recording too big for chat | Under 10 MB |
| 🎞️ A clip you want as a GIF for a README | GIF |
📄 A .docx someone wants as a PDF |
|
| 🎙️ A voice memo that won't play in the car | MP3 |
| 🕵️ A photo with your GPS location in it | Remove metadata |
The result lands next to the original (photo.jpg, clip (10MB).mp4) and
never overwrites anything. Changed your mind? roue undo moves it to the trash.
- In Files, Ctrl+Shift+right-click a file. Or select several and press Super+Shift+D (Super is the Windows key).
- The wheel opens at the pointer, showing only the formats those files can become.
- Click a slice. A notification tells you when it's done.
Prefer menus? Right-click → Convert with Roue… opens the same wheel.
Prefer the terminal? roue jpg IMG_0042.heic.
- 🔒 100% local. No uploads, no accounts, no telemetry. Works with Wi-Fi off.
- 🎯 Only what fits. A photo gets photo formats, a video gets video ones. No dead ends.
- 📦 27 presets for images, video, audio and documents. Add your own in a few lines of YAML.
- 🧺 Batches. Select 40 photos, pick WebP, get one notification at the end.
- 🔄 Stays up to date through Software Updater, from a signed update channel.
- ⌨️ Scriptable. A full command line, with JSON output and clear exit codes.
- 🖥️ Native. GTK 4 and libadwaita, light and dark, and the wheel works from the keyboard too.
| Online converters | Command-line tools | Roue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Files stay on your computer | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| No flags or options to look up | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Right where your files are | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Photos, video, audio and documents in one place | some | several tools | ✅ |
| Whole folders at once | some | ✅ | ✅ |
| Free, without limits | rarely | ✅ | ✅ |
wget -qO- https://guilyx.github.io/roue/install.sh | shIt adds Roue's signed update channel, installs the roue package with apt and
runs roue setup (Files menu and Ctrl+Shift+right-click, the Super+Shift+D
hotkey, the GNOME helper). Read it first if you like.
Or download roue_<version>_all.deb from the latest release
and run sudo apt install ./roue_<version>_all.deb. The first time you open Roue,
Set Up Roue offers a button for anything that isn't ready yet, missing tools included.
Updates arrive through Software Updater, like any Ubuntu app. Roue itself never touches the network. Tested on Ubuntu 22.04 (GNOME 42), 24.04 (GNOME 46) and 26.04 (GNOME 50).
Any distribution, from source
Install the tools with your package manager (Ubuntu names shown), then Roue with pipx:
sudo apt install ffmpeg libvips-tools ghostscript python3-gi python3-gi-cairo \
gir1.2-gtk-4.0 gir1.2-adw-1 python3-nautilus libheif-plugin-libde265 pipx
pipx install --system-site-packages git+https://github.com/guilyx/roue
roue setup # launcher, Files menu, hotkeyOn Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian 12, leave out libheif-plugin-libde265: their libheif
already reads HEIC. Optional: pandoc (Markdown), libreoffice-writer (office
documents to PDF), python3-xlib (Shift-drag on X11). Run roue doctor to
see what's missing.
For contributors
git clone https://github.com/guilyx/roue && cd roue
make dev && make testSee CONTRIBUTING.md.
| How | Best for | |
|---|---|---|
| 🎡 The wheel | In Files, Ctrl+Shift+right-click a file, or select files and press Super+Shift+D: the wheel opens at the pointer. Elsewhere, the hotkey opens a ring to drop files on. On X11, hold Shift while dragging any file. | Everyday use |
| 🖱️ Files menu | Right-click files in Files (Nautilus) → Convert with Roue… | Discovering it |
| ⌨️ Command line | roue jpg IMG_0042.heic |
Scripts, power users |
The wheel shows up to seven presets that fit your files best. Its More… slice opens the full panel with every preset. All three share the same engine, presets and settings.
Wayland or X11? Both. Wayland keeps other apps' drags private (on purpose), so Shift-drag only works on X11. Everything else works on both.
roue jpg IMG_0042.heic # shorthand for: roue convert jpg IMG_0042.heic
roue gif demo.mov # → demo.gif
roue share-10mb screen-recording.mp4
roue webp ~/Pictures/export/ # whole folder, converted in parallel
roue pdf report.docx -o ~/Desktop # choose where results goMore commands
roue list # all presets
roue list --for clip.mov # presets that fit this file
roue info clip.mov # type, length, codecs, matching presets
roue doctor # which tools are installed
roue undo # move the last results to the trash
roue wheel IMG_0042.heic # the wheel, at the pointer, for this file
roue panel # the full panel with every preset--json gives machine-readable output. Exit codes: 0 ok, 1 a conversion failed, 2 usage error.
27 built-in presets. Add your own as small YAML files: see the preset guide.
| Group | Presets |
|---|---|
| 🟢 Images | jpg · png · webp · avif · resize-half · resize-1080 · resize-double · compress-image · strip-metadata |
| 🔴 Video | mp4 · gif · webm · share-10mb · share-25mb · compress-video · mute |
| 🟣 Audio | mp3 · opus · wav · flac · normalize (audio presets also pull the sound out of videos) |
| 🔵 Documents | pdf (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, Markdown) · docx · html · compress-pdf · pdf-to-png · pdf-to-text |
A custom preset
~/.config/roue/presets/thumbnail.yaml:
id: thumbnail
name: Thumbnail
group: image
accepts: ["image/*"]
output_ext: webp
suffix: " (thumb)"
backend: image
params: { width: 320, quality: 80 }It shows up in the wheel, the panel and the command line right away.
Does Roue upload my files?
No. Everything runs on your computer with tools already on it (FFmpeg, libvips, Ghostscript, Pandoc, LibreOffice). No accounts, no telemetry. It works with Wi-Fi off.
Ctrl+Shift+right-click doesn't open the wheel.
Restart Files once so it loads Roue's extension: nautilus -q (its windows
close), or the Restart Files button in Set Up Roue. It needs
python3-nautilus, which the package pulls in.
My HEIC photos won't convert.
Run roue doctor. It names the missing package; on Ubuntu 24.04 and newer
that's usually libheif-plugin-libde265.
How do I uninstall it?
roue setup --remove # the hotkey, GNOME helper and anything roue setup added
sudo apt purge roue # also removes the update channelMore in the FAQ.
Python 3.10+, GTK 4 and libadwaita for the wheel and the panel, a Files extension, and a GTK-free engine that drives FFmpeg, libvips (or ImageMagick), Ghostscript, Pandoc and LibreOffice. One engine, three front doors. Details in the architecture docs.
Bug reports, presets and pull requests are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md and the roadmap. Please follow the Code of Conduct. Security issues: see SECURITY.md.
If Roue saved you a trip to a converter website, a ⭐ helps other people find it.
GPL-3.0-or-later. Roue calls external programs; each keeps its own license.