Linux
Linux
What works on each Linux desktop, why some things differ, and how to fix the usual problems. Requirements for Windows and Linux are on System requirements.
What works where
Translating game text works on every desktop below. "Not yet" means the feature is not on Linux yet; "No" means the desktop does not allow it (the reason is under the feature name).
| Feature | Windows | KDE Wayland | KDE X11 | GNOME Wayland | GNOME X11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capture the game screen Games that run natively on Wayland ask once to confirm screen sharing. Proton and X11 games are captured directly. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Select the area on the game screen For a Wayland-native game on GNOME, draw the area on the preview instead. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Proton / X11 games only | Yes |
| Translation overlay | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Translations next to the text, automatic game detection GNOME on Wayland does not let apps see where a Wayland-native window is. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Proton / X11 games only | Yes |
| Cursor follow GNOME on Wayland does not give apps the mouse position. | Yes | Not yet | Not yet | No | Not yet |
| Resident mode | Yes | Not yet | Not yet | Not yet | Not yet |
| Mouse shortcuts Wayland does not let apps read mouse buttons outside their own window. | Yes | No | Not yet | No | Not yet |
| Keyboard shortcuts On Wayland they work while a Proton or X11 game is in front, but not while a native Wayland app is (on KDE this includes Playto's own window). | Yes | While the game is in front | Yes | While the game is in front | Yes |
| Read aloud, pronunciation English, Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. Chinese and the VOICEVOX Japanese voice pack are Windows-only for now. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Game audio | Yes | Not yet | Not yet | Not yet | Not yet |
| Text recognition engine PP-OCR does not read Vietnamese. | OneOCR / Windows OCR / PP-OCR | PP-OCR | PP-OCR | PP-OCR | PP-OCR |
| Local translation runs on | NVIDIA (CUDA) / Vulkan / CPU | Vulkan / CPU | Vulkan / CPU | Vulkan / CPU | Vulkan / CPU |
| Translations on your stream (OBS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stops when the game closes | Yes | Not yet | Not yet | Not yet | Not yet |
How your Linux desktop changes things
- Proton and X11 games are read straight from their window. A game that runs natively on Wayland is read through your desktop's screen sharing: the first time, your desktop asks which window to share. Choose the game; Playto remembers the choice for that game, though your desktop may ask again after the game or the desktop restarts.
- Text is read with PP-OCR on the CPU, and the local model translates on a Vulkan GPU or the CPU. If Vulkan can't be used, Playto says why and translates on the CPU.
KDE Plasma (Wayland)
The most complete Linux experience.
- Playto sees every window through a small read-only KWin script, so automatic game detection, "Near text" and "Select on the game screen" work for every game, Wayland-native ones included.
- The overlay is drawn as a layer above all windows, and it moves to the monitor the game is on.
- Keyboard shortcuts work while a Proton or X11 game is in front, but not while a Wayland-native app (Playto's own window included) is.
GNOME (Wayland)
Works fully with Proton and X11 games. With Wayland-native games, translations stay at the bottom and you draw the area on the preview.
- GNOME does not let apps draw an overlay layer, so Playto runs through XWayland (on by default). If you have turned XWayland off, the overlay cannot appear.
- Through XWayland, Playto can see only XWayland windows. Most Steam games run through Proton or Wine and are XWayland windows, so they work like on KDE.
- For a game that runs natively on Wayland, Playto cannot see where its window is: "Near text" falls back to the bottom (or use "Custom"), and "Select on the game screen" is not available — draw the area on the preview instead. Translation itself works as usual.
- Cursor Follow is not possible: GNOME does not give apps the mouse position.
- Keyboard shortcuts work while a Proton or X11 game, or Playto itself, is in front.
X11 session (any desktop)
The closest to Windows. Everything available on Linux works, on any desktop.
- Games are read straight from their window, with no screen-share dialog.
- Keyboard shortcuts work whatever window is in front.
- If something does not work on your Wayland session, logging in to an X11 session is the quickest thing to try.
Other Wayland desktops (Sway, Hyprland, …)
Translation and the overlay work, without game detection.
- Desktops with layer-shell (Sway, Hyprland) show the overlay at the bottom or where you place it with "Custom". Playto cannot find the game window there, so "Near text" and "Select on the game screen" are not available.
- Wayland desktops without layer-shell cannot show the overlay. Translations still appear in the Log.
Troubleshooting
PLT-LINUX-001: Playto needs a newer Linux
Your system's glibc is older than 2.39. Playto cannot run on it. Upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04 or a distribution of the same generation fixes this.
PLT-LINUX-002: Required system libraries are missing
Saw this when starting Playto from Steam with the libraries already installed? That was fixed in v2026.1008.1851: let Steam update Playto and start it again. If you forced "Legacy runtime 1.0" under Properties → Compatibility as a workaround, you can untick it. Details
The message lists the missing libraries and, on Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch, the exact command that installs them. Run that command and start Playto again. If you only saw a short notification, this installs everything Playto usually needs from the system:
Ubuntu / Debian / Linux Mint
sudo apt install libgtk-3-0 libpipewire-0.3-0 libvulkan1 libgstreamer1.0-0 libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0 libsecret-1-0Fedora
sudo dnf install gtk3 pipewire-libs vulkan-loader gstreamer1 gstreamer1-plugins-base libsecretArch / Manjaro
sudo pacman -S gtk3 libpipewire vulkan-icd-loader gstreamer gst-plugins-base-libs libsecretOn SteamOS the system files are read-only, so missing libraries cannot be added with a command. Please contact us (below) with the message you saw.
"Playto's files are incomplete"
A file that comes with Playto is missing. In Steam, open Playto's Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files.
Playto's window stops updating (X11 / GNOME)
Fixed in v2026.1008.1851: let Steam update Playto and start it again. If you added
WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 %command% to the launch options as a
workaround, you can remove it. Details: Known issues.
The overlay does not appear
- On GNOME, XWayland must be available. It is on by default; if you turned it off, turn it back on.
- On Wayland desktops other than KDE and GNOME, the compositor must support layer-shell (Sway and Hyprland do).
- Logging in to an X11 session instead of Wayland works on any desktop.
- Settings shows the reason when Playto cannot find the game window on your desktop. See your desktop above for what to expect.
Where is the launcher log?
Every message is also written to ~/.local/state/playto/launcher.log.
Attach it when you contact us.
Still stuck? Ask in our Discord with your distribution, desktop, the message you saw and the launcher log. Linux support is new, and these reports decide what gets fixed first.