How to install Aseprite on Linux – Easy Steps

Aseprite is a pixel art program that users can use to create 2D animations for video games. It is a paid software and users can buy the product through the official website. However, the source code is also available for free. Here’s how to install Aseprite on Linux.

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If you agree to pay $ 19, Aseprite is available on Steam. According to the official Steam page, it works on Linux. In order for it to work on your system, make sure you have Steam installed. Then search for “Aseprite” on the Steam store, purchase and install it through your Steam library.

Ubuntu installation instructions

Unfortunately Aseprite cannot be found in the official Ubuntu software repositories. If you want to install this software on your Ubuntu system, you will need to compile it from the source code available on GitHub.

First, open a terminal window. Building this program from source code required the command line. To open a terminal window, press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or search for “Terminal” in the application menu.

With the terminal window open and ready to use, install the Aseprite dependencies. These are programs and libraries that Aseprite needs to compile, and the program will not compile without them.

sudo apt install -y g++ cmake ninja-build libx11-dev libxcursor-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libfontconfig1-dev git

Use the clone de git command below to download the latest source code with the dependencies taken care of.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite.git

After downloading the code to your computer, you will also need to download Skia, which is a crucial component of Aseprite. Use the following commands to get Skia to work.

mkdir ~/dependencies/

cd ~/dependencies/

git clone https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/tools/depot_tools.git

git clone -b aseprite-m71 https://github.com/aseprite/skia.git

export PATH="${PWD}/depot_tools:${PATH}"

cd skia

python tools/git-sync-deps
gn gen out/Release --args="is_debug=false is_official_build=true skia_use_system_expat=false skia_use_system_icu=false skia_use_system_libjpeg_turbo=false skia_use_system_libpng=false skia_use_system_libwebp=false skia_use_system_zlib=false"
ninja -C out/Release skia

With Skia and all other dependencies on Ubuntu, you can build and install Aseprite.

cd ~/aseprite

mkdir -p build

cd build

cmake 
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo 
-DLAF_OS_BACKEND=skia 
-DSKIA_DIR=$HOME/deps/skia 
-DSKIA_OUT_DIR=$HOME/deps/skia/out/Release 
-G Ninja 
..

If you have trouble compiling Aseprite on Ubuntu with the provided instructions, the developers offer a DEB package to all users to purchase the application. More information here.

Debian Installation Instructions

Debian 9 Buster (also known as Old Stable) has a relatively recent version of Aseprite in the “Main” software repository. So if you are using Old Stable, you will be able to get it working pretty quickly without too much trouble.

Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or search for “Terminal” in the application menu and run it that way. Once the terminal window is open, use the apt-get install command.

sudo apt-get install aseprite

Alternatively, if you use Debian 10, 11, or Sid, you must compile the code from source. Since Debian Linux is almost identical to Ubuntu (minus some changes here and there), the Ubuntu build instructions should work.

If you have trouble compiling Aseprite on Debian with the provided instructions, the developers offer a DEB package if you pay for a license. More information here.

Arch Linux Installation Instructions

The Aseprite application is available to Arch Linux users through the Arch Linux user repository. In order for the application to work on your system, open a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, run the pacman -S command and install the “git” and “base-devel” packages.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

With these two packages installed, it is time to configure the Trizen AUR wizard. This program will automate the installation of Aseprite so that you don’t have to compile all the packages manually.

In order for the Trizen AUR helper to work on your computer, start cloning the package build using clone de git. Then build the package with makepkg.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

cd trizen/

makepkg -sri

After configuring the Trizen AUR wizard, you can quickly get the latest version of Aseprite working on Arch Linux with the trizen -S command.

trizen -S aseprite-git

Fedora Installation Instructions

Unfortunately, there is no prepackaged version of Aseprite in Fedora. Fortunately, however, someone has created an automatic build script for Fedora. To make it work, please do the following.

Note: the build script is made for Fedora 34, but it should also

First, use the wget to download the script to your “Downloads” folder.

wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/HashWarlock/1b73259e5ddc7ea5e1e707fffe2423a9/raw/7dc711008551f4219451ecdb022bc190bfac1696/gistfile1.txt -O ~/Downloads/aseprite-builder.sh

After downloading the script, mark it executable with the chmod command.

chmod +x ~/Downloads/aseprite-builder.sh

Finally, run it to build Aseprite on your Fedora Linux installation.

sudo sh ~/Downloads/aseprite-builder.sh

OpenSUSE Installation Instructions

Believe it or not, OpenSUSE Linux makes it easy to install the Aseprite application. To install it on your system, go to the Aseprite Page in the OpenSUSE build service.

Once on the Aseprite page, find your version of SUSE and click the “1-Click Install” button to get the application to work on your system.