I appreciate calling Windows XP “Microsoft’s greatest OS” will elicit
snorts of derision from a good number of you. That honor probably
belongs to Windows 7, or maybe even Windows 10 (once Microsoft ironed
out the many problems that plagued it from the start). But certainly,
Windows XP was a classic, and a huge step up from the operating systems
that preceded it.
If you miss XP but aren’t crazy enough to run an OS that (mostly)
hasn’t had security updates in over a decade, FreeXP might be just what
you’re looking for. It’s not XP, and it’s not from Microsoft, but it
looks and feels just like it.
FreeXP is actually XPQ4, with the Windows look for Q4OS desktop
(there’s also a Windows 10 version of it), which is powered by the
latest version of Debian Linux.
Because it’s Linux, you can run and enjoy the OS as live media,
without needing to install it. Once you launch it, the theme will load
and you’ll be catapulted into the past.
The nostalgic OS includes the famous Bliss wallpaper, the XP Start
menu and taskbar, icons, control panel, and more. You’ll have to pinch
yourself that it’s not actually XP at times. Because it’s a modern OS,
you’ll find cool features like virtual desktop support and the option to
install the Chromium browser.
If you double-click the XPQ4 shortcut on the desktop you’ll have the
option to pick a different theme, and these include Windows 2000,
Windows XP Classic, Windows XP Luna, Windows 7, Windows 8 (possibly
Microsoft's worst OS), Windows 10 Light, and Q4OS Default.
Ready to get started? You can download FreeXP (or Free10) from here.
Searching for a better music player on Linux? See the below excellent article:
Some may describe it as their passion, while others may consider it a
stress reliever or a part of their daily life. In every form, listening
to music has become an inseparable part of our lives. Music plays
different roles in our lives.
Sometimes it makes us enjoy ourselves with enthusiasm; sometimes it
makes us feel pleasant and good. Other times, it reminds us of someone
or some feel-good moments from our past. Listening to music has
sustained generations, but the medium has changed.
Earlier, people relied on radios to listen to music,
while the present generation has iPods, smartphones, PCs, and other
gadgets for that purpose. When it comes to PCs, we have dedicated
software called music players to play our choice of songs or playlists.
While most generations have smartphones and iPods to listen to music,
these software applications are also a common source for enjoying music
that suits the mood of people who spend hours working on PCs and
laptops and find it convenient to listen using their daily companions.
Music Players and Linux
The growth of Linux as an accepted operating system in the market was
not significant a few decades ago, but the flourishing of this
open-source industry in the IT sector over the past few years has
created tremendous opportunities for many professionals who want to
contribute to this industry with their work. One such opportunity arose in the late twentieth century with the need for a Music Player on Linux. Since then, many music players have been added to various Linux distributions, some as defaults and others as externally downloadable options.
The main aim of any music player is to support all audio file formats
compatible with both Windows and Linux, as well as to provide support
for online music streaming, which is trending nowadays.
21 Best Music Players on Linux to Date
Below, we list some of the best music players
created on Linux to date. A music player can be characterized as the
best by considering the following features: supported formats, memory
consumption, online or offline streaming (or both), user interface
design, and feature set.
Some of the music players highlighted below guarantee all the above factors, while others guarantee only some of these factors.
1. VLC Media Player
VLC Media Player
is a free, open-source multimedia player that works on various
platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. It can play
almost any type of media file, such as videos, music, DVDs, and
streaming content without needing additional codec packs.
VLC is known for its simplicity, speed, and powerful features. Users
can customize it with skins and extensions. Importantly, VLC is
completely free of spyware and ads, ensuring a user-friendly experience
without tracking. Overall, it is a versatile tool for anyone looking to
play multimedia files easily and effectively.
VLC Media Player
Install VLC in Linux
To install VLC on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Strawberry
is a free music player and organizer designed for music collectors and
audiophiles, which allows users to play digital music, manage
collections, and stream online radio.
Developed as a fork of Clementine, Strawberry
is built using C++ with the Qt framework and GStreamer. While it’s
primarily available for Linux, macOS and Windows versions require a
monthly sponsorship for access.
Strawberry also supports features like album cover management and
streaming from services like Tidal. The project is open-source, inviting
community participation in its development and maintenance.
Strawberry Music Player
3. Tauon
Tauon Music Box
is a modern, free, and open-source music player designed for Linux
desktop users that allows you to easily manage and play your music
collection with features like drag-and-drop playlist creation, gapless
playback, and support for various audio formats, including FLAC.
