How to Use Ubuntu’s Media Sharing Feature

Ubuntu’s Media Sharing setting lets compatible devices on your local network browse, search, and play selected music, pictures, and videos from your computer over UPnP or DLNA. To use it, open Settings > Sharing > Media Sharing, turn the service on, select the network where it should be available, and choose the folders to publish. This is a media library for compatible TVs, phones, and game consoles; it is not a general network drive or a tool for sending individual files.

What you need before you start

The original instructions tied this feature to Ubuntu 19.10. That release reached end of life on July 17, 2020, so do not install it or run the old commands that rewrote APT sources to upgrade into it. Use a currently supported Ubuntu release with GNOME Settings instead; Ubuntu’s release cycle page lists supported versions.

The GNOME Sharing panel requires the Rygel package. If you cannot find Media Sharing in Settings, install it from Ubuntu’s repositories, then reopen Settings:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install rygel

Ubuntu’s package archive lists Rygel for supported LTS releases, including 22.04, 24.04, and 26.04. See Ubuntu’s Rygel package listing and the GNOME media-sharing instructions. Menu wording can differ slightly between Ubuntu and GNOME versions.

Turn on media sharing

1. Press the Super key, type Sharing, and open the Sharing panel in Settings. You can also open Settings and select Sharing in the sidebar.
2. Choose Media Sharing. If the Device Name field is editable, give your computer a recognizable name so it is easier to identify from a TV or phone.
3. Switch Media Sharing on. In the Networks section, enable only the network connections where you want the media library to be available. GNOME lists the networks connected to your computer.
4. Review the shared folders before closing the dialog. The default list is Music, Pictures, and Videos. Remove any folder you do not want to publish by clicking its ×.

Only include folders you intend other devices on that network to browse. A guest network or a network with device isolation may prevent your TV or phone from discovering the Ubuntu computer even when sharing is enabled.

Add a folder to the media library

1. In the Media Sharing dialog, click the + button below the folder list.
2. In the folder chooser, navigate to the directory containing the media you want to share. Select the folder itself and click Open.
3. Check that the folder now appears in the list. Repeat these steps for each additional media folder you want to make available.

Adding a directory makes it available through the media-sharing service; it does not create a Windows SMB share or expose the whole disk. Keep the selection focused on media folders, and avoid adding a home directory or a location that contains private documents.

Browse the share from a TV or phone

On the receiving device, open its media library, network media, or DLNA/UPnP browser and look for the computer name you set. Select it to browse the shared folders, then choose a song, picture, or video. The exact menu name depends on the TV, game console, or media-player app. A phone may need a player that supports UPnP or DLNA; a regular file-browsing app may not show media servers.

Ubuntu advertises the selected media for compatible clients. It does not mirror the desktop or provide a general-purpose file-transfer workflow. Playback also depends on whether the receiving device supports the media format, so a file can appear in the library but still fail to play on a particular client.

Remove a folder or stop sharing

To remove one custom folder, return to Settings > Sharing > Media Sharing and click the × beside that folder. To temporarily stop the service for every network, switch Media Sharing off. You can also turn off an individual network in the Networks section while keeping the other selected networks enabled.

If another device cannot find Ubuntu

• Confirm the main Media Sharing switch is on and that the active network is enabled under Networks.
• Make sure the receiving device has a UPnP/DLNA media browser and is connected to a network that can discover other devices. Guest Wi-Fi and router client-isolation settings commonly block local discovery.
• If the control is missing, check that Rygel is installed, then close and reopen Settings.
• If the service is enabled but discovery still fails, check the router or firewall’s local-network rules. Keep the firewall enabled and allow only the trusted local traffic needed by your network setup.

Once the device appears, browse the selected library from its media app. If it finds the server but cannot play a particular item, check that device’s supported audio or video formats.