Papirus – A Free and Open Source SVG Icon Theme for Linux

Papirus is a free, open-source SVG icon theme for Linux, which is based on the Paper Icon Set but features a lot of new icons and a few extras. The theme provides a semi-3D look with a subtle raised edge, maintaining a consistent look and feel overall.

The Papirus Icon Theme provides a unified and aesthetically pleasing set of icons for different applications and system elements. It includes icons for frequently used applications, folders, file types, and system settings.

The Papirus icon theme is available in the following variants:

  • Papirus – The default variant.
  • Papirus Dark – A darker version.
  • Papirus Light – A lighter version.
  • ePapirus – Specifically designed for elementary OS and the Pantheon Desktop.

The Papirus Icon Theme has been updated with a new version available for download in 2024, bringing several changes and enhancements. This latest release includes over fifty new and updated app icons, a few additional tweaks like updated symlinks and icon names, and removing a small collection of icons for out-of-date apps.

Install Papirus Icon Theme in Linux

The development team of Papirus Icon Theme ended its PPA support. As of May 5, 2023, the PPA ceased building the papirus-icon-theme and papirus-folders for Bionic, Xenial, and Trusty Ubuntu releases.

However, despite the PPA discontinuation, you can still manually install the Papirus Icon Theme using the developers’ distro-independent installation script. So, while the PPA has ended, the theme itself remains available for installation.

Installing this theme is quite simple. To get started, run the following command:

sudo wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PapirusDevelopmentTeam/papirus-icon-theme/master/install.sh | sh

This command downloads and executes a script from the PapirusDevelopmentTeam GitHub repository, specifically install.sh, which is a script for the Papirus icon theme.

To change icons on Ubuntu, first, get the Tweaks app from the Ubuntu Software app. Open Tweaks, go to appearance > icons, and choose the ‘Papirus’ icon pack. Your new icons will show up right away.

The Papirus Icon Theme is highly regarded as an icon theme for Linux desktops, offering a playful palette of bold colors, simple shapes, and a semi-3D look.

It is compatible with most major Linux distros and desktop environments, making it a fantastic choice among Linux users

Divine Okoi is a cybersecurity postgrad with a passion for the open-source community. With 700+ articles covering different topics in IT, you can always trust him to inform you about the coolest tech.

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