Who wouldn’t love music? It all around us, and we get the chance to listen to them in one form or the other. Gone are the days where we used to tune the radio to list to music tracks or albums. With the development of apps, we have lots and lots of music apps available for various devices. But what if we are using Linux based Ubuntu OS on our computer. Do we have any music player app to serve our purpose? If you doubt the availability of audio players, there are plenty of them. We don’t have any shortage of Music player for Ubuntu. But still, with an eagle eye view, we have narrowed down the 20 best music players for Ubuntu.
Best Music Players for Ubuntu
| 1. Rhythmbox 2. Clementine 3. DeaDBeef 4. VLC Player 5. Strawberry Music Player 6. CMUS 7. Tomahawk 8. Quod Libet 9. Audacious 10. Amarok | 11. Gnome Music 12. Musique 13. Sayonara 14. MOC 15. Banshee 16. Museeks 17. Lollypop 18. Exaile 19. Spotify 20. QMMP |
1. Rhythmbox
It is an open-source and intuitive audio player based on the Gnome desktop environment. Rhythmbox is a default music player on Ubuntu. And it supports most of the audio formats.
| For | Against |
| 1. You can add internet radio. 2. Feature sets include music playback, gapless playback, Sound cloud, Jamendo support, Web remote control, etc. 3. 50 + Additional plugins for FM Radio, lyrics, notifications, etc. 4. Built-in podcasts management. 5. An elegant UI that allows you to organize your music files. 6. Party Mode for a full-screen view. | It can’t cope with a large music collection. There is no in-built equalizer. There are no album artists filed that allows you to find the music tags. |
2. Clementine
A simple, free music player that allows you to get the best out of your music collections is Clementine. It is a multi-platform music platform inspired by the Linux based Amarok.
| For | Against |
| 1. Search and play your music library and also comes with Internet radio. 2. You get access to the various cloud storage available. 3. Create smart and dynamic playlists with your favorite songs. 4. Organize music, discover and download podcasts. 5. You can control it with Android, Wii remote, MPRIS, or the command line. 6. Surf to get the lyrics and album or artist’s information. | No frequent updates, so it isn’t matching with the trend. Many reported issues aren’t solved yet. |
3. DeaDBeef
It is one another the best music payers for Ubuntu. The Linux version of the DeaDBeef application has gained lot appreciation than other rivals. It can play music of all formats and online radios.
| For | Against |
| 1. You can create multiple playlists and enjoy the music. 2. You can make your own press with the in-built equalizer. 3. The app allows you to view music file tags and shuffle tracks and albums. 4. It supports Shoutcat/icecast online streaming radio. 5. The app has Last.fm and headset media button support. 6. There are three different themes dark, light, and LCD. | Sometimes there are issues with the song loading. And it failed to detect the music stored in internal storage. The earlier versions seem better than the present. |
4. VLC Player
VLC player has been the best media player in the market for quite a long time. The application offers various functions that support a wide range of formats. And it does support streaming, downloading, etc.
| For | Against |
| 1. It is an open-source video and audio playing platform. And that too, it is a completely free application. 2. The app is highly customizable and supports extensive music formats. 3. Excellent tools for tweaking videos and audios playback, so no problem when you have them in older formats. 4. The features are expandable via multiple plugins. 5. Moreover, the app can search for various album covers. 6. Many claims that this is the Swiss Army Knife of the media players. | VLC Media player lacks in Blue Ray compatibility. Likewise, editing the metadata is not straightforward as in other music players. |
5. Strawberry Music Player
It is an open-source application fork of Clementine music player mainly audiophiles and music collectors. The software offers a snap package that can be installed from Ubuntu Software.
| For | Against |
| 1. You can search, play and organize the music from your local library. 2. It does support various music formats and audio CD playback. 3. Moreover, it comes with, in-built audio analyzer and audio equalizer. 4. There is also support for scribbler with Last.FM, Libre.fm or ListenBrainz. 5. And it provides support to subsonic streaming. 6. It fetches and edits the music tags, advanced audio output, device configuration are few other features. | There aren’t dynamic playlists, and there is no frequent update. And it lacks features like scrobbling and internet services. |
6. CMUS
CMUS is a console-based music player. It is a small, fast and powerful player and one of the best music players for Ubuntu. It can play audio from the Unix-like operating system.
| For | Against |
| 1. Almost all the music formats are supported on the CMUS. 2. The music library is well organized, and the application is very intuitive and easy to navigate. 3. You can keep on listening to the music with a gapless playback feature. 4. It comes with various keyboard shortcuts for few predominant functions. 5. You can also customize the UI with the various themes. 6. Moreover, CMUS is one of the fast application with an instant startup. | There is a lack of Last.fm. The features are also not so fancier. The lyrics fetching feature is not so perfect. |
7. Tomahawk
Yet another on the list of best music players for Ubuntu is Tomahawk. It is a powerful, cross-platform music player that can link you to online music streaming services.
| For | Against |
| 1. Enable the plugins for the services like YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, etc., to use on this player. 2. You are accessible to social plugins that allow you to browse and play other Tomahawk user’s libraries. 3. You can add songs, artists or albums to the queue. 4. Moreover, it is a free and powerful music player. 5. The features offered by Tomahawk is distinctive that sets apart from other players. 6. The cross-platform availability and social features make it more authenticate. | The app is heavy and consumes more storage space. The setup is difficult, and there are not so many fancy features. |
8. Quod Libet
The next on the list of best music players for Ubuntu is Quod Libet. If you are looking for a music player with no fancy features and simple layout, it will be your go to option.
| For | Against |
| 1. The interface is simple and customizable 2. There is a long list of powerful plugins. 3. And also, the app provides support to various formats. 4. There is also in-built support to sort and replenish music covers. 5. You can also add lyrics and tags to the music. 6. Other features include system tray indicator, notifications, shuffle and play, audio compression, etc. | The program has got some rough edges. And the metadata management is also weak. Simple features that all the music players would offer. |
9. Audacious
Audacious is a descendant of XMMX is an open-source audio player with low-resource. The app has a minimal feature interface. Audacious is a free and portable tool with two different interfaces.
| For | Against |
| 1. The app is very intuitive and can support various audio formats. 2. You can install Winamp themes and comes with two different UI. 3. Moreover, you will be able to manage multiple playlists. 4. Other features include queue files, edit metadata and play audio from CDs and USB. 5. And the app works with an equalizer, and also you can configure and install various plugins. 6. No unnecessary options, and the app is a lightweight one. | The app limits its features to the playback capabilities. No frequent updates or manual sorting fields. It doesn’t support video playback or professional organizing tools. |
10. Amarok
Once Amarok was the best music player application with a stylist, elegant interface, and various features. It is apt for those who are looking for just a music player for Ubuntu.
| For | Against |
| 1. Scan, organize, and play the music in your local library. 2. Moreover, Amarok does fetch the song lyrics and run it on screen. 3. You can also browse music with Amarok. and bookmark them. 4. You can edit the track details and manage the covers of the songs. 5. We also have got Internet radio streaming and podcasts. 6. Other features include a slim toolbar, playlist management, sorting music, and additional plugins. | The internet source isn’t working. Subscribing to streaming services via Amarok comes with additional costs. The music store and the search options don’t work well. |
11. Gnome Music
Music is one of the Gnome based music player application for Ubuntu. It tries to combine the seamless browsing experience with simple and clear controls.
| For | Against |
| 1. The layout is excellent, and the UI is intuitive that can combine the browsing experience with clear controls. 2. It provides excellent music support, and the performance is also near and good. 3. The application is very easy to use and navigate. 4. It provides efficient music management tools 5. You get access to both the local music contents and also online cloud collections too. 6. Overall, you can share and upload music and playback files from DLNA media servers. | You cannot have multiple independent audio folders and directories. So we cannot change the library folder. |
Related: If you own Windows PC, then check out the best Music Players for Windows PC
Few Other Best Music Players for Ubuntu
12. Musique
Musique mainly focuses on the clean and innovative interface. Moreover, this app is all you need for the whole family. Instant app start-up, and a very lightweight app that could handle large collections. Get an extensive browsing and info view while listening.
It does support almost all audio formats. Musique don’t modify your files rather, it restores all data to the original database. It supports scrobbling to Last.fm. The app is available in more than 20 languages and can fetch lyrics easily.
13. Sayonara
Sayonara is a Linux based application written in C++ software. It is definitely one of the best music players for Ubuntu. The app is simple, clear, easy to use and navigate. It is also one of the fast audio players. The UI is very intuitive.
Moreover, this app is very lightweight, but in the case of features, it is no less. With Sayonara you can manage your music library. It comes with podcasts, web streams. The additional plugins include an equalizer, speech or pitch control, crossfader, bookmarks, and broadcasting.
14. MOC
MOC stands for Music on the console. It is mainly designed for LINUX and UNIX. They positioned themselves as powerful and easy to use music player. It supports internet streaming like Icecast, Shoutcast, etc. Moreover, it supports most audio formats.
Other salient features include an in-built mixer and simple equalizer, the color themes, user-defined keys, cache for files’ tags, etc. Searching for a playlist or a directory is very simple. And you can also create a title from tags and filenames are some unique features.
15. Banshee
It is like VLC and can be used to play both videos and audios files. It does help you to stream the internet radios and various other podcasts. You can surf through internet and find various music and podcasts on the internet. Moreover, this a simple yet powerful open-source application.
You can sync the app on your Apple, Android and other devices. Other salient features include queue tracks, smart shuffle, create automatic cover art, powerful search, and smart playlists. It is indeed one of the best music players for Ubuntu.
16. Museeks
Museeks is yet another open-source application. Moreover, the app is a very lightweight and cross-platform app. It uses Node.js for back-end electron for embedded browser and React.js as front end framework and flux with redux as a data-flow pattern.
The feature sets include queue management, shuffle, and loop. Moreover, the app comes with Dark theme too. You can control the speed of playback. It has sleep-mode blocker and shuffle rollback feature. No internet radio streaming but still good for simple usage.
17. Lollypop
It is a lightweight modern music player application for Ubuntu. Lollypop works well on the GNOME desktop environments. It also features a party-mode that automatically selects party songs to play and gives a full-screen display.
It does support multiple audio formats. And the metadata functions include lyrics fetching, providing artists bio, and automatically download cover RTS. It can sync with the Android device via MTP. You can store songs to Last.FM and ListenBrainz.
18. Exaile
Exaile is known for its simple interface. All you want to hear the music without much fancier options, Exaile is the best audio player for Ubunutu. Exaile have powerful music management feature along with the creation of smart playlists and advanced track tagging.
Other additional features include it can fetch the album artists and lyrics automatically. It does support streaming radios and podcasts. Moreover, it can also support secondary output devices. And it does come with 50+ extensible plugins for many additional features.
19. Spotify
We all knew about Spotify as online music streaming application. It has got its own Ubuntu version, but still, when compared to the others, this seems bit expensive. With Spotify, you can get nearly 200 K + albums, music, podcasts around the world.
You don’t get to play the local audios, though. But still, you will get millions of albums from various artists around the world. All you have to do is to signup and subscribe, and you have music for every mood. There are many online podcasts, and you yourself can create one too.
20. QMMP
It stands for Qt-based multimedia player. Qt-based means it depends on Qt library, so that the program will be smooth and will look native on the KDE environment. The interface is very intuitive with straightforward buttons and controls.
It supports almost all the file formats with plugin. Stream browser provides radio functions to QMMP. There are various plugins to extend the available features. The features include lyrics, format conversion, audio recording, etc.
Check out more the best applications for various functions. Do you have any suggestions? Do let us know in the comment section below.