The player also integrates with services like Spotify and Last.fm,
enabling you to scrobble tracks and manage playlists seamlessly.
Additionally, it offers network playback options and a user-friendly
interface, making it a versatile choice for music enthusiasts looking
for a streamlined listening experience.
Tauon Music Box
Install Tauon in Linux
The recommended way of installing Tauon is through Flatpak.
flatpak install flathub com.github.taiko2k.tauonmbflatpak run org.kde.elisa
flatpak run com.github.taiko2k.tauonmb
4. Sayonara Player
Sayonara
is a highly customizable, open-source audio player written in C++ and
supported by the Qt framework, which uses GStreamer as its audio backend
and is available for Linux and BSD operating systems.
Sayonara offers a clean and fast user interface, with optional
features that can be removed or hidden based on user preferences. It
provides various ways to manage and organize large music collections,
including artist, album, and track table views, an album cover view, and
a directory tree view.
Users can create playlists and take advantage of dynamic playback,
which automatically adds similar tracks to the playlist. Sayonara also
supports plugins that provide additional functionality, such as a
spectrum analyzer, equalizer, and crossfading.
Sayonara Player
Install Sayonara in Linux
To install Sayonara on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Elisa
is a user-friendly music player created by the KDE community that
allows you to easily browse your music collection by genre, artist,
album, or track.
You can also listen to online radio, create playlists, and view lyrics. The player features a “Party Mode”
that showcases album art prominently. Elisa adapts to your desktop’s
color scheme on KDE Plasma but also offers standard light and dark
modes.
It is available for Linux and can be installed through various application stores like Flathub.
Elisa Music Player
Install Elisa on Linux
The recommended way of installing Elisa is through Flatpak.
flatpak install flathub org.kde.elisa
flatpak run org.kde.elisa
6. Amberol
Amberol
is a music player tool designed for the GNOME desktop environment that
focuses on simplicity and ease of use, allowing users to play audio
files effortlessly.
The tool supports various audio formats and offers a clean interface
for managing playlists. Amberol is developed as an open-source project,
meaning anyone can contribute to its improvement.
It aims to provide a lightweight alternative to more complex music
players, making it suitable for users who prefer straightforward
functionality without unnecessary features.
Amberol Music Player
Install Amberol on Linux
The recommended way of installing Amberol is through Flatpak.
kew is a command-line music player designed for Linux environments, enabling users to listen to music directly in the terminal.
It supports various audio formats, including MP3, FLAC, and OGG, and
features capabilities such as playlist creation, gapless playback, and
library searching with partial titles.
Users can control playback with simple commands and customize
settings via a configuration file. Installation options include package
managers like APT for Debian/Ubuntu and AUR for Arch Linux.
The tool emphasizes privacy, as it does not collect user data, making
it a suitable choice for those looking for a lightweight and efficient
music player.
Kew – Terminal Music Player
Install Kew in Linux
To install Kew on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Originally started by Mark Kretschmann as an effort to improve XMMS, this software was initially named amaroK, after the name of a wolf, and was later changed to Amarok.
It can play media files in various formats, including but not limited
to FLAC, Ogg, MP3, AAC, and Musepack. Apart from playing offline
collections, it can stream online music by integrating with various
services like Magnatune, Jamendo, MP3tunes, Last.fm, and Shoutcast.
In addition to basic services, Amarok provides advanced features such
as fetching music, transferring music to or from digital music players,
moodbar support, and dynamic playlist support.
Amarok Music Player
Install Amarok on Linux
To install Amarok on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Released in February 2010, Clementine is a cross-platform software designed to address the criticism surrounding the transition of Amarok from version 1.4 to 2.0.
Clementine is a port of Amarok
version 1.4 to the Qt4 and GStreamer multimedia frameworks. It is
written in C++ (using the Qt framework) and released under the GNU
General Public License.
With features similar to those of Amarok, Clementine offers
additional functionalities such as remote control using an Android
device, Wii Remote, MPRIS, or a command-line interface.
Clementine Music Player
Install Clementine in Linux
To install Clementine on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Lollypop is a GNOME music player that is a free and open-source project hosted on GitHub. It is written entirely in Python and Gtk3.
It is very lightweight and has a visually appealing user interface
with the ability to play MP3, MP4, OGG, and FLAC files. It provides
features to read artist biographies from Last.fm or Wikipedia and lyrics
of the songs from Wikia.
Additionally, it offers features like browsing through the collection
by artist, album, or genre, and a party mode effect for playing music.
This player can only play downloaded audio tracks and does not allow
streaming audio.
Lollypop Music Player
Install Lollypop on Linux
To install Lollypop on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Cmus is a console-based music player
for Linux operating systems. Written exclusively in C and released
under the GNU General Public License, this music player runs in the
terminal and is operated via the keyboard using commands prefixed with a
colon.
Being console-based allows Cmus
to load quickly, even with a large number of songs. It supports various
audio formats, including Ogg, MP3, WAV, MPEG-4/AAC, and WMA.
While it benefits from the speed and efficiency of a console-based
application, this also affects its user interface, which is not very
glossy. Additionally, Cmus can be controlled through the cmus-remote
program and is known to work on many Unix-like operating systems, such
as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Cygwin.
Cmus Commandline Music Player
Install Cmus in Linux
To install Cmus on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Released in August 2015, Aqualung is a cross-platform audio player originally targeted at GNU/Linux but also compatible with macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, and more.
It is written entirely in C and is available in multiple languages,
including French, German, and Hungarian. This software supports various
audio file formats, such as Ogg, Vorbis, FLAC, and MP3.
What sets it apart from most music players is its ability to play
gapless music. Other features include multi-language support, the
ability to manage multiple playlists simultaneously, customizable skins,
support for MPEG formats, and the ability to play audio CDs.
Aqualung Advanced Music Player
Install Aqualung in Linux
To install Aqualung on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Quod Libet
is an open-source, cross-platform music player and tag editor. Written
in Python using GTK+ and released under the GNU General Public License,
this software supports Linux, Windows, and macOS, requiring plugins for
Python and PyGObject, as well as OSS and ALSA-compatible audio devices.
With a user-friendly interface and Pango support for dynamically
positioning tags, Quod Libet offers a variety of features, including
support for audio backends via the GStreamer plugin, ReplayGain support,
the option to shuffle the entire playlist before repeating, an
extensive set of features for tag editing, saving the play count of
songs, downloading lyrics, and fast-refreshing the entire library
Quod Libet Music Player
Install Quod Libet in Linux
To install Quod Libet on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Spotify
is a Swedish commercial music streaming, podcast, and video service
that provides users with an online audio player. It is a cross-platform
service available on almost all devices.
Released in October 2008 by the Swedish startup Spotify AB, it
quickly became popular, attracting over 10 million users. By June 2015,
the platform had gathered a substantial user base of around 75 million,
which included 20 million paying subscribers.
Currently, Spotify boasts 615 million monthly active users, with 239
million of those being paying subscribers, which reflects a substantial
growth in both total users and subscribers over the past nine years.
Spotify allows users to browse or search for music by artist, album,
genre, playlist, or record label. It offers two music streaming options:
Spotify Free, with a bitrate of 160 kbit/s, and Spotify Premium, with a
bitrate of up to 320 kbit/s.
Spotify Media Player
Install Spotify in Linux
To install Spotify on Linux, use the snap package manager for your specific Linux distribution.
sudo snap install spotify
15. Exaile
Exaile
is a cross-platform music player whose latest release, version 3.4.2,
was in November 2014. It uses the GTK+ widget toolkit rather than Qt and
is written in Python with the GStreamer media framework.
With a plain yet appealing user interface, this music player bears a strong resemblance to Amarok in many of its functionalities, including Last.fm support, fetching lyrics, and editing tags.
Additionally, it provides device support through external plug-ins.
Beyond these basic features, it also includes advanced options like
ReplayGain support, Moodbar integration, and the ability to preview
tracks via a secondary sound card
Exaile Music Player
Install Exaile in Linux
To install Exaile on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
JuK
is another cross-platform audio player designed for Unix-like systems
and Windows, released in February 2004. It is written in C++ and is
released under the GPL.
JuK supports a collection of audio files in formats
like MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC. Some features that make it a part of
this list include dynamic search playlists that are auto-updated, an
auto-sync feature that automatically detects newly added songs in the
music directory, and support for guessing tag information through online
lookup, as well as tag reading and editing.
Juk Music Player
Install Juk on Linux
To install Juk on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
MPD,
or Music Player Daemon, is a music player server written in C++, which
was released in February 2015 and is available for Unix-like operating
systems and Windows, distributed under the GNU General Public License
(GPL).
Unlike other music players discussed so far, MPD
operates as a daemon server that runs in the background and requires a
client for user interaction. Once initiated, the daemon uses an
in-memory database of audio files, allowing any local client to play
back audio after connecting to the server via sockets.
MPD supports a wide range of audio file formats,
including Ogg, Vorbis, FLAC, Opus, WavPack, MP3, and MOD. Although it
operates as a daemon and lacks a built-in user interface, it offers
various features such as buffer support for playback, seeking and
crossfading capabilities, and remote control over the network.
Additionally, it supports multiple audio output systems including
ALSA, OSS, JACK, and PulseAudio, and is compatible with OS X and
Windows. While MPD itself does not provide a complex user interface,
there are several clients available that offer simple interfaces for
users to interact with the daemon
Install MPD in Linux
To install Juk on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Primarily designed for POSIX-compatible platforms like Linux, with added support for Windows, Audacious
is an open-source audio player and the default music player for Lubuntu
and Ubuntu Studio. It is entirely written in C++, with the latest
version being 4.4, released in July 2024.
Audacious offers a wide variety of features, most of which are
available through external plugins, including Decoder, Transport,
Output, and Effect plugins. Additionally, it supports a wide range of
codecs, including MP3, FLAC, WavPack, TTA, Shorten, and MIDI.
The player has full support for Winamp 2 skins, with all skins
typically rendered in PNG format, allowing users to adjust the RGB color
balance themselves. Although it is a standalone player, it accepts
connections from client software like Conky
Audacious Audio Player
Install Audacious on Linux
To install Audacious on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Written in C and released for Unix-like systems such as BSD, GNU/Linux, and Solaris, Rhythmbox
is an audio player that plays and helps organize digital music. It is
the default music player for Ubuntu Linux systems and works well under
the GNOME desktop environment with the GStreamer media framework.
With a visually appealing user interface, Rhythmbox
provides various features such as gapless playback, Last.fm support
(which allows it to stream online music), audio CD burning, and music
importing.
It can integrate efficiently with numerous platforms. Versions of
Rhythmbox above 0.10.0 support DAAP sharing. Additionally, it uses the
udev subsystem of Linux to detect the device selected for playing music
Rhythmbox Music Player
Install Rhythmbox in Linux
To install Rhythmbox on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
Written in C, DeaDBeeF
is a lightweight yet powerful music player released under the GPLv2 for
Linux and Android. Most of the external plugins supported by DeaDBeeF
are written in C++, and the interface uses GTK2.
One of the major advantages it has over many audio players is its low
memory consumption. It can play a wide variety of formats, including
but not limited to MP3, Ogg, WAV, and M4A.
Other notable features include online and offline streaming of music,
18-band equalizer support, gapless playback, cue sheet support, and
Last.fm support.
DeaDBeeF Audio Player
Install DeaDBeeF in Linux
To install DeaDBeeF on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
MOC is another text-only music player somewhat similar to MPD
but with some changes. Written in C and based on ncurses, this console
audio player is specifically designed for Linux/Unix-based systems. It
was originally developed by Damian Pietras and is currently maintained by John Fitzgerald.
The console-based nature of this audio player offers several
advantages, including a simple yet powerful interface and low memory
utilization. Additionally, it has a separate thread for the output
buffer, which helps it avoid high-load situations.
MOC features customizable interface layouts and
supports ALSA, OSS, and JACK outputs. Like MPD, it also has a
client/server architecture, but it does not support remote network
accessibility through any graphical client.
MOC Commandline Music Player
Install MOC in Linux
To install MOC on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
sudo apt install moc [On Debian, Ubuntu and Mint]
sudo yum install moc [On RHEL/CentOS/Fedora and Rocky/AlmaLinux]
sudo emerge -a sys-apps/moc [On Gentoo Linux]
sudo apk add moc [On Alpine Linux]
sudo pacman -S moc [On Arch Linux]
sudo zypper install moc [On OpenSUSE]
sudo pkg install moc [On FreeBSD]
22. Qmmp Music Player
Qmmp is a cross-platform, Qt-based audio player similar to Audacious and Winamp. It is easily available for almost all Linux distributions without compilation unless you need the latest build.
It supports a wide variety of audio formats, including FLAC, Ogg
Vorbis, MPEG-1, and AAC, along with support for cue sheets. It can have
skins similar to Winamp, and you can even customize your skins.
Qmmp also supports volume normalization, which is a built-in option.
Many other features can be accessed in this player using external
plugins. Additional features include Last.fm support, ReplayGain
support, viewing lyrics, crossfade, and support for ALSA, OSS, and JACK
audio outputs.
Qmmp Music Player
Install Qmmp in Linux
To install Qmmp on Linux, use the following appropriate command for your specific Linux distribution.
We have made this list based on our research. If you think of any
other music player on Linux which should have been listed here then you
can mention its name in the comments.
