There’s a huge raft of free and open source music software available on the Linux platform which is both mature and sophisticated. Linux has many music tools which offer enhanced functionality and integration with internet music services. With most desktop environments having several audio players, together with cross-platform applications, integrated media players, there is a plethora of music players to choose from.
Like many types of software, the selection of a favorite music player is, to some extent, dependent on personal preferences. Nevertheless, we are confident that the applications featured in this article represent the most appealing music players.
All music libraries are different, and the right open source music player can make a world of difference – especially if you’ve a large collection.
If you’re still using a general purpose media player, you’re missing out on a wealth of features that can make organizing, expanding and enjoying your music a walk in the park.
Here’s our recommendations. We’ve confined this article to music players sporting a graphical user interface. We’ll cover console based music players separately.
In our view, Tauon Music Box is the finest open source graphical music player available for Linux. It’s probably the most underrated program in the whole gamut of open source software.
All of the programs featured in this article are open source.
Let’s explore the 24 music players. For each program we’ve written a detailed review or a dedicated page. Either way, you’ll get a full description with an in-depth analysis of each program’s features, screenshot of the software in action, together with links to relevant resources.
| Music Players | |
|---|---|
| Tauon Music Box | Python-based music player that's an absolute gem |
| Cantata | Feature-rich client for Music Player Daemon |
| Yarock | Qt music player with browsing based on cover art |
| Rhythmbox | Integrated music management application, originally inspired by iTunes |
| Strawberry | Music player and collection organizer originally forked from Clementine |
| Clementine | Modern music player and library organiser. Inspired by Amarok |
| Audacious | XMMS-like skinnable player |
| Amarok | KDE audio player offering a wealth of features, yet intuitive to use |
| Sayonara Player | Small, clear and fast music player written in C++ |
| Exaile | Music player aiming to be similar to KDE's Amarok, but for GTK+ |
| Musique | Small but sophisticated graphical music player |
| DeaDBeeF | Basic and simple player with a small footprint. |
| Quod Libet | GTK+-based music management program |
| gmusicbrowser | Music jukebox for large collections |
| Pragha | Distinguished and resplendent open source music player |
| qoob | A foobar-like music player |
| GNOME Music | Simple music player |
| Musicalypse | Music player and server built with Web technologies |
| Melody | Music player designed for elementary OS |
| Lollypop | Modern music player for GNOME |
| Elisa | Simple music player developed by the KDE community |
| Deepin Music | Visually attractive and simple music player |
| Tomahawk | Qt-based music player |
| QMPlay2 | Video and audio player which can play most formats and codecs |
A few of the music players are not in active development.
There are many other good music players that didn’t quite meet our stringent requirements. Examples of music players that narrowly missed out (in no particular order) are JuK, Museeks, Nulloy, Banshee, and Qmmp.
| Return to our complete collection of recommended free and open source software including our latest additions. |