What are the best music players for Linux?
34
Options Considered
Last Updated
Join our communityThe best Option for most people
Powered by 665 community recommendations on 34 options and the Slant algorithm.
Pro Streamlined player not weighed down by unnecessary options
Audacious is a classic music player at heart that has not felt the need to weigh itself down with an assortment of unnecessary options. Advanced functionality can be attained through plugins available from within the program.
Pro Support for Winamp themes
Audacious can switch from its GTK interface to one that matches the looks of the famous Winamp player. What's even better is that this interface supports any Winamp themes, which allows for more options.
Con No bit perfect output past 24bit
Audiophiles require this, and while most users might not notice a difference, audiophiles will appreciate the improved audio quality.
Con No manual sorting fields
There is no option to add one's own categories to the sorting fields.
665 Community Recommendations
+406
Recommend your favorite options here
Audacious
Recommended 14 days ago by Rafael
I began to use it when I left Windows as an Winamp alternative, but definitively, is better than Winamp.
Pro
Support for Winamp themesPro
Tons of pluginsPro
The easiest player for multiple types of files - dts, aac multichannel etc.Pro
Folder oriented player, but able to play any music container and highly configurable
See full
Clementine
Recommended 10 days ago by HappyWhiro
Tried Clementine once, which was enough. Tried editing the Tags for each MP3 file in library, and it messed everything up, then crashed.
Pro
Tag editingPro
Creates playlists based on past music you listened toCon
Not a lot of documentationCon
Resource exhaustiveCon
Slow to start in Gnome/CinnamonCon
BuggyPro
Supports a lot of online servicesCon
Bit perfect output no longer configurableCon
Database regularly messes upCon
No way to search on filenameCon
Doesn't allow gapless playbackCon
Sometimes messes up taskbarqmmp
Recommended 10 days ago by HappyWhiro
As with all music players on Linux, it has a few bugs. BUT, it has far less bugs than all the others, making it the most reliable.
Pro
Offers some skinning optionsPro
Small single-window interfacePro
Supports cue sheetsPro
Lightweight and supports almost all formatsPro
Qt-App
Clementine
Recommended 21 days ago by ReceptiveApoLaki
clear interface, quick search of big libraries (excelent database handling), fades, in and out. drawback is that the taskbar sometimes gets messed up. Already years this bug is bothering me.
Con
Sometimes messes up taskbar
Clementine
Recommended a month ago by PatientKyrbas
Very good player with lot of options and customizations.
Pro
Tag editingPro
Built-in format conversionPro
Decent library managementPro
Supports a lot of online servicesPro
Built-in equalizer for custom soundPro
Intuitive and fast to set upPro
Can display song lyrics
Audacious
Recommended a day ago by SkillfulTsovinar
Pro
Streamlined player not weighed down by unnecessary optionsCon
No manual sorting fieldsPro
Tons of pluginsCon
No bit perfect output past 24bitPro
LightweightPro
Folder oriented player, but able to play any music container and highly configurableCon
Updates are not very frequent
Options Considered
Pro Creates playlists based on past music you listened to
Clementine gathers the user's listening data to use for smart playlists. Clementine uses your listening history to play music similar to the music you play most - which typically is music you will like but maybe haven't discovered yet.
Con Slow development
Very little development work has been going on for a while as of mid-2017. Nobody is responding to bug reports.
Pro Lightweight
DeadBeef uses few system resources, making it great for low end systems and for those requiring a media player that uses as few resources as possible.
Con GTK-App
So there is basically no integration into non-GTK desktops
Pro Fast
A lot of music players will be slow when starting if they have huge libraries, but CMus starts fast no matter the library size.
Con Difficult to use
Cmus uses odd keyboard shortcuts such as "C" to pause, "E" to add songs to queue, and "4" to edit the queue.
Pro Simple to setup and use
VLC is an incredibly robust application but very simple on the surface. It makes playing music simple, yet still manages to give the user all the tools he/she wants in a music player.
Con Not really meant to be a music player
VLC is made to be a video player. Therefore, it won't carry out actions such as managing your music library.
Pro Multiple frontends available
MPD is a music player server that requires a separate client for user interaction. There are many frontends available, with the most popular being ncmpcpp.
Con Not a music player, only a music server
You know how you need your browser (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) to access web pages? The browser is what YOU touch, see, and interface with, but in order for it to give you anything it must connect to a server that "serves" appropriate content. mpd is the server in this analogy, NOT the thing...
