# Install adplay with Homebrew, apt Command-line player for OPL2 music. Version 1.9 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-18. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install adplay. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:adplay ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install adplay ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install adplay ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: adplay from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:adplay - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 1.9 - **Source summary:** Command-line player for OPL2 music - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-18T02:28:54-04:00 - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - adplay (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 1.9 ## Project history and usage AdPlay/UNIX is the console player frontend for AdPlug, aimed at playing OPL2/AdLib music files on Unix-like systems without requiring vintage sound hardware. In package-manager terms it is the small CLI companion to the larger AdPlug decoding library: install the library for embedding or utilities, install AdPlay when you want an `adplay` command. ### Project history The project dates itself to Simon Peter's 2001 AdPlay/UNIX codebase and has remained tied to AdPlug's library releases. Its README describes it as AdPlug's UNIX console frontend and notes that it supports the full range of AdPlug file playback features, while using emulated OPL2 output across available output devices. AdPlay/UNIX evolved mostly by tracking AdPlug core capabilities and Unix audio backends. The NEWS file records early work such as GNU autotools conversion, a man page, FreeBSD fixes, modular output, OSS/null/disk outputs, SDL/ESD/QSA support, ALSA support, libao support, AdPlug database support, and later NukedOPL and surround-effect support. ### Adoption history The AdPlug project split AdPlay and other frontends into separate GitHub repositories when development moved from SourceForge to GitHub in 2015. The package appears in Homebrew, Debian, and Ubuntu according to the provided package-manager metadata, which matches its niche as a command-line retro-audio player rather than a general desktop music application. Recent AdPlug site news still publishes AdPlay/UNIX releases alongside the core library. The site lists AdPlay/UNIX 1.9 in December 2025 and ties it to AdPlug 2.4, SDL2 build support, subsong fixes, and a RAW file writer. ### How it is used Typical use is direct playback from a terminal: pass one or more supported AdPlug music files to `adplay`, then use `adplay --help` or the man page for options. Because it delegates format support to AdPlug, it is useful for collections of DOS game and tracker-era AdLib formats rather than ordinary compressed audio formats. Packagers care about its dependency relationship: AdPlay/UNIX needs AdPlug, with the README specifying AdPlug 1.4 or newer and 2.2 or newer for full feature support. That makes it a thin frontend package whose usefulness follows the breadth and correctness of the AdPlug core. ### Why package nerds care AdPlay/UNIX is a good example of the Unix package split between a reusable media library and a tiny CLI frontend. It gives retro-audio users a scriptable player while letting distributions package the decoder library separately for other applications. Its long tail matters because OPL playback sits at the intersection of game preservation, tracker music, and emulator-adjacent tooling. A small command like `adplay` is often the easiest way to verify obscure AdLib files without launching a full emulator or media player plugin. ### Timeline - 2001: AdPlay/UNIX codebase copyright begins. - 2010: AdPlay/UNIX 1.7 released with AdPlug 2.2. - 2015: AdPlug development moved to GitHub and AdPlay became a separate repository. - 2017: AdPlay/UNIX 1.8 released with AdPlug 2.3 and NukedOPL support. - 2020: AdPlay/UNIX 1.8.1 released with AdPlug 2.3.2 integration. - 2025: AdPlay/UNIX 1.9 released with AdPlug 2.4 integration and SDL2 build support. ### Related projects - AdPlug is the decoding/playback library behind AdPlay/UNIX. - Other AdPlug frontends include player plugins and standalone ports such as the Winamp, XMMS, and DOS-facing AdPlay variants. ### Sources - - - - source_facts.package-manager ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - adplay - 1.8.1-4: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: adplay from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | console-based OPL2 audio player | https://adplug.github.io/ - Ubuntu apt - adplay - 1.8.1-3build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: adplay from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | console-based OPL2 audio player | https://adplug.github.io/ ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/adplay.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/adplay.yml) ## Sources - pkg.so package database - Geiger risk classifier - curated package history - pkgdb category and tag curation - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph