# Comparison of audio player software

The following comparison of audio players compares general and technical information for a number of software media player programs. For the purpose of this comparison, "audio players" are defined as any media player explicitly designed to play audio files, with limited or no support for video playback. Multi-media players designed for video playback, which can also play music, are included under comparison of video player software.

## General

| Name | Author | First public release | Latest stable version | Cost | Software license | Framework used | Written in |
| AIMP | AIMP DevTeam | August 8, 2006 | Windows: 5.30, build 2533 (December 20, 2023; 14 months ago (2023-12-20)) Android: 4.05, build 1393 (December 27, 2023; 14 months ago (2023-12-27)) | No cost | Proprietary | BASS audio library (decoder) | Delphi |
| Amarok | Mark Kretschmann | June 1, 2003 | 3.1 (August 2, 2024; 7 months ago (2024-08-02)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | via Phonon: GStreamer, xine, MPlayer, VLC, DirectShow, QuickTime | C++ |
| aTunes | Alex Aranda et al. | January 1, 2006 | 3.1.2 (June 22, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-06-22)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | Java |
| Audacious | Audacious Development Team | October 30, 2005 | 4.2 (July 9, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-07-09)) | No cost | BSD-2-Clause | XMMS based | C, C++ (GTK & Qt)^ |
| Banshee | Aaron Bockover | February 17, 2005 | 2.6.2 (February 18, 2014; 11 years ago (2014-02-18)) | No cost | MIT | GStreamer | C# |
| BTR Amp | BTR Labs | February 13, 2020 | 15.1 (March 21, 2023) | $0.99/month, $9.99/year, $29.99 one-time | Proprietary | | |
| Clementine | Clementine Team | February 22, 2010 | 1.3.1 (April 19, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-04-19)) | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | GStreamer | C++ (Qt) |
| cmus | Timo Hirvonen | January 18, 2005 | 2.12.0 (October 26, 2024; 4 months ago (2024-10-26)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | C |
| Cog | Vincent Spader | May 1, 2006 | 0.07 (December 24, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-12-24)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-only | | Objective-C |
| DeaDBeeF | Oleksiy Yakovenko | August 2009 | 1.9.6 / November 7, 2023 | No cost | GPLv2, zlib | | C, C++, Objective-C, Assembly language |
| Exaile | Adam Olsen | May 24, 2006 | | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | GStreamer | Python (GTK) |
| Ecoute | Louka Desroziers & Julien Sagot | September 2008 | 3.0.8 | No cost (until version 4) | Proprietary | AV Foundation & QuickTime | Objective-C |
| Flash MP3 Player | Reality Software | March 11, 2008 | 1.00 | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| foobar2000 | Peter Pawlowski | November 29, 2002 | 2.24.2 (18 February 2025) | No cost | Proprietary (core), BSD (SDK) | | C++ |
| Guayadeque Music Player | Juan Rios | March 12, 2009 | 0.4.6 (June 5, 2019; 20 months ago) | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | GStreamer | C++ (wxWidgets, wxSqlite) |
| iTunes | Apple Inc. | January 9, 2001 | | No cost | Proprietary | QuickTime | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | JRiver, Inc. | February 1, 1999 | 32.0.58 (July 24, 2024; 7 months ago (2024-07-24)) | $59.98 to $79.98 | Proprietary | JRiver code | C++ |
| JuK | Scott Wheeler | February 1, 2003 | | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | C++ |
| MediaMonkey Standard | Ventis Media Inc. | August 25, 2003 | 5.0.4.2690 (November 23, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-11-23)) | No cost | Proprietary | | Delphi, C |
| MediaMonkey Gold | Ventis Media Inc. | August 25, 2003 | 5.0.4.2690 (November 23, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-11-23)) | $24.95USD | Proprietary | | Delphi, C |
| MediaMonkey Lifetime | Ventis Media Inc. | August 25, 2003 | 5.0.4.2690 (November 23, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-11-23)) | $49.95USD | Proprietary | | |
| Groove Music | Microsoft | 2012 | | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| Mpxplay | Mpxplay | January 1, 1998 | 3.14 (October 24, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-10-24)) | No cost | Proprietary | | C |
| Music on Console | Damian Pietras | January 1, 2002 | 2.5.1 (April 24, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-04-24)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | C |
| Music Player Daemon | Warren Dukes | May 1, 2003 | 0.21.22 (April 2, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-04-02)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | C |
| MusicBee | Steven Mayall | December 4, 2008 | 3.5.8447 (February 19, 2023; 2 years ago (2023-02-19)) | No cost | Proprietary | BASS audio library | Visual Basic .NET |
| musikCube | Casey Langen | January 1, 2005 | 3.0.4 (14 July 2024) | No cost | BSD-3-Clause | | |
| Napster | William Christopher Gorog | October 1, 2003 | 4.6.3.4 (August 31, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-08-31)) | Subscription | Proprietary | | |
| Quod Libet | Quod Libet Team | November 8, 2004 | 4.5.0 wikidata:Q1621193 (March 2022; 3 years ago (2022-03)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | GStreamer | Python (GTK) PyGTK |
| Rdio | Rdio Inc | August 3, 2010 | Microsoft Windows: 1.12.0.0 (2013) WP 8+ : 4.0.5.0 (28 October 2013; 11 years ago (2013-10-28)) iOS: 3.0.3 (27 September 2014; 10 years ago (2014-09-27)) | Subscription | Proprietary | | |
| Rhapsody | RealNetworks | January 1, 2003 | 14.0 (16 October 2006) | Subscription | Proprietary | | |
| Rhythmbox | Colin Walters | April 1, 2004 | 3.4.4 (January 4, 2020; 5 years ago (2020-01-04)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | GStreamer | C |
| Sayonara Player | Michael Lugmair (until 2020 under the pseudonym Lucio Carreras) | 2011 | 1.5.1-stable5 / 29 August 2019 | No cost | GPL-3.0-or-later | GStreamer | C++ |
| Songbird | POTI Inc. | February 8, 2006 | 2.2.0, Build 2453 (February 4, 2013; 12 years ago (2013-02-04)) | No cost | GPL | GStreamer | |
| Sonic Visualiser | Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary, University of London | May 10, 2007 | 3.1.1 (August 14, 2018) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | |
| Sonique | Media Science | November 1, 1998 | 1.96 (March 2002) | No cost | Proprietary | | |
| Spotify | Spotify LTD | October 7, 2008 | Android8.9.98.488 / December 3, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-12-03)Wear OS8.9.24.633 / March 22, 2024; 11 months ago (2024-03-22)iOS8.9.96 / December 5, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-12-05)iPadOS8.9.96 / December 5, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-12-05)Windows1.2.55.235 / December 3, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-12-03)macOS1.2.25.1047 / November 2024; 4 months ago (2024-11)Linux1.2.50.335 / November 26, 2024; 3 months ago (2024-11-26) | Subscription | Proprietary | | |
| Style Jukebox | Digital Geek LTD | July 1, 2009 | 2.2.1 (October 8, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-10-08)) | No cost | Proprietary | | C# |
| Video.js (used on Wikipedia as of 2024) | Brightcove, Inc. | 2010 | | No cost | Apache | | JavaScript, HTML5 |
| VLC Player | | 1996 | Windows, Linux, & macOS3.0.21 / 5 June 2024; 9 months ago (5 June 2024)Android3.6.3 / 31 January 2025; 46 days ago (31 January 2025)ChromeOS1.7.3 / 23 December 2015; 9 years ago (23 December 2015)iOS, Apple TV3.6.4 / 23 August 2024; 6 months ago (23 August 2024)Windows (UWP)3.1.2 / 20 July 2018; 6 years ago (2018-07-20)Windows Phone3.1.2 / 20 July 2018; 6 years ago (2018-07-20) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | | C, C++, (with Qt), ... |
| Wax | Jeffrey Barish | July 19, 2024 | 1.0.4 (build 366) | No cost | MIT | GStreamer | Python (GTK 3.0) |
| Winamp | Nullsoft | April 21, 1997 | 5.9.2 Build 10042 (April 26, 2023; 22 months ago (2023-04-26)) | No cost | Proprietary | Wasabi | C/C++ |
| XMMS | XMMS Team | November 1, 1997 | 1.2.11 (November 16, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-11-16)) | No cost | GPL-2.0-or-later | original | C |
| XMPlay | Un4seen Developments | 1998 | 3.8 (December 23, 2013) | No cost | Proprietary | BASS audio library | |
| Name | Author | First public release | Stable version | Cost | Software license | Framework used | Written in |

## Operating system compatibility

This section lists the operating systems on which the player works. There may be multiple versions of a player for different operating systems.
| Audio player | Windows | macOS | Linux | iOS | Android | BSD Unix | Solaris | Other Unix | DOS |
| AIMP | Yes | No | via Wine | No | Yes | via Wine | No | No | No |
| Amarok | Yes | beta | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| aTunes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Audacious | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audion | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Banshee | alpha | beta | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| BTR Amp | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| cmus | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cog | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Clementine | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | remote controller only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| DeaDBeeF | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Ecoute | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Exaile | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| foobar2000 | Yes | beta | via Wine | Yes | Yes | via Wine | No | No | No |
| Guayadeque Music Player | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Groove Music | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| iTunes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | remote controller only | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| MPXPLAY | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Music Player Daemon | cygwin | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| MusicBee | Yes | No | Partial | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| musikCube | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | remote control only | Yes | No | No | No |
| Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Rdio | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Rhapsody | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Rhythmbox | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Sayonara Player | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Songbird | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Sonique | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Spotify | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Style Jukebox | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Wax | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| XMMS | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| XMPlay | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Zinf | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio player | Windows | macOS | Linux | iOS | Android | BSD Unix | Solaris | Other Unix | DOS |
* ↑ "foobar2000 for Mac". www.foobar2000.org.
* 1 2 "WineHQ - foobar2000 1.0". appdb.winehq.org.

## Features

| Audio player | Video playback | Outbound streaming | Skinnable | Media database | Gapless audio decoding | Visualizer | Remote controllable | Intelligent playlists from database (based on criteria) |
| AIMP | No | via Plugins | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via Plugins | No |
| Amarok | Partial | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audacious | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audion | No | No | Yes | No | ? | Yes | ? | No |
| BTR Amp | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| cmus | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Cog | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Clementine | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exaile | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| foobar2000 | No | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| iTunes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | via Plugins | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via Plugins | Yes |
| JuK | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| MPXPLAY | Yes (with MMC v2.00a) | ? | text-interface | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (also LCD ability) | ? |
| Music Player Daemon | No | Yes | Client dependent | Yes | Yes | Client dependent | Yes | Client dependent |
| MusicBee | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
| musikCube | No | No | No | Yes | No | Partial | ? | Yes |
| Quod Libet | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Rhapsody | No | No | No | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
| Rhythmbox | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sayonara Player | No | ? | No (Dark Mode available) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Sonique | Partial | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | No |
| Spotify | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No | Yes (via app) | No |
| Wax | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| XMMS | Partial | Partial | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | Yes | No |
| XMPlay | Partial | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Zinf | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
| Audio player | Video playback | Outbound streaming | Skinnable | Media database | Gapless audio decoding | Visualizer | Remote controllable | Intelligent playlists from database (based on criteria) |
| Audio player | ReplayGain | Tag mass | Tag flexible | Time stretch | Pitch shift | A-B repeat | Bookmark | Auto resume | Shutdown on play complete | Archive ability |
| AIMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Audacious | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Audion | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| BTR Amp | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? | No | Yes | No | |
| cmus | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Cog | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Clementine | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No |
| Exaile | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| iTunes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | ? |
| MPXPLAY | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | ? | Partial | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| musikCube | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Rhapsody | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Sayonara Player | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Sonique | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Spotify | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Wax | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? |
| XMMS | Partial | Yes | ? | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| XMPlay | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Zinf | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
| Audio player | ReplayGain | Tag mass | Tag flexible | Time stretch | Pitch shift | A-B repeat | Bookmark | Auto resume | Shutdown on play complete | Archive ability |
* ↑ Basic function with NMM
* ↑ Context Browser uses CSS.
* ↑ UIs may be switched. Shares Windows' themes by default. Additionally, a plugin (foo_looks) can skin foobar2000.
* ↑ Using DCOP
* ↑ Flexible tagging is the ability to read or write custom tags, apart from the default ones like title, album and date. Users can use custom tags to provide additional information to media files. Custom tags work via ID3v2.4 (via the TXXX tag field), Vorbis comments and APEv2.
* ↑ Through use of the Advanced Tag Editor.
* 1 2 "Repeat A/B".
* ↑ Paid version only
* 1 2 Through Audio Pitch, Speed plugin

## Audio format ability

Information about what audio formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins/filters that provide such functionality.
| Audio player | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossy compression | Lossless compression | Lossless compression | Lossless compression | Lossless compression | Lossless compression | Lossless compression |
| Audio player | MP3 | WMA | RealAudio | Vorbis | Musepack | AAC | Dolby AC-3 | VQF | Opus | APE | FLAC | ALAC | SHN | WV | WMA L |
| AIMP | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audacious | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| Audion | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Banshee | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| BTR Amp | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| cmus | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Cog | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Exaile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Groove Music | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| JuK | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? |
| Media Jukebox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | ? |
| MPXPLAY | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Partial | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
| Music Player Daemon | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| MusicBee | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| musikCube | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Partial | ? |
| Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Rhapsody | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Sayonara Player | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonique | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Spotify | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Style Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Wax | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| XMMS | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Partial | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | ? |
| XMPlay | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Zinf | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Audio player | MP3 | WMA | RealAudio | Vorbis | Musepack | AAC | Dolby AC-3 | VQF | Opus | APE | FLAC | ALAC | SHN | WV | WMA L |
* ↑ Requires External Encoding App

## Container format ability

Information about what container formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or filters that provide such functionality.
| Audio player | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-21 | NUT | FLV |
| AIMP | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | No | No | No |
| Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Basic | Basic | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| Audacious | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Audio only |
| Audion | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| cmus | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | Basic | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Cog | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Partial | ? | ? | ? |
| foobar2000 | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Audio only |
| JuK | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| MediaMonkey | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| MOC | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| MPXPLAY | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| MusicBee | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | AAC only | No | No | No |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| musikCube | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhapsody | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhythmbox | No | Yes | No | Vorbis only | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Sayonara Player | No | ? | No | Vorbis only | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonique | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| XMMS | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Zinf | No | No | No | Vorbis only | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Audio player | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MPEG-21 | NUT | FLV |

## Scalable, composite and emulation format abilities

| Audio player | Flash | RealPix | QuickTime Video Effects in mov | HTML+TIME (+VML) | smil/smi | SVG | MIDI (smf) | MIDI (kar) | MIDI (xmf) | MIDI (rmi) | MIDI (xmi) | NSF | SPC | PSF |
| AIMP | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Amarok | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Audacious | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audion | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| cmus | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Cog | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| foobar2000 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (plugin) | ? | ? | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) |
| JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MediaMonkey | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes (Winamp plugin) | Yes (Winamp plugin) | Yes (Winamp plugin) |
| MPXPLAY | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MusicBee | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| musikCube | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhapsody | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhythmbox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| Sayonara Player | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonique | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| XMMS | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Zinf | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Audio player | Flash | RealPix | QuickTime Video Effects in mov | HTML+TIME (+VML) | smil/smi | SVG | MIDI (smf) | MIDI (kar) | MIDI (xmf) | MIDI (rmi) | MIDI (xmi) | NSF | SPC | PSF |

## Protocol abilities

Information about which internet protocols the players understand, for receiving streaming media content. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such functionality.
| Audio player | HTTP | RTSP (RTSPU, RTSPT) | MMS (MMSU, MMST) | Podcasting | Other |
| AIMP | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | UPNP |
| Audacious | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? |
| Audion | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| cmus | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
| Cog | No | No | No | No | ? |
| foobar2000 | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | ? |
| JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
| MusicBee | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| musikCube | Yes | No | No | ? | ? |
| Music Player Daemon | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Music Player Daemon |
| Rhapsody | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | UPNP |
| Sayonara Player | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonique | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| XMMS | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Zinf | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? |
| Audio player | HTTP | RTSP (RTSPU, RTSPT) | MMS (MMSU, MMST) | Podcasting | Other |
* ↑ Only WMA files are playable by foobar2000 through an RTSP connection. RealMedia, AAC, etc. are not supported.
* ↑ 3rd party plugin for 0.9 allows reading RSS 2.0 feeds as playlists. No subscription/automatic update features.
* ↑ Present in version 3.0 currently going through Alpha Testing.
* ↑ As of 0.9.2 it allows reading RSS as podcast source. Issues if links in RSS do not point directly to playable media. Automatic update of podcasts available.

## Playlist format ability

Information about which playlist formats the players understand.
| Audio player | asx, wax, wvx | M3U | pls | XSPF | CUE | SMIL |
| AIMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Audacious | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Audion | No | No | No | ? | ? | No |
| Clementine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| cmus | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? |
| Cog | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Exaile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| iTunes | No | Yes | ? | ? | No | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| JuK | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| MediaMonkey | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? | ? |
| MPXPLAY | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| musikCube | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Quod Libet | Partial | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? |
| Rhapsody | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhythmbox | ? | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? |
| Sayonara Player | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonique | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Spotify | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| XMMS | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Zinf | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? |
| Audio player | asx/wax/wvx | M3U | pls | XSPF | CUE | SMIL |

## Metadata ability

Information about what metadata, or tagging, formats the players understand. Most other containers have their own metadata format and the players usually use them. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such functionality.
| Audio player | ID3v1 | ID3v2 | APEv2 tag | Vorbis comment | Cue sheet | CD-Text | WAVE chunks |
| AIMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Amarok | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Audacious | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Audion | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| cmus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| Cog | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| foobar2000 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iTunes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| JuK | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Mixxx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| MPXPLAY | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
| musikCube | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Quod Libet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Rhapsody | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Rhythmbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Sayonara Player | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Sonique | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| XMMS | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Zinf | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| Audio player | ID3v1 | ID3v2 | APEv2 tag | Vorbis comment | Cue sheet | CD-Text | WAVE chunks |
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Understanding of ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2 and Vorbis comments is handled by an external library called TagLib.
* ↑ Amarok does not understand embedded covers.
* ↑ Yes Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, but buggy.
* ↑ There is a plugin called CD-TEXT Reader adding such a feature.

## Optical media ability

Information about what kinds of optical discs the players can play. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such functionality. Playback of Super Audio CD is not possible for any media player, because no suitable hardware exists. All media players capable of audio CD playback will also play the Redbook core of any HDCD disc, providing no sound-quality benefits over standard audio CDs.
| Audio player | Audio | Audio | Audio |
| Audio player | CD | DVD-Audio | HDCD |
| AIMP | Yes | No | No |
| Amarok | Partial | No | No |
| aTunes | No | No | No |
| Audacious | Yes | No | No |
| Audion | Yes | No | No |
| cmus | No | No | No |
| Cog | No | No | No |
| foobar2000 | Yes | Yes (plugin) | Yes (plugin) |
| JuK | Yes | No | No |
| JRiver Media Center | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MediaMonkey | Yes | No | No |
| MusicBee | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | No | No |
| musikCube | Yes | No | No |
| Rhapsody | Yes | No | No |
| Rhythmbox | Yes | No | No |
| Sonique | Yes | No | No |
| Winamp | Yes | No | No |
| XMMS | Yes | No | No |
| Zinf | Yes | No | No |
| Audio player | CD | DVD-Audio | HDCD |
| Audio |||
* ↑ "DVD-Audio Decoder and Watermark Detector". SourceForge. February 24, 2024.
* ↑ "Foobar2000: Components Repository - HDCD decoder".
* ↑ Requires K3B
* ↑ "How to rip audio from DVD/DVD Audio".