Internet Radio

23 Best Free and Open Source GUI Internet Radio Software

Internet radio (also known as web radio, net radio, streaming radio, and online radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet.

Why do we like internet radio? There are no sign-up or subscription charges. There’s a huge range of stations available from around the world. If you like classical music, pop music, folk music, news, talk radio, and much more, internet radio has something for everyone wherever you live (providing you have a net connection). Internet radio offers every format that is available on traditional broadcast radio stations.

There’s a wide range of free and open source software that lets you listen to internet radio. With so many different possibilities available it’s easy to get lost trying to find the right one for you.

Here’s our verdict on the best GUI-based internet radio software. Features that are highly desirable include, but are not limited to, access to the community radio browser API or similar, recording streams, the ability to import/export a list of radio stations, good search functionality, station logos, reordering stations, as well as an attractive and easy-to-use interface. Other factors that help to determine our rating include things like the program’s stability, speed, memory usage, and more.

Only open source software is eligible for inclusion.

Ratings chart

We must stress that the rating for each program represents our assessment of the program’s capabilities as an internet radio program. Many of the programs are not dedicated internet radio software. And the fact we’ve scored some programs (fairly) lowly isn’t indicative of their qualities as a music player. For example, Tauon Music Box is our recommended open source music player. It’s truly an amazing music player. While recent releases have added more internet radio functionality to Tauon, there’s plenty of scope for further improvements in this area.

The most promising music player in our opinion is fooyin. Its developer is planning to add internet radio functionality. We wait with baited breath.

Let’s have a look at the programs in more detail. For most of the software, we’ve written a detailed review. All of the programs offer a graphical interface. Terminal-based internet radio apps are covered in this separate article.

Internet Radio
TunerMinimalist radio station player written in Vala
ShortwaveRust based dedicated internet radio program
MusicPodMusic, podcast and internet radio player written in Dart
TauonxPython based music player
QMPlay2C++ based music and video player
YarockC++ based music player
OliviaC++ based music player
Sayonara PlayerC++ based music player
RadioVala based radio station player
RhythmboxC based music player
Quod LibetPython based music player
ByteVala based music player designed for elementary OS
StreamTuner2Python based dedicated internet radio program
BansheeC# based music player
AmarokC++ based music player
ClementineC++ based music player
Radiotray-NGC++ based dedicated internet radio program
GoodvibesC based dedicated internet radio program
MelodyVala based music player designed for elementary OS
ExailePython based music player
GogglesMMC++ based music collection manager and player
AudaciousC++ based music player
AqualungC Gtk-based audio player

This article has been revamped in line with our recent announcement.

Best Free and Open Source SoftwareRead our complete collection of recommended free and open source software. Our curated compilation covers all categories of software.

The software collection forms part of our series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. There are hundreds of in-depth reviews, open source alternatives to proprietary software from large corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk.

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Michaela
Michaela
3 years ago

Hello all !
is there any of these internet radio programs able to do recording ?

Lmen
Lmen
3 years ago
Reply to  Michaela

Most don’t offer recording but StreamTuner2 does. I think it uses streamripper for the recording

Ben
Ben
10 months ago
Reply to  Michaela

QMMP

comment image

Last edited 10 months ago by Ben
Ben
Ben
10 months ago

Maybe also add that it’s trivial to make an m3u playlist to play in Strawberry/QMMP (which can record with a plugin – into separate music files for any station which broadcasts the data) though these aren’t radio apps.

QMPlay2 also has a great Radio browser to find/add stations, mp3 and Youtube windows for searching and downloading (Video or just audio)…