A home computer makes an ideal appliance to store and stream music. The purpose of a music server is to deliver tracks when requested by a client. The server can deliver music to machines over a local area network as well as computers connected over the internet.
Linux is widely recognized as an ideal operating system to serve web pages. But the server capabilities of Linux extend far beyond merely providing HTTP servers.
There is a wide range of multimedia software available for Linux which turns your machine into a jukebox. There are even dedicated Linux distributions that turn your computer into a music server. This article identifies the best free software which enables your Linux machine to act as a music server, distributing digital tracks over a network. Such software supports popular audio formats such as FLAC, OGG Vorbis, and MP3.
We have focused on software which is simple to set up and has an easy to use interface.
Music server software can be put to a number of different uses. For example, it provides an excellent way to listen to your music collection at home, or to listen from a remote location. Alternatively, users can share their music with friends over the internet. However, it is important to remember that if you stream music to others on the internet, you should only use tracks that are available under a free license, or where permission has been obtained from the copyright owner.
Here is our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. They are all free and open source software.
Let’s explore the 13 music servers at hand. For each application we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, screenshots (where relevant), together with links to relevant resources.
| Music Servers | |
|---|---|
| Music Player Daemon | Flexible, powerful, server-side application for playing music |
| Jellyfin | Media system to manage and stream media |
| Koel | Personal music streaming server. |
| Navidrome | Web-based music collection server and streamer |
| Icecast | Ogg Vorbis and MP3 streaming media server |
| Ampache | PHP web based audio/video streaming application and file manager |
| owntone-server | DAAP (iTunes), MPD (Music Player Daemon) and RSP (Roku) server |
| mopidy | Extensible music server |
| gonic | Music streaming server with a subsonic server API implementation |
| Gerbera | UPnP media server |
| Euterpe | Self-hosted streaming service for music |
| Funkwhale | Share music and audio within a decentralized, open network |
| Airsonic | Web-based media streamer |
This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |
You said that VortexBox is dedicated music server. so , why it is not on the best list. I mean If some one wants to create a music server should he go for a dedicated one or third party software like you mentioned above…