10 Best and Most Popular Icon Themes for Linux

Icon themes are the easiest way to change the looks of your Linux desktop. Here is the list of the ten best icon themes you should try.

Not being tied to how the desktop looks and operates is one of the many perks of being a Linux user. Are you bored with the icon theme set currently installed on your Linux machine?

You can find many icon sets to radically change your desktopโ€™s looks, especially when you combine them with a matching wallpaper and window color theme. So letโ€™s look at 10 of the best Linux icon themes that will upgrade your OSโ€™s look.

1. Papirus

Papirus Icon Theme is one of many Linux users’ top favorite theme packs. Not just because of its modern look and feel but also because of its wide range of app icons added to it during every update.

All elements have a clear distinction and are also outlined with a warm color tone.

Papirus Icon Theme

2. Numix Circle

Numix Circle is the latest improvement of the icon theme set in the Numix project. Their themes are the default on several Linux distributions and therefore are popular with users. All its icons have a circle container with well-thought-out shadows.

Numix Circle Icon Theme

3. Paper

Paper is an open-source FreeDesktop icon project. Its icons have a modern Material Design look with rounded corners. Each icon has been meticulously designed for pixel-perfect viewing. Itโ€™s a part of the Paper project, including cursors and a theme with light and dark color variants.

Paper Icon Theme

4. Arc

The Arc icon theme, created by the developer of the insanely popular Arc GTK theme, is a fantastic material icon theme. For example, Arc icons look great with the Arc theme, making the desktop pretty unique.

The icon pack makes heavy use of simple, clean colors and thin crisp lines and follows flat design trends.

Arc Icon Theme

5. Flat Remix

Flat Remix is an icon theme inspired by material design. It is primarily flat, using a color palette with some shadows, highlights, and gradients for some depth.

Flat Remix Icon Theme

6. Oranchelo

Oranchelo is also a set of flat icons, some with long shadows based on Super Flat Remix. It is a hybrid icon set that follows the latest design trends and looks charming.

Oranchelo Icon Theme

7. La Capitaine

La Capitaine is an icon theme that takes inspiration from the latest iterations of macOS and Google’s Material Design through visually pleasing gradients, shadowing, and simple icon geometry.

La Capitaine Icon Theme

8. Zafiro

Zafiro is a minimalist icon set created with the flat design technique, utilizing washed-out colors and is always accompanied by white. The priority is simplicity. This icon set looks good and awesome in your system.

Zafiro Icon Theme

9. Xenlism

Xenlism is a technological graphics project to improve the overall appearance and feel of the end-user desktop. It’s about minimalism and realism. The graphics standards are inspired by Nokia’s Meego and Apple’s iOS icons theme.

Xenlism Icon Theme

10. Boston

Boston is a minimalist and functional icon theme focused on basic shapes, a reduced color palette, and visual hierarchy. Above all, it’s intended to be used with GNOME Shell desktop and adapt well to its default settings.

Boston Icon Theme

Conclusion

Do you like these icon themes? Which one is your favorite icon pack on Linux? There are hundreds of icon sets available out there. Hopefully, these will give you a good point to get that amazing-looking desktop.

Drop a line in the comments below with your favorite icon theme.

Bobby Borisov

Bobby Borisov

Bobby, an editor-in-chief at Linuxiac, is a Linux professional with over 20 years of experience. With a strong focus on Linux and open-source software, he has worked as a Senior Linux System Administrator, Software Developer, and DevOps Engineer for small and large multinational companies.

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