Parole
A lightweight GStreamer-based media player written to fit the Xfce desktop.
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About Parole
Parole is the Xfce desktop's media player. Built on the GStreamer framework and GTK 3, it plays local media files, DVDs and CDs, and live streams, and keeps its interface simple to match the rest of Xfce.
It can be extended with plugins, and the Xfce documentation covers a plugins API, preferences and command-line options. Version 4.20.0 was released in May 2025. It suits people running Xfce or another lightweight Linux desktop.
Strengths
- Plays local files, DVDs, CDs and live streams
- Lightweight and consistent with Xfce
- Extensible through plugins
- Documented command-line options
Limitations
- Linux only
- Format support depends on installed GStreamer plugins
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree, part of the Xfce desktop project.
- License
- Open source, license not stated
- Developer
- The Xfce Project
- Platforms
- Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Xfce users who want a light, simple media player
- Categories
- Media players
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Parole
Compare allSoftware that can replace Parole for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
VLC media player
A free player that opens almost any video or audio file, disc or stream without installing a codec pack.
VLC media player uses its own engine with wide built-in codec support instead of GStreamer plugins, and runs on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS as well as Linux.
mpv
A minimal, scriptable media player with high quality video output and no real interface to get in the way.
mpv offers high quality video output and scripting across Windows, macOS and Linux, but has no real graphical interface and uses hand-edited config files.
Celluloid
A simple GTK front end for the mpv video player on Linux.
Celluloid is a simple GTK front end for mpv on Linux with drag and drop playlists and Wayland support, replacing GStreamer with mpv's engine.
Clapper
A GNOME media player built on GStreamer and GTK4, designed for simplicity and ease of use.
Clapper also uses GStreamer but with a GTK4 interface designed for GNOME rather than Xfce, keeping format support tied to installed plugins.
Showtime
GNOME's video player, with simple playback controls, subtitles, multiple audio tracks and screenshots.
Showtime is GNOME's GPL-3.0 video player with a minimal fading interface, subtitle and audio track selection, but deliberately few advanced options.
Dragon Player
A simple KDE video player that plays video files and streams with minimal controls.
Dragon Player is a minimal KDE video player with mouse shortcuts and monthly KDE Gear releases, suited to Plasma rather than Xfce.
Haruna
An open-source KDE video player built on libmpv with automatic playlists and configurable shortcuts.
Haruna is a libmpv-based KDE player with automatic folder playlists, seek previews and yt-dlp online playback, replacing GStreamer and Xfce integration.
SMPlayer
A front end for mpv and MPlayer that remembers where you stopped in every file you have ever opened.
SMPlayer is a Qt front end for mpv and MPlayer on Windows, macOS and Linux that remembers position per file and downloads subtitles.
Parole as an alternative
Listings that name Parole as an alternative.
Decibels
A minimal GNOME audio player that opens and plays individual audio files without a music library.
Parole is a lightweight GStreamer-based player built for Xfce that handles local files, CDs, DVDs and live streams, with plugins, rather than GNOME-specific audio playback.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
