Comparison of audio player software
The following comparison of audio players compares general and technical information for a number of software media player programs.
For the purpose of this comparison, "audio players" are defined as any media player which can only play audio files. Players capable of video playback are included under comparison of video player software, even if they are primarily well known for audio playback.
General
Name | Author | First public release | stable version | Cost | Software license | Based framework | Written in | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | AIMP DevTeam | August 8, 2006 | Windows: 5.30, build 2533 (December 20, 2023[1]) [±] |
Free | Proprietary | BASS audio library (decoder) | Delphi | ||||||||||||||
Amarok | Mark Kretschmann | June 1, 2003 | 3.1 (August 2, 2024[±] | )Free | GPL | via Phonon: GStreamer, xine, MPlayer, VLC, DirectShow, QuickTime | C++ | ||||||||||||||
Aqualung | Tom Szilagyi et al. | January 1, 2006 | 0.9beta11 January 30, 2013 | Free | GPL | C | |||||||||||||||
aTunes | Alex Aranda et al. | January 1, 2006 | 3.1.2 (June 22, 2014[±] | )Free | GPL | Java | |||||||||||||||
Audacious | Audacious Development Team | October 30, 2005 | 4.2 (July 9, 2022[3]) [±] | Free | GPL | XMMS based | C, C++ (GTK+) | ||||||||||||||
Banshee | Aaron Bockover | February 17, 2005 | 2.6.2 (February 18, 2014[4]) [±] | Free | MIT | GStreamer | C# | ||||||||||||||
Beep Media Player | Milosz Derezynski | June 6, 2004 | Template:Latest stable software release/Beep Media Player | Free | GPL | XMMS based | C | ||||||||||||||
Clementine | Clementine Team | March 1, 2011 | 1.3.1 (April 19, 2016[±] | )Free | GPL | GStreamer | C++ | ||||||||||||||
cmus | Timo Hirvonen | January 18, 2005 | 2.12.0 (October 26, 2024[±] | )Free | GPL | C | |||||||||||||||
Cog | Vincent Spader | May 1, 2006 | 0.07 (December 24, 2007[±] | )Free | GPL | Objective-C | |||||||||||||||
Exaile | Adam Olsen | May 24, 2006 | Free | GPL | GStreamer | Python (GTK+) | |||||||||||||||
Ecoute | Louka Desroziers & Julien Sagot | September 2008 | 3.0.8 | Free (until version 4) | Proprietary | AV Foundation & QuickTime | Objective-C | ||||||||||||||
Flash MP3 Player | Reality Software | March 11, 2008 | 1.00 | Free | Proprietary | ||||||||||||||||
foobar2000 | Peter Pawlowski | November 29, 2002 | 2.24.5[5] ![]() |
Free | Proprietary (core), BSD (SDK) |
C++ | |||||||||||||||
Guayadeque Music Player | February 1, 2003 | Free | GPL | GStreamer | C++ (wxWidgets, wxSqlite) | ||||||||||||||||
Gear Player | Zsolt Szatmári | April 2012 | 1.4.29 | Non-free US$3.99 | Proprietary | Core Audio | Objective-C | ||||||||||||||
JuK | Scott Wheeler | February 1, 2003 | Free | GPL | C++ | ||||||||||||||||
MediaMonkey Standard | Ventis Media Inc. | August 25, 2003 | 5.0.4.2690 (November 23, 2022[±] | )Free | Proprietary | Delphi, C | |||||||||||||||
MediaMonkey Gold | Ventis Media Inc. | August 25, 2003 | 5.0.4.2690 (November 23, 2022[±] | )Non-free US$24.95 | Proprietary | Delphi, C | |||||||||||||||
MediaMonkey Lifetime | Ventis Media Inc. | August 25, 2003 | 5.0.4.2690 (November 23, 2022[±] | )Non-free US$49.95 | Proprietary | Delphi, C | |||||||||||||||
MPXPLAY | MPXPLAY | January 1, 1998 | 3.14 (October 24, 2021[±] | )Free | GPL | ||||||||||||||||
Music on Console | Damian Pietras | January 1, 2002 | 2.5.1 (April 24, 2016[±] | )Free | GPL | C | |||||||||||||||
Music Player Daemon | Warren Dukes | May 1, 2003 | 0.21.22 (April 2, 2020[6]) [±] | Free | GPL | C | |||||||||||||||
MusicBee | Steven Mayall | December 4, 2008 | 2.3 Final March 1, 2014 | Free | Proprietary | BASS audio library | Visual Basic .NET | ||||||||||||||
musikCube | Casey Langen | January 1, 2005 | 3.0.4[7] ![]() |
Free | BSD | ||||||||||||||||
Napster | William Christopher Gorog | October 1, 2003 | 4.6.3.4 (August 31, 2010[±] | )Non-free US$9.95+ | Proprietary | ||||||||||||||||
Quod Libet | Quod Libet Team | November 8, 2004 | Template:Latest stable software release/Quod Libet (software) | Free | GPL | GStreamer | Python (GTK) PyGTK | ||||||||||||||
Rdio | Rdio Inc | [when?] | Microsoft Windows: 1.12.0.0 (2013, [when?]) iOS: 2.5.11 (7 August 2014 ) | (subscription required) | Proprietary | ||||||||||||||||
Rhapsody | RealNetworks | January 1, 2003 | 14.0 (16 October 2006) [±] | (subscription required) | Proprietary | ||||||||||||||||
Rhythmbox | Colin Walters | April 1, 2004 | 3.4.8 (November 10, 2024[±] | )Free | GPL | GStreamer | C | ||||||||||||||
Songbird | POTI Inc. | February 8, 2006 | 2.2.0, Build 2453 (February 4, 2013[±] | )Free | GPL | GStreamer | |||||||||||||||
Sonique | Media Science | November 1, 1998 | 1.96 (March 2002) | Free | Proprietary | ||||||||||||||||
Spotify | Spotify LTD | 2008 |
|
Non-free UK£9.99 | Proprietary | ||||||||||||||||
Style Jukebox | Digital Geek LTD | July 1, 2009 | 2.2.1 (October 8, 2016[±] | )Free | Proprietary | C# | |||||||||||||||
Winamp | Nullsoft | April 21, 1997 | 5.9.2 Build 10042[13] (April 26, 2023 ) [±]
|
Free | Proprietary | Wasabi | C/C++ | ||||||||||||||
XMMS | XMMS Team | November 1, 1997 | 1.2.11 (November 16, 2007[±] | )Free | GPL | original | C | ||||||||||||||
XMPlay | Un4seen Developments | 1998 | 3.8 (December 23, 2013) | Free | Proprietary | original (based on the BASS audio library) | |||||||||||||||
Name | Author | First public release date | Stable version | Cost | Software license | Based framework | Written in |
Operating system compatibility
This section lists the operating systems on which the player works. There may be multiple versions of a player for different operating systems.
Audio player | Windows | OS X | Linux | iOS | Android | BSD Unix | Solaris | Other Unix | DOS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Amarok | Yes | beta | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
aTunes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Audacious | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Audion | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Banshee | alpha | beta | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
cmus | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Cog | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Clementine | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Ecoute | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Exaile | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
foobar2000 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Guayadeque Music Player | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
G-Ear | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
JuK | Not yet officially[osnotes 1] | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
MediaMonkey | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
MPXPLAY | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Music Player Daemon | cygwin | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
MusicBee | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
musikCube | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Rdio | Yes | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Rhapsody | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Rhythmbox | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
SMplayer | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Songbird | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Sonique | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Spotify | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Style Jukebox | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
UMplayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Winamp | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
XMMS | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
XMPlay | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Zinf | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Audio player | Windows | OS X | Linux | iOS | Android | BSD Unix | Solaris | Other Unix | DOS |
- ^ KDE on Windows Project - Part of kdemultimedia
Features
Audio player | Video playback | Outbound streaming | Skinnable | Media database | Gapless audio decoding | Visualizer | Remote controllable | Intelligent playlists from database (based on criteria) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | No | via Plugins | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via Plugins | No |
Amarok | Partial[featurenotes 1] | Yes | Partial[featurenotes 2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Audacious | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Audion | No | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? | No |
cmus | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Cog | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Clementine | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Exaile | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
foobar2000 | No | Partial[14] | Yes[featurenotes 3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[14] | Yes |
JuK | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes[featurenotes 4] | ? |
MediaMonkey | Yes | Partial[14] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[14] | Yes |
MPXPLAY | Only sound output | ? | text-interface | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (also LCD ability) | ? |
Music Player Daemon | No | Yes | Client dependent | Yes | Yes | Client dependent | Yes | Client dependent |
MusicBee | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Musicmatch Jukebox | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
musikCube | No | No | No | Yes | No | Partial[14] | ? | Yes |
Quod Libet | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Rhapsody | No | No | No | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
Rhythmbox | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sonique | Partial[14] | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | No |
Spotify | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Winamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
XMMS | Partial[14] | Partial[14] | Yes | No | Partial[14] | Yes | Yes | No |
XMPlay | Partial[14] | Partial[14] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Zinf | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
Audio player | Video playback | Outbound streaming | Skinnable | Media database | Gapless audio decoding | Visualizer | Remote controllable | Intelligent playlists from database (based on criteria) |
Extended features
Audio player | ReplayGain | Tag mass | Tag flexible[featurenotes 5] | Time stretch | Pitch shift | A-B repeat | Bookmark | Auto resume | Shutdown on play complete | Archive ability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | Yes | Yes[featurenotes 6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes[featurenotes 7] | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Audacious | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Audion | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
cmus | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Cog | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Clementine | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No |
Exaile | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes | Yes[14] | No |
foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Partial[14] | Yes | Partial[14] | Yes |
JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MediaMonkey | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[14] | Partial[14] | Partial[14] | Partial[14] | Yes | Yes | ? |
MPXPLAY | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Musicmatch Jukebox | ? | Partial[featurenotes 8] | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
musikCube | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[featurenotes 9] | Partial[featurenotes 9] | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Rhapsody | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Sonique | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? |
Winamp | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? |
XMMS | Partial | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
XMPlay | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Zinf | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
Audio player | ReplayGain | Tag mass | Tag flexible | Time stretch | Pitch shift | A-B repeat | Bookmark | Auto resume | Shutdown on play complete | Archive ability |
- ^ Basic function with NMM
- ^ Context Browser uses CSS.
- ^ UIs may be switched. Shares Windows' themes by default. Additionally, a plugin (foo_looks) can skin foobar2000.
- ^ Using DCOP
- ^ Flexible tagging is the ability to read or write custom tags, apart from the default ones like title, album and date. Users can use custom tags to provide additional information to media files. Custom tags work via ID3v2.4 (via the TXXX tag field), Vorbis comments and APEv2.
- ^ Through use of the Advanced Tag Editor.
- ^ Through plugin: http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Repeat+A+B?content=45993&PHPSESSID=a86dadfbbaf38573a7287e13947745e7
- ^ Paid version only
- ^ a b Through Audio Pitch / Speed plugin
Audio format ability
Information about what audio formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins/filters that provide such functionality.
Audio player | Lossy compression | Lossless compression | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MP3 | WMA | RealAudio | Vorbis | Musepack | AAC | Dolby AC-3 | VQF | Opus | APE | FLAC | ALAC | SHN | WV | WMA L | |
AIMP | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[15] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Amarok[16][17][18] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Audacious | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
Audion | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Clementine | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
cmus | Yes | Yes[19] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[19] | ? | Yes[20] | Yes[19] | Yes | Yes[19] | Yes[19] | Yes | ? |
Cog | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Exaile | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | ? | ? | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | ? |
foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[14] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
JuK | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? |
Media Jukebox | Yes[audionotes 1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
MediaMonkey | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Partial[22] | Partial[22] | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial[14] | Partial[14] | ? |
MPXPLAY | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
Music Player Daemon | Yes | Yes[19] | Partial[19] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[19] | Yes[19] | Yes | Yes[19] | Yes | Yes | Yes[19] | Yes | ? |
MusicBee | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[15] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[15] | Yes | Yes |
Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
musikCube | Yes | Partial[22] | No | Yes | Partial[22] | Partial[22] | Partial[22] | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial[22] | ? |
Quod Libet | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | ? | Yes | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | ? |
Rhapsody | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Rhythmbox | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | ? | ? | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | Yes[21] | ? |
SMplayer | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
Sonique | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial[22] | Partial[22] | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Style Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
XMMS | Yes | Partial[22] | Partial[22] | Partial[22] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes[14] | ? | Partial[22] | Yes | No | Partial[22] | Yes | ? |
XMPlay | Yes | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | ? | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | Yes[14] | ? |
Zinf | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Audio player | MP3 | WMA | RealAudio | Vorbis | Musepack | AAC | Dolby AC-3 | VQF | Opus | APE | FLAC | ALAC | SHN | WV | WMA L |
- ^ Requires External Encoding App
Container format ability
Information about what container formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or filters that provide such functionality.
Audio player | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-21 | NUT | FLV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Partial | No | No | No |
Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Basic | Basic | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
Audacious | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Audio only |
Audion | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
cmus | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | Basic | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Cog | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Partial | ? | ? | ? |
foobar2000 | Partial[14] | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes[containernotes 1] | Yes | ? | ? | Audio only |
JuK | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Media Jukebox | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MediaMonkey | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
MPXPLAY | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
MusicBee | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | AAC only | No | No | No |
Musicmatch Jukebox | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
musikCube | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Rhapsody | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Rhythmbox | No | Yes | No | Vorbis only | No | No | Yes[21] | ? | ? | ? |
Sonique | No[22] | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
XMMS | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Zinf | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Audio player | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-21 | NUT | FLV |
Scalable, composite and emulation format abilities
Audio player | Flash | RealPix | QuickTime Video Effects in mov | HTML+TIME(+VML) | smil/smi | SVG | MIDI(smf) | MIDI(kar) | MIDI(xmf) | MIDI(rmi) | MIDI(xmi) | NSF | SPC | PSF | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Amarok | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Audacious | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Audion | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
cmus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
Cog | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
foobar2000 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (plugin) | ? | ? | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | |
JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Media Jukebox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
MediaMonkey | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes (Winamp plugin) | Yes (Winamp plugin) | Yes (Winamp plugin) | |
MPXPLAY | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
MusicBee | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ?[21] | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Musicmatch Jukebox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
musikCube | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Rhapsody | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Rhythmbox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Sonique | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
XMMS | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Zinf | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Audio player | Flash | RealPix | QuickTime Video Effects in mov | HTML+TIME(+VML) | smil/smi | SVG | MIDI(smf) | MIDI(kar) | MIDI(xmf) | MIDI(rmi) | MIDI(xmi) | NSF | SPC | PSF |
Protocol abilities
Information about which internet protocols the players understand, for receiving streaming media content. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such functionality.
Audio player | HTTP | RTSP (RTSPU, RTSPT) | MMS (MMSU, MMST) | Podcasting | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | UPNP |
Audacious | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? |
Audion | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
cmus | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
Cog | No | No | No | No | ? |
foobar2000 | Yes | Partial[protocolnotes 1] | Yes | Partial[protocolnotes 2] | ? |
JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Media Jukebox | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
MediaMonkey | Yes | No | No | Yes[protocolnotes 3] | ? |
MusicBee | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
musikCube | Yes | No | No | ? | ? |
Rhapsody | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | No | Partial[protocolnotes 4] | UPNP |
Sonique | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
XMMS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Zinf | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
Audio player | HTTP | RTSP (RTSPU, RTSPT) | MMS (MMSU, MMST) | Podcasting | Other |
- ^ Only WMA files are playable by foobar2000 through an RTSP connection. RealMedia, AAC, etc. are not supported.
- ^ 3rd party plugin for 0.9 allows reading RSS 2.0 feeds as playlists. No subscription/automatic update features.
- ^ Present in version 3.0 currently going through Alpha Testing.
- ^ As of 0.9.2 it allows reading RSS as podcast source. Issues if links in RSS do not point directly to playable media. Automatic update of podcasts available.
Playlist format ability
Information about which playlist formats the players understand.
Audio player | asx/wax/wvx | M3U | pls | XSPF |
---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Audacious | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Audion | ? | ? | ? | ? |
cmus | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Cog | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Exaile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Media Jukebox | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
MediaMonkey | ? | Yes | ? | No |
MPXPLAY | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Musicmatch Jukebox | ? | ? | ? | ? |
musikCube | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Quod Libet | Partial | Yes | Yes | No |
Rhapsody | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Rhythmbox | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
Sonique | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
XMMS | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
Zinf | ? | ? | ? | No |
Audio player | asx/wax/wvx | M3U | pls | XSPF |
Metadata ability
Information about what metadata, or tagging, formats the players understand. Most other containers have their own metadata format and the players usually use them. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such functionality.
Audio player | ID3v1 | ID3v2 | APEv2 tag | Vorbis comment | Cue sheet | CD-Text | WAVE chunks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Amarok | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | Yes | Yes[metadatanotes 2] | ? | Yes |
Audacious | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Audion | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
cmus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
Cog | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[metadatanotes 3] | Yes |
JuK | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | Yes[metadatanotes 1] | ? | ? | ? |
Media Jukebox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
MediaMonkey | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
MPXPLAY | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
musikCube | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Rhapsody | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Sonique | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
XMMS | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Zinf | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Audio player | ID3v1 | ID3v2 | APEv2 tag | Vorbis comment | Cue sheet | CD-Text | WAVE chunks |
- ^ a b c d e f g Understanding of ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2 and Vorbis comments is handled by an external library called TagLib. Cite error: The named reference "taglib" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Yes, but buggy.
- ^ There is a plugin called CD-TEXT Reader adding such a feature.
Optical media ability
Information about what kinds of optical discs the players can play. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such functionality. Playback of Super Audio CD is not possible for any media player, because no suitable hardware exists. All media players capable of audio CD playback will also play the Redbook core of any HDCD disc, providing no sound-quality benefits over standard audio CDs.
Audio player | Audio | ||
---|---|---|---|
CD | DVD-Audio | HDCD | |
AIMP | Yes | No | No |
Amarok | Partial | No | No |
aTunes | No | No | No |
Audacious | Yes | No | No |
Audion | Yes | No | No |
cmus | No | No | No |
Cog | No | No | No |
foobar2000 | Yes | Yes (plugin)[opticalmedianotes 1] | Yes (plugin)[opticalmedianotes 2] |
JuK | Yes[opticalmedianotes 3] | No | No |
Media Jukebox | Yes | No | No |
MediaMonkey | Yes | No | No |
MusicBee | Yes | ? | ? |
Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | No | No |
musikCube | Yes | No | No |
Rhapsody | Yes | No | No |
Rhythmbox | Yes | No | No |
Sonique | Yes | No | No |
XMMS | Yes | No | No |
Zinf | Yes | No | No |
Audio player | CD | DVD-Audio | HDCD |
Audio |
See also
- List of codecs
- Open source codecs and containers
- Comparison of container formats
- Comparison of portable media players
References
- ^ Latest AIMP for Windows changelog
- ^ Latest AIMP for Android changelog
- ^ "Audacious 4.2 released". 9 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ "October 10, 2012". banshee.fm. October 3, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
- ^ "foobar2000 change log". Retrieved 10 May 2025.
- ^ "Releases - MusicPlayerDaemon/MPD". Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via GitHub.
- ^ "Release 3.0.4". 14 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
- ^ "Spotify: Discover music, podcasts, and playlists - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com.
- ^ "Spotify New Music and Podcasts". App Store.
- ^ "Spotify New Music and Podcasts". App Store.
- ^ "Open Source". Spotify. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Spotify Flathub page". Flathub.
- ^ "Winamp: Supported versions: Latest supported version". Winamp Forums. December 22, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Plugin available.
- ^ a b c Available through a Winamp plugin.
- ^ Amarok uses non-Amarok libraries to decode audio. It will play any file for which a codec is available on the system. The default libraries in Linux are from the GStreamer project, and in Windows from the VLC project.
- ^ "Amarok/GettingStarted/Download/Windows". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ^ "VLC playback Features". VideoLAN Organization. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Available through a FFmpeg plugin.
- ^ Available through the opusfile plugin.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al Available through a Gstreamer plugin.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Available via plugins that can be automatically downloaded during installation