Install audacious with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• audacious

Project history

The official Audacious history page roots the project in XMMS, the X MultiMedia System, which began in 1997 on GTK 1. XMMS later had a GTK 2 port called Beep Media Player, and after several changes of hands and names the code became Audacious.

Modern Audacious is still historically a fork of XMMS, but the project says the core has been gradually rewritten and now has little resemblance to the old 1997 or 2005 code. The Winamp-like interface and some older plugin copyrights preserve the lineage, while newer GTK and Qt interfaces enable workflows beyond the fixed old XMMS layout.

The current project presents itself as a resource-conscious desktop audio player with drag-and-drop playback, library search, playlists, Internet streams, CD playback, equalizer and audio effects, lyrics, visualization, and plugin support. The official README adds MPRIS control, `audtool`, ReplayGain, gapless playback, multiple interfaces, and a plugin-based architecture.

Adoption history

Audacious has the adoption profile of a classic desktop Unix application: distribution packages matter as much as upstream binaries. The official download page states that most Linux distributions provide Audacious, then gives examples for Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Gentoo, and macOS Homebrew, while the batch metadata also lists Alpine, Chocolatey, MacPorts, Nix, Scoop, WinGet, and openSUSE.

The project also serves Windows users with upstream zip and NSIS installer builds that bundle plugins. The download page notes that Audacious 4.4 and later require 64-bit Windows 10 or later, while older releases remain relevant for older Windows systems.

Release notes show continuing maintenance rather than legacy-only packaging. In 2026, Audacious 4.6 added a file-browser plugin, macOS Now Playing plugin, GTK support for playback history, Wayland-related behavior, CLI playlist export through `audtool`, codec and metadata improvements, and a Meson-only build direction; 4.6.1 followed with bug fixes and musl build support.

How it is used

Users install Audacious as a graphical music player, then choose between GTK, Qt, and Winamp-style interfaces. It can play local files, folders, CDs, Internet streams, playlists, and many audio formats through plugins, and it exposes control through MPRIS and `audtool` for desktop automation.

Packaging normally involves the core `audacious` package plus `audacious-plugins`; the official download page says source is split into those two packages and that the core must be installed before plugins. Downstreams often split or annotate optional codec and output dependencies because actual format support depends on which plugins and libraries are present.

Why package nerds care

Audacious is package-nerd significant because it is one of the survivors of the XMMS/Winamp-on-Unix lineage, yet it is not a museum piece. It bridges old skin/plugin expectations with modern toolkits, Meson builds, AppStream metadata, Wayland constraints, and current desktop packaging.

It also shows why desktop media-player packages are never just one executable. Useful packaging