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.
We recently covered graphical music players. Now it’s the turn for us to recommend terminal-based music players.
Terminal-based applications are light on system resources (very useful on low specified machines), are often faster and more efficient than their graphical counterparts, they do not stop working when X/Wayland is restarted, and are perfect for scripting purposes. When designed well, terminal-based programs offer a surprisingly improvement in productivity. The applications are leaner, faster, easier to maintain, and remove the need to install a whole raft of libraries.
Here’s our recommendations. All of the programs featured in this article are open source.
Let’s explore the 7 terminal-based 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, together with links to relevant resources.
| Terminal-Based Music Players | |
|---|---|
| musikcube | Sublime audio engine, library, player and server written in C++ |
| Tizonia | Powerful cloud music player based on OpenMAX IL 1.2 written in C and C++ |
| cmus | Great set of features including the essential gapless playback |
| ncmpy | Music Player Daemon client |
| ncmpc | Frugal Music Player Daemon client |
| MOC | Designed to be powerful and easy to use |
| Siren | Extremely frugal with system resources |
mpg123 narrowly missed out on inclusion.
| Return to our complete collection of recommended free and open source software including our latest additions. |