Best linux icons theme

25 Best Icon Themes For Ubuntu and Other Linux

Last updated January 1, 2020 By Abhishek Prakash 69 Comments

Bored with the same old look of Ubuntu? Why not try one of the best Ubuntu themes listed here?

Icon themes are the best and perhaps the easiest way to change the looks of your Ubuntu desktop. It literally transforms the entire look of your desktop. If you don’t know where to begin, don’t worry. In this article, I’ll show you the best icon sets for Ubuntu and how to use them.

I have written this article keeping Ubuntu/Pop!_OS in mind but almost all the icon themes should work for other Linux distributions and desktop environments as well.

How to install new icon theme in Ubuntu

Before we see our list of best icon themes for Ubuntu, let’s first see how to change the icons in Ubuntu.

I have already written in detail about how to change themes in Ubuntu 18.04. The steps are same here. There are basically two ways you can install icon themes in Ubuntu:

Downloading the theme manually and extracting them in

/.icons (you need to enable hidden files to access it, if it’s still not there, create a .icons folder in the /home directory)

Installing the themes via a PPA (run some commands, we’ll see it later)

Once you have installed the icons, you can use Unity Tweak Tool in Ubuntu 16.04 and GNOME Tweaks in Ubuntu 18.04 to change the icons.

Ubuntu 18.04/19.10 users can refer to this video to see how to change icons and themes:

Best icon themes for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions

Okay! Enough talks. Let’s see the list of best icon themes for Ubuntu.

25. Candy Icon Theme

This is a really attractive icon set with colorful icons. You should find it good enough for dark mode themes.

If you do not prefer colorful icons, you might may not like it at all. But, it’s one of the best icon themes out there!

24. Avidity Icon Theme

A perfect icon pack to blend in with dark mode themes – you have a couple of different color shades available when trying to download the files.

Simply extract the archive to the hidden .icons folder to get it installed.

23. Tela Icon Theme

Yet another impressive icon pack – this should blend in with both dark/light GTK themes you have installed (in case). The flat color designs for the icons do make your distro look good.

Simply extract the archive you downloaded and move it to the hidden .icons folder to install it.

22. Marwaita Icon Theme

A color icon set that goes well with both the dark mode and light mode as well. You should find more icons for all your essential applications on Linux. Try it out!

21. Simple Circles Icons

A lot of color choices with this icon set. As the name suggests, it’s just circle outlines for all your icons in your Linux distro.

So, if you’re a fan of circle-shaped simple icons, do give this a try.

20. Newaita

This may not be my personal favorite – but if you’re going for a decent looking icon set, which isn’t much flashy, you can give this a try.

It’s pleasant to the eyes and not so colorful – so if you want that, you’re in for a treat.

19. Aurora Nuevo Icons

If you’re a fan of simplicity but just want different colors to your icon set, this is worth taking a look.

Aurora Icon Themes

You may notice that the icon pack does not include a lot of icons for new applications.

18. Oranchelo icon theme

Flat and fresh. Oranchelo is a colorful theme with support for a number of icons. It has some variants as well that provide different color accents to the Nautilus folder icons.

In Ubuntu based distributions, you can use the official PPA to install this theme:

17. Vibrancy Colors icon theme

Vibrancy Colors is a modern and clean icon theme. It is composed of beautifully rounded icons with flat touch. There are a number of variants of this icon theme that give you more option in customizing the looks of your system.

You can install Vibrancy Colors icon theme using its official PPA:

16. Masalla icon theme

Masalla icon theme is flat themes with vivid colors. Take a look at this beautiful icon theme.

15. Obsidian icon theme

Obsidian is based on once hugely popular Faenza icon theme. But it’s been years since Faenza has not been updated. And thus comes Obsidian in the picture to continue the legacy of Faenza icon theme. It also has an accompanying GTK theme.

You can easily install the Obsidian icon theme using this PPA:

14. Evolvere icon theme

If you like vibrant colors, Evolvere is the icon theme for you. This icon theme comes in several variants to give you more icons in beautifying your Linux desktop.

You can download it from the link below:

Once downloaded, extract it to

13. Compass

The beautiful Compass icon is developed for Nitrux Linux. But you don’t have to install Nitrux Linux just for using this theme.

