- Showtime replaces Totem as the default video player in GNOME, with a modern interface based on GTK4 and Libadwaita.
- Its integration with GNOME 49 and future versions, along with Ubuntu 26.04, consolidates Showtime as a central piece of the desktop.
- Totem and Showtime coexist with alternatives such as VLC, mpv and their frontends, offering everything from simplicity to advanced features.
- This change is part of a larger ecosystem renewal LinuxNew core apps, GNOME 50, modern kernel, and improved support for hardware.
If you use Linux daily and switch between desktops like GNOME or KDE, you've surely encountered the dilemma of which one to choose more than once. Choose a multimedia player for your everyday useIn the GNOME world, Totem has been the veteran default video player for years, but Showtime has arrived with a bang to take its place and adapt to a much more modern, fluid and consistent experience with the new desktop technologies.
The arrival of Showtime doesn't happen in a vacuum: it's part of a broader renewal of the GNOME ecosystem and distributions like Ubuntu, where other core applications are also changing, the desktop environment is being updated, and profound performance improvements are being introduced, including Wayland. HDR and hardware support. In this context, Compare Totem vs Showtime This makes perfect sense: it's not just about which app opens your videos, but how it fits into a minimalist desktop like GNOME, how it competes against alternatives like VLC or mpv's frontends, and what you can expect in the short and medium term if you upgrade your system.
Showtime vs Totem: the player change in GNOME
For years, Totem has been GNOME's classic video player, based on GStreamer and designed to offer basic playback functions made simpleIt was the kind of program you'd open without thinking when you double-clicked a video file. With GNOME's evolution towards GTK4 and Libadwaita, and its focus on more polished and consistent interfaces, Totem had become somewhat outdated, both visually and in terms of maintenance.
Showtime arrives precisely to fill that gap: it's a player created from scratch with GTK4, Libadwaita and the current philosophy of GNOMEThis translates into a more modern interface, smoother animations, and better UI rendering times (reportedly around 40% improvement in fluidity compared to previous solutions), making navigation through the player smoother, even on modest computers.
At GNOME 49 it was officially announced that Showtime It will replace Totem as the default media player.This means that any video you open on a distribution using GNOME 49 (and later versions) will launch, by default, with Showtime. It's not just a name change: it's a true replacement of the core video playback component within the desktop's core application suite.
Furthermore, Showtime has been designed with a very clear idea: to be a GNOME Core application focused on the essentialsThis implies prioritizing playback, basic controls, and accessibility (subtitles(audio tracks, languages) and a clean experience. Highly advanced, specialized, or "geeky" features are left to third-party players like VLC, mpv, or their various frontends.
Totem versus Showtime: philosophy and user experience
Totem, the old acquaintance of GNOME, has always focused on offering a simple yet powerful experience. There the interface had become somewhat anchored in previous generations of GTKFurthermore, the pace of development and alignment with the new GNOME design guidelines were not as strong as what is now sought with core applications.
Showtime, on the other hand, was born with Libadwaita as a visual basisSmooth animations, responsive design, and built-in support for Wayland. This means the desktop experience feels more consistent: menus, dialogs, the dark modeEverything fits in with the rest of the GNOME 46, 49 or 50 applications as the environment evolves.
The key difference at the philosophical level is that Showtime is defined, from the beginning, as core applicationThis means that their goal is not to compete with VLC in terms of features, but to nail 80% of what most users need: to play videos without thinking, in an app that is not distracting and that respects the principles of simplicity of the GNOME desktop.
Therefore, if you're someone who wants an advanced equalizer, highly specific video filters, precise manual audio synchronization, or features of streaming very rare, the reasonable thing to do is to continue relying on VLC or mpv frontendsShowtime is closer to the "open and watch" concept, with added fluidity and technological advancements.
In everyday life, that's noticeable in things like... speed when opening the windowThe absence of cluttered menus and the ease of changing audio tracks or subtitles are key advantages. If you're coming from Totem, the difference is primarily visual and tactile; if you're coming from VLC or mpv, you'll likely see it as a more minimalist player, in line with your desktop aesthetic.
GNOME: minimalism, Wayland and the role of Showtime
The GNOME desktop has been characterized for years by its commitment to simplicity and minimalismIts interface is cleaner than other offerings in the Linux ecosystem and prioritizes stability and... reliability above hyperconfiguration. This makes it easier for novice users or those migrating from Windows feel relatively comfortable after adapting to the workflow.
That simplicity has one important advantage: greater global stability of the environmentFewer buttons, fewer panels floating around, and fewer widgets also mean fewer points of failure, something the GNOME developers have kept in mind throughout the modern desktop redesign.
GNOME also integrates very well with Wayland and modern technologiesShowtime fits perfectly here, as it's based on GTK4 and Libadwaita, which are optimized for this graphics stack. Therefore, the interface performance and window management in Wayland feel much smoother compared to older GTK3 and X11-based applications.
If you like this desktop style, there are multiple distributions that include it as standard: Ubuntu, Manjaro GNOME, Arch with GNOME, SUSE and many more. In all of them, as they integrate GNOME 49 and later versions, Showtime will replace Totem as the default player.
In the new GNOME version 49, Showtime isn't the only thing that arrives; it also appears Papers, the replacement for Evince as a document viewer, also developed with GTK4 and Libadwaita and with features such as annotations in PDFThe goal is to unify the appearance of the core applications and make better use of current hardware.
Ubuntu 26.04 and the adoption of Showtime as the default player
Ubuntu, one of the most popular distributions, has already announced that in its next LTS version 26.04 “Resolute Raccoon” It will represent a significant step forward in terms of default applications, desktop environment, and system kernel. This version, still under development, promises to be a particularly ambitious LTS release.
The development cycle is already underway, with daily snapshots available to test the system's progress. These daily builds are constantly updated, allowing testers, developers, and curious users to see how GNOME, Showtime, and the other new features are integrated.
Canonical has published an approximate schedule: freezing of functions in February 2026The interface and kernel were frozen in March of that year, and the final release was in April. As with all LTS releases, the focus is on stability and polishing the version as much as possible before releasing it to millions of users.
One of the surprises of the Resolute Raccoon cycle is that Ubuntu 26.04 will bring New default applications to replace old toolsSpecifically, Showtime will replace the Totem media player, and the Resources app will take the place of the classic GNOME System Monitor.
Both applications are based on GTK4 and libadwaitaThis reinforces the commitment to a coherent, modern visual experience with improved graphics performance. Showtime, therefore, will not just be "another player" in Ubuntu, but the central component for video consumption in the most widely used GNOME distribution.
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