{"id":3933,"date":"2026-07-03T04:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T04:00:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:00:49","slug":"ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have recently installed Ubuntu 26.04 LTS<\/a> and found that video and audio files lack image thumbnails in the file manager, it is due to a packaging oversight rather than any fault in your setup.<\/p>\n

The issue arises from the minimal installation option not including the necessary gst-audio-thumbnailer<\/code> and gst-video-thumbnailer<\/code> packages, which are responsible for generating media thumbnails. While these packages were included in the full installation’s meta file, users who opted for the minimal option were left without visually informative file icons.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, if you began installing additional applications post-installation, you may have inadvertently fetched the missing thumbnail packages as a dependency of those apps.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu 26.04 replaced its old Totem-based thumbnailers with newer Rust-based versions relying on GStreamer and Glycin, necessitating the updating of meta files to reflect these changes. According to bug reports, this omission was an oversight rather than a strategic decision to reduce installation size, as these packages are minimal.<\/p>\n

A stable-release update (SRU) fixing this issue started rolling out by the end of June. If your system is up to date, you should have received these packages. If you are still seeing blank media icons, you can manually install the thumbnailers by running the following command in your terminal:<\/p>\n

sudo apt install gst-audio-thumbnailer gst-video-thumbnailer<\/code><\/pre>\n
After this, restart the file manager and navigate to any folder with compatible audio and video files to see the thumbnail previews.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Ubuntu 26.04 contains an intentional limitation where its default image viewer cannot open HEIC image files due to licensing restrictions. This, too, can be resolved by installing the necessary packages.<\/p>\n
For more details on this update, you can check out the bug report linked above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you have recently installed Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and found that video and audio files lack image thumbnails in the file manager, it is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[681,4,1439,1221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-fixes","category-news","category-thumbnailers","category-ubuntu-26-04-lts"],"yoast_head":"\nUbuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know - ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know - ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you have recently installed Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and found that video and audio files lack image thumbnails in the file manager, it is…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T04:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T04:00:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":282,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Bug Fixes\",\"News\",\"Thumbnailers\",\"Ubuntu 26.04 Lts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know - ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T04:00:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1008},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/serverhost.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know - ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know - ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog","og_description":"If you have recently installed Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and found that video and audio files lack image thumbnails in the file manager, it is…","og_url":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/","og_site_name":"ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog","article_published_time":"2026-07-03T04:00:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know","datePublished":"2026-07-03T04:00:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/"},"wordCount":282,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp","articleSection":["Bug Fixes","News","Thumbnailers","Ubuntu 26.04 Lts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/","url":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/","name":"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know - ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-03T04:00:49+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/10e6d18e-a04a-4ea4-a58e-384941dd2fe0.webp","width":1920,"height":1008},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/ubuntu-26-04-lts-restores-video-and-audio-thumbnails-what-you-need-to-know\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Restores Video and Audio Thumbnails: What You Need to Know"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/","name":"ServerHost Hosting Solutions Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}