You can get it from its GitHub repository:

Once downloaded, extract the downloaded file. If you are using Unity or GNOME, you should copy the Compass folder to

/.icons. If you are using KDE, copy the Compass-KDE folder to

12. Shadow icon theme

Shadow icon theme is next on our list. The current trend of flat icons with a little shadow has beautifully captured in Shadow icon theme.

11. La Capitane

This one is for macOS fans. La Capitane icons are inspired by macOS El Capitan icons. The icons look beautiful, no doubt about it. You can download La Capitane theme from its GitHub directory.

You can download La Capitane theme from the link below:

You should extract the download file to

/.icons directory in order to be able to use it.

10. Vivacious Colors icon theme

Colorful, vivid and beautiful. Vivacious Colors definitely deserves to be on our list of best icon themes.

You can install it using the following commands:

9. Square 2.0 Icon pack

Square and flat. Square 2.0 is another beauty that you can try.

Use the commands below to install it:

8. Xenlism Wildfire icon theme

Minimalist? Honestly, Xenlism is more vivid and colorful than minimal. Don’t you think the same?

Use the commands below to install it:

7. Dalisha icon theme

Delicious Dalisha icon theme is full of vibrant color. It may even be a bit of cheeky depending on your test.

Use the commands below to install it:

6. Uniform icon theme

The next position is taken by the flat and fabulous icon theme, Uniform. Don’t go by the name Uniform. These icons are hardly uniform.

You can use the commands below to install it:

5. Moka

Now, we are moving ahead to the top five positions. At number five, we have Moka. Sam Hewitt‘s theme Moka is a gem. You would agree when you look at the screenshot below:

You can use the commands below to install Moka icon themes in Ubuntu:

4. Numix

The next in our list of best icon themes for Ubuntu is Numix. You can guess the popularity of Numix theme suite from the fact that it is the default theme in several Linux distributions including Antergos and Korora Linux.

You can install Numix icon theme in Ubuntu using the commands below:

3. Paper

Number three spot has been taken by Paper icon theme.

Paper theme suite is developed by Sam Hewitt, the developer of Moka theme. It is inspired by Google’s material design. This flat icon theme will remind you of Android.

You can use the commands below to install Paper icon themes in Ubuntu:

2. Papirus icon theme

Papirus is based on the material theme inspired Paper icons. It is more polished and refined, bringing out the best of Paper icons.

You can install this icon theme using the official PPA:

1. Pop icon theme

This is my favorite icon theme and this is why it took the top spot here. It is developed by System76 for its own Linux distribution Pop!_OS.

Combine it with its GTK theme and it gives your Linux desktop an astonishing look.

You can install it using its official PPA:

Your choice?

What do you think of this list of best icon themes for Ubuntu 19.10 or 18.04? Which one is your favorite icon pack on Linux?

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

Источник

The 12 Most Beautiful Linux Icon Themes of 2018

You might think it will take you forever to settle on the ideal icon theme for your Linux desktop because there are a thousand and one options to choose from. And although that might be the case, it doesn’t have to be.

Below is a list of the 10 most beautiful icon themes you can set up on your Linux machine this year. You can install some of them together with the themes they come bundled as a large project (like in the case of Paper,) or install them to use with different GTK and/or Gnome shell themes completely.

1. Flat Remix Icons

Flat Remix Icons theme is inspired by material design. It features mostly flat icons with shadows, highlights, and gradients for some depth based on its beautifully contrasted colour palette. It is part of the Flat Remix project which also includes a Material Design-inspired GNOME and GTK theme.

Flat Remix Icon Theme

Install Flat Remix Icons theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

On Fedora based distributions.

Other Linux distributions, install manually as shown.

2. Paper Icon Theme

Paper Icon Theme is an open source FreeDesktop icon project. Its icons have a modern Material Design look with rounded corners. It’s a part of the Paper project which also includes cursors and a theme with light and dark color variants.

Paper Icon Theme for Linux

Install Paper Icon theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

For RPM-based distributions, repositories for Paper Theme and installation instructions for both Fedora and openSUSE are available on the openSUSE build system.

For Arch Linux, there is a Arch User Repository package(s) that provide both the Paper icons and GTK theme.

3. Lüv Icon Theme

Lüv (formerly Flattr) is a beautiful and somewhat glossy icon theme for any modern Desktop Environment. Lüv comes in its git repo alongside a badge of complimentary wallpapers suited of it.

