Cheese
Cheese is a free GNOME Desktop program for taking photos and videos with a webcam on Linux.
What Cheese is
Cheese is a free GNOME Desktop program for taking photos and videos with a webcam on Linux. It can apply multiple effects to photos, with effects and sharing options also available for videos. A three-second visual countdown gives users time to get ready before a photo, while burst mode captures a configured number of pictures at a configured delay. Users can choose an installed webcam, set its resolution, and adjust settings such as brightness and contrast. Fullscreen mode is described for kiosk use, such as an office lobby or party. Photos can be saved to disk, emailed, uploaded to Flickr, exported to F-Spot, or used as a GNOME account photo. Installing nautilus-sendto provides further sharing options for photos and videos. Cheese costs nothing and is available for Linux. Project resources list packages for Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu, along with stable release tarballs and a GitLab repository for development code. In-app and online documentation, community chat, a mailing list, and an issue tracker are listed for help. The project began as part of Google's 2007 Summer of Code, led by Daniel G. Siegel and mentored by Raphaël Slinckx.
Good
- Free webcam photo and video capture.
- Includes countdown and configurable burst mode.
- Supports webcam selection and resolution settings.
- Offers several photo-sharing and export options.
- Packages are listed for five Linux distributions.
Watch out
- Available only on Linux.
- Virtual camera support is not available.
- Background tools are not included.
Who it suits
Cheese suits Linux users who want a free GNOME webcam app for capturing photos or videos with effects and basic camera controls.
Verdict
Cheese provides webcam capture, effects, camera controls, and sharing options at no cost on Linux. Users looking for virtual camera or background tools should note those are not included.
Plans and prices
From Cheese's own pricing page, checked 5 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese | Free | Webcam app for taking photos and videos |
The facts
Each one read from Cheese's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Additional sharing
- With nautilus-sendto installed, the page says users have further options to share photos and videos.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Burst mode
- Burst mode takes a configured number of photos with a configured time delay.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Camera controls
- Users can choose among installed webcams, set webcam resolution, and configure settings such as brightness and contrast.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Countdown
- A three-second visual countdown gives users time to get ready before taking a photo.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Fullscreen
- Cheese has a fullscreen mode described for kiosk use, such as an office lobby or party.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Help and support
- The project lists in-app and online user documentation, a community chat, a mailing list, and an issue tracker.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Origins
- The page says Cheese was written as part of Google's 2007 Summer of Code, led by Daniel G. Siegel and mentored by Raphaël Slinckx.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Photo effects
- It can apply multiple effects to photos.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Cheese is a GNOME Desktop program for taking photos and videos with a webcam.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Sharing
- The page lists exporting to F-Spot, uploading to Flickr, emailing, using a photo as a GNOME account photo, and saving files to disk.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Source availability
- The resources page links to stable release tarballs and gives the GitLab repository clone URL for development code.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Video effects
- The page says effects and sharing available for photos are also available for videos.checked 5 Oct 2026
The company
- Founded
- 2007checked 28 Sep 2026
Where it runs
- Linux distribution packages
- The project resources page lists packages for Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.checked 5 Oct 2026
