Ubuntu 25.04 is arguably the most polished & performant release to date!
The latest short-term release of the world’s best-known desktop Linux operating system, Ubuntu 25.04 receives ongoing support until January 2026 — not long, but Ubuntu 25.10 is out in October, with direct upgrades available from this version.
Over the past six months Ubuntu engineers, developers and community contributors have baked plenty of improvements into this release — arguably the most polished & performant to date!
—Yeah, I know; I say that every six months, but it keeps being true!
Regular readers among you should be up to speed on what’s new in Ubuntu 25.04, especially if you read my deep-dive on the best features Ubuntu 25.04 last month (if not, I’d encourage you to read that post for more detail and screenshots).
Not got the time? No worries — skip down to the downloads section to grab the ISO while it’s hot, or read on on for a run-through of what makes Plucky Puffin a near-perfect release.
Ubuntu 25.04 Overview
Every Ubuntu install starts with, y’know, installing it! Improvements here mean Ubuntu’s installer can now ‘replace’ an existing Ubuntu install, partition disks with other OSes more effectively, and better handle dual-boots if Windows BitLocker is enabled.
Ubuntu 25.04 gets a big UX uplift courtesy of GNOME 48, an update that intros (among other things) HDR support, new Wellbeing controls, and grouped notifications – the latter certain to please anyone who’s left a chat app running in the background!
Foundational stuff: Ubuntu 25.04 runs the latest Linux kernel 6.14 release and Mesa 25.0.x graphics drivers (with in-distro access to newer NVIDIA drivers, for those needing them), and brings ‘full support’ for new Intel Arc Xe iGPUs and Battlemage discrete GPUs.
Ubuntu gamers benefit from gaming-focused changes Linux 6.14 offers (i.e., huge frame-rate boosts when playing games made for Windows) and, on supported hardware, NVIDIA Dynamic Boost being enabled out of the box in Ubuntu 25.04.
Ubuntu 25.04 highlights at-a-glance:
- Linux 6.14 – latest kernel release with misc improvements
- OS installer – better dual-boot support, ‘replace Ubuntu’ option + more
- GNOME 48 – HDR support, screen time controls, alert grouping + more
- Visual refresh – resized icons, contrast enhanced, new wallpaper + more
- New Document Viewer app– upstream Papers replaces Evince
- BeaconDB geolocation – powering Night Light & timezone features
- New graphics drivers – Mesa 25.0.x, Intel Arc Xe + Battlemage dGPus
- NVIDIA Dynamic Boost support – enabled for compatible laptops
- AppArmor profile updates– improved security handing for apps
- Unified ARM64 ISO – works with Snapdragon X Elite laptops
- JPEG-XL support– enabled out-of-the-box
There are reams of smaller buffs and bugs fixes, package and tooling updates, security tweaks and accessibility adjustments and the myriad low-level changes you’d expect – all welcome, and all ensuring this release runs well for many.
However, reading only tells you so much.
The most impactful changes in Ubuntu 25.04 are best felt: speed, fluidity, performance. The only way to sample those, and asses the rest of what the Plucky Puffin has to offer is to download an ISO, boot it up, and try it out for yourself.
Ubuntu 25.04 Downloads
You can download Ubuntu 25.04 for 64-bit Intel/AMD devices from the official release server. The desktop ISO weighs in ~6GB, so you’ll need to flash it to a USB that’s at least 8GB in size.
System requirements for Ubuntu 25.04 on desktop are:
- 2 GHz dual-core processor or better
- 4 GB RAM
- 25 GB of free hard drive space
To download the Ubuntu 25.04 ISO for ARM64 devices (hardware support in this varies but newer Snapdragon X Elite laptops are now supported) or the official Ubuntu 25.04 WSL image for Windows on ARM, head to the Ubuntu cdimage server instead.
You can find an official pre-installed image for Raspberry Pi devices there also, as well as a pre-installed Ubuntu 25.04 Server image for use on compatible RISC-V SBCs, tablets and laptops.
Running Ubuntu 24.10? You can upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04 directly, without needing to reinstall anything. The upgrade prompt usually appears on the day of release but can take longer – if you don’t see the prompt straight away, be patient!
A hearty pat on the back to the engineers, developers, and community members who make Ubuntu. As the world’s most popular desktop Linux distro, meeting such a wide range of use cases, needs, and requirements is challenging – to pull it off so well in Plucky is no mean feat!
I can’t wait see what’s in store for Ubuntu 25.10 ‘Questing Quokka’ this October!