Pro Offers some skinning options
Qmmp allows the user to drastically change its look via skins. It can use Winamp and Xmms skins, as well as a list of 12 skins made specifically for qmmp that can be found here.
Con Max
There is no support for HDPI screen. Witch give unscaled, tiny and ridiculous windows. Too bad, the player look good.
Pro Large assortment of layouts
You can pretty much emulate your favorite media player layout inside of gmusicbrowser as it has a large assortment of pre-made layouts as well as an insurmountable amount of options for custom layouts.
Con Some plugins are outdated
Several plugins works on older versions of libraries no longer available for recent distros.
Pro Fast
Since it is a front-end for mpd, queries within Cantata are lightning fast.
Con MPD client = tricky to setup
MPD is known to be troublesome to get it working properly. It may be really frustrating to make it work properly thus you may find Cantata not playing your music files. Otherwise it's a great music player.
Pro Super intuitive way of organizing and browsing albums and artists
You can view all the albums you have in one long list. Clicking on one of them will bring a popup at the bottom of the screen where you will see a list of all the songs on that album.
Con Requires a well organized music collection
Lollypop will be a pain to use if music is badly tagged. The setup is a one time thing, but it can be a pain to organize a large library.
Pro Internet radio
Rhythmbox has built-in support for users so that they can add their own streaming audio / internet radio channels.
Con No folder browse/add-to-playlist view
So few music players seem to let you browse by your directory structure and add songs to a playlist that way. That's unfortunate because it's a really useful feature and eliminates the problem of mistagged music.
Pro Easy to use
Despite very good library management capability, Quod Libet is easy to use. The base music player doesn't have too many features, making it a breeze to use. However, if you want to go deeper you can install plugins. These plugins can sometimes add complexity, but it's up to you what you do...
Con Plugins could be better integrated
Lyrics are not downloaded automatically in Quod Libet, while simply viewing lyrics could be made a lot more accessible. There is also little information pulled from last.fm - scrubbing works, as well as there being no artist info or suggestions for similar artists.
Con Cover songs show up in mixes
Amateur cover songs have a habbit of finding their way into mixes which means TOMAHAWK has trouble telling the difference.
Pro Minimal UI
The UI for Musique is pretty minimal. By not throwing every option in the book into the application, the developers are able to keep the interface clear of any clutter.
Con No differentation between Album Artist / Track Artist
Albums are sorted via "Album Artist" but each deviating "Track Artist" creates a new album handle. Very bad when you have album tracks where the filename consists of the typical "Artist #1 feat. Artist #2" setting as each of these files creates another album entry.
Pro Full-featured media library management
Banshee is not just a music player but a full-featured media player. Users can store and manage their videos, music, and podcasts all in one application.
Con The project seems dead
The last version was already 18 months old in early 2014. It works, but for how long?
Pro Works as a daemon
MOC can be run (and later controlled) totally in the background.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
Pro Starts fast
Most other players start rather slowly. This one is written in C++, and the end result is excellent speed.
Con Sometimes freezes and crashes
This can happen if you change some settings i.e. add or remove tabs etc.
Pro Can handle large libraries
Exaile utilizes a SQLite database to store information. As such, it can handle large music libraries.
Con Built on GTK2
Exaile is an older app that is still built with GTK2. Therefore, it may look out of place in a GTK# desktop environment.
Pro Used on many other devices as well
Spotify can be used on Playstation, Xbox, Android, iPhone, etc. What's more, you can access your library from all of them.
Con Sound quality limits in the free version of Spotify
Without a Spotify subscription, computers and tablets are limited to 160 kbps. While on smartphones, sound quality is limited to 96 kbps.
Pro Loaded with features
Amarok contains the following features: Built-in equilizer Built-in lookup of songs and artists (Amarok will display Wikipedia articles or lyrics of songs that it can find.) Ability to add online playlists or streams, which is great for online radios such as soma or di.fm. Supported by Cinnamon...
Con UI is not the most intuitive
While the design of the UI is different to most other music players, the way it actually functions can feel foreign to many and result in a lot of confusion.
Welcome to the Slant Community
Stop spending hours researching
Slant is written by a community helping you be informed. Let us know what you’re passionate about to get an awesome personalized feed.