Select an image
Ubuntu is distributed on four types of images described below.
Desktop image
The desktop image allows you to try Ubuntu without changing your computer at all, and at your option to install it permanently later. This type of image is what most people will want to use. You will need at least 384MiB of RAM to install from this image.
There are three images available, each for a different type of computer:
- 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead.
- 64-bit Mac (AMD64) desktop image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead. This image is adjusted to work properly on Mac systems.
- 32-bit PC (i386) desktop image
- For almost all PCs. This includes most machines with Intel/AMD/etc type processors and almost all computers that run Microsoft Windows, as well as newer Apple Macintosh systems based on Intel processors. Choose this if you are at all unsure.
Server install image
The server install image allows you to install Ubuntu permanently on a computer for use as a server. It will not install a graphical user interface.
There are five images available, each for a different type of computer:
- 64-bit PC (AMD64) server install image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead.
- 64-bit Mac (AMD64) server install image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead. This image is adjusted to work properly on Mac systems.
- 32-bit PC (i386) server install image
- For almost all PCs. This includes most machines with Intel/AMD/etc type processors and almost all computers that run Microsoft Windows, as well as newer Apple Macintosh systems based on Intel processors. Choose this if you are at all unsure.
- Mac (PowerPC) and IBM-PPC (POWER5) server install image
- For Apple Macintosh G3, G4, and G5 computers, including iBooks and PowerBooks as well as older IBM OpenPower 7xx machines.
- PowerPC64 Little-Endian server install image
- For POWER8 Little-Endian computers, such as Power Systems S8xxL/LC Linux-only servers.
Desktop image
The desktop image allows you to try Ubuntu without changing your computer at all, and at your option to install it permanently later. You will need at least 384MiB of RAM to install from this image.
There are three images available, each for a different type of computer:
- 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead.
- 64-bit Mac (AMD64) desktop image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead. This image is adjusted to work properly on Mac systems.
- 32-bit PC (i386) desktop image
- For almost all PCs. This includes most machines with Intel/AMD/etc type processors and almost all computers that run Microsoft Windows, as well as newer Apple Macintosh systems based on Intel processors. Choose this if you are at all unsure.
Server install image
The server install image allows you to install Ubuntu permanently on a computer for use as a server. It will not install a graphical user interface.
There are five images available, each for a different type of computer:
- 64-bit PC (AMD64) server install image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead.
- 64-bit Mac (AMD64) server install image
- Choose this to take full advantage of computers based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). If you have a non-64-bit processor made by AMD, or if you need full support for 32-bit code, use the i386 images instead. This image is adjusted to work properly on Mac systems.
- 32-bit PC (i386) server install image
- For almost all PCs. This includes most machines with Intel/AMD/etc type processors and almost all computers that run Microsoft Windows, as well as newer Apple Macintosh systems based on Intel processors. Choose this if you are at all unsure.
- Mac (PowerPC) and IBM-PPC (POWER5) server install image
- For Apple Macintosh G3, G4, and G5 computers, including iBooks and PowerBooks as well as older IBM OpenPower 7xx machines.
- PowerPC64 Little-Endian server install image
- For POWER8 Little-Endian computers, such as Power Systems S8xxL/LC Linux-only servers.
A full list of available files, including BitTorrent files, can be found below.
If you need help burning these images to disk, see the Image Burning Guide.
![[ICO]](/icons/blank.gif){kind=icon}
![[PARENTDIR]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[ ]](/icons/unknown.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/folder.gif){kind=icon}