cmus
A small, fast console music player for Linux, macOS and other Unix-like systems.
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1 more ways to get cmus
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install cmus
About cmus
cmus is a music player that runs in the terminal and starts instantly even with thousands of tracks. It plays Ogg Vorbis, MP3, FLAC, Opus, WavPack, AAC and anything supported by ffmpeg, with gapless playback, ReplayGain, CUE sheets and SHOUTcast or Icecast streams.
The interface has a directory browser, live playlist filtering, vi-style search and command modes, and fully rebindable keys. It can be scripted through the cmus-remote command over a UNIX socket, and scrobbling works through status display programs.
Strengths
- Instant startup with large libraries
- Gapless playback and ReplayGain
- Vi-style keys and fully rebindable commands
- Scriptable through cmus-remote
Limitations
- Terminal only, no graphical interface
- Scrobbling needs an external status program
- Windows only through Cygwin
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source.
- License
- GPL-2.0-or-later
- Developer
- The cmus contributors
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Keyboard-driven listening to a local music library from the terminal
- Categories
- Media players, Audio tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to cmus
Compare allSoftware that can replace cmus for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
musikcube
A terminal-based music player, library and audio streaming server for Windows, macOS and Linux.
musikcube is a terminal music player and library that also runs natively on Windows and can act as a streaming audio server, under a BSD license.
termusic
A terminal user interface music and podcast player written in Rust.
termusic is a Rust terminal player that handles podcasts alongside music, with a keyboard-driven interface and MIT or GPL-3.0 licensing.
ncmpcpp
An ncurses terminal client for Music Player Daemon, with a tag editor and visualizer.
ncmpcpp is a terminal client with a tag editor and visualizer, but it needs a running Music Player Daemon and is in maintenance mode.
DeaDBeeF
A light, plugin-driven music player for Linux, Windows and macOS that stays out of the way.
DeaDBeeF moves to a lightweight graphical player for Linux, Windows and macOS with a plugin architecture, while staying open source.
Audacious
A lightweight open-source audio player descended from XMMS, with optional Winamp Classic skins.
Audacious is a lightweight graphical open-source player with Winamp Classic skin support on Windows, macOS and Linux, replacing the terminal interface.
Strawberry Music Player
A Clementine fork aimed at collectors, with proper support for high-resolution files and CD ripping.
Strawberry Music Player is a graphical GPL player for Windows, macOS and Linux with high-resolution file support, CD ripping and built-in tag editing.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Mopidy
An extensible Python music server that plays local files, Internet radio and streaming services.
beets
Organize a music library from the command line.
cava
Console audio visualiser that draws a live frequency spectrum.
myMPD
A standalone, mobile-friendly web client for controlling a Music Player Daemon server.
Cantata
A Qt graphical client for controlling and browsing music on a Music Player Daemon server.
gonic
A lightweight self-hosted music streaming server that implements the Subsonic API.
