RPM Fusion

What is RPM Fusion?

RPM Fusion provides software that Fedora doesn’t include in its own software sources. It includes apps, drivers, and tools for playing more audio and video formats.

It’s a separate community project. You still use DNF to install and update its packages.

Why RPM Fusion?

Fedora can’t include some software because of its rules around software licences and patents. RPM Fusion makes more of that software available, including extra media support and drivers.

You only need it if it provides something you want to use.

Free and Nonfree

• Free: Open-source software.
• Nonfree: Software with more restrictive licences.

These names describe the software licences, not whether you have to pay.

Some examples of what RPM Fusion gives you:

NVIDIA drivers: Drivers for supported NVIDIA graphics cards.
Multimedia support: Play more audio and video formats.
Steam: Install and play games from your Steam library.

Enable RPM Fusion

These commands are for standard Fedora editions that use DNF, such as Workstation and KDE Plasma Desktop. Fedora Atomic desktops, such as Silverblue and Kinoite, need different setup steps.

Add Free

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

Add Nonfree if you need it

Run this after adding Free.

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

See RPM Fusion’s setup guide (opens in a new tab) for the full instructions.

What’s next?

After installing RPM Fusion, these are the two most common next steps. Choose the ones you need:

• Multimedia setup (opens in a new tab): add support for audio and video formats that your apps might not play yet.
• NVIDIA driver setup (opens in a new tab): install NVIDIA’s proprietary drivers if you have a supported NVIDIA graphics card and need them.

Adding RPM Fusion doesn’t install these extras for you. Once installed through DNF, their updates arrive alongside your usual Fedora package updates.