Luv Icon Theme for Linux

To install Lüv Icon Theme, follow the installation instructions here: https://github.com/Nitrux/luv-icon-theme.

4. Shadow Icon Theme

Shadow is a flat icon theme with colourful icons that all have a circular base and a long shadow (probably the reason for the name).

Shadow Icon Theme for Linux

Install Shadow Icon Theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

Other Linux distributions, follow these instructions to install it.

Activate the theme using tweak-tool or from the command line:

5. Oranchelo Icons Theme

Oranchelo icons is a set of beautiful background-less icons with a Material Design-inspired colour palette and flat long shadows. Think of it as a set of Cornie Icons for the Linux desktop.

Oranchelo Icon Theme

Install Oranchelo Icons Theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

On Other Linux distributions, you can install it manually as shown.

6. Surfn

Surfn is a colourful icon theme that is based on four different icon themes: Ultra Flat icons, Super Flat remix icons, Yltra Flat icons, and Numix (Circle) icons.

Surfn Icon Theme for Linux

It takes more steps than a couple of commands to install Surfn so you’re better off following the instructions as listed on its GitHub page or else, you can use following commands to

7. Papirus Icon Theme

Papirus is an SVG-based icon theme with a material and flat style. All its elements have clear outlines with distinct colour tones available in 6 variants.

Papirus Icon Theme for Linux

Install Papirus Icon Theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

On Other Linux distributions, you can use the scripts to install the latest version directly.

8. Numix Circle Icon Theme

Numix Circle is the latest improvement of the icon theme set contained in the Numix project. All its icons have a circle container with well thought out shadows.

Numix Circle Icon Theme

Install Numix Circle Icon Theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

On Fedora distributions.

9. Xenlism Icon Theme

Xenlism is a technological graphics project bound to improve your desktop’s overall UI/UX. Its design-focused minimalism and realism are inspired by Nokia’s Meego and Apple’s iOS icons theme.

Xenlism Icon Theme

Install Xenlism Icon Theme use the following instructions in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

On Other Linux distributions, you can follow the installation instructions here.

10. Uniform Icon Theme

Uniform is a beautiful icon theme set that ironically, has differently shaped containers for each icon. Its design is achieved by maintaining the same pattern instead of drawing the same container – a style the developer decided on after testing “every shape on the planet to get a unique and original theme” and then flipping the table to unshape everything.

Uniform Icon Theme

Install Uniform Icon Theme using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

On Arch Linux, install using yaourt command.

11. FlatWoken Icon Theme

FlatWoken is a derivative of AwOken icon theme developed to be a complete set of icon themes for Linux and Android. It features colourful icons with shadow gradients all enclosed in square-shaped containers with rounded corners.

It contains multiple icon styles for the same app as well as multiple icon styles for system and user icons.

FlatWoken Icon Theme

Install FlatWoken Icon Theme in Ubuntu and Linux Mint using the following instructions.

From your preferred directory in the terminal type:

cd into the FlatWoken folder and mv the folders named “FlatWoken” and “FlatWokenMin” into your

/.icons directory (create the directory if it doesn’t exist).

You can now set FlatWoken or FlatWokenMin as your theme using the Gnome tweak tool or your favourite alternative.

12. Lila HD Icon Theme

Lila HD icons are square-shaped with a dark overlay diagonally cutting across. Unlike flat-style icons, Lila HD icons are skeuomorphic, thus having a more tangible appearance.

Apart from its default colour scheme, it comes in Blue, Crimson, Dark, green, Kaki, Light grey, and Purple variants. It also contains cursor, reload, navigation, etc. icons which all work together to provide a uniform Desktop Experience.

Lila HD Icon Theme

Install Lila HD Icon Theme in Ubuntu and Linux Mint using the following instructions.

Copy the files to your directory

Make icon cache for Lila-HD-icon-theme

On Other Linux distributions, you can follow the installation instructions here.

Notable Mention:

Vivacious Colors is a beautiful theme that comes with so many personalization options. Of course, they come at a price. This icon theme requires about 55 MB of space and with GTK Icon Cache Files, could require up to 280 MB.

Vibrancy Colors Icon Theme

Install Vivacious Colors using following PPA in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

Is your favourite icon theme included in my list? Let me know about other icon themes that should have made it to the list or, at least, to the notable mention section in the comments box below.

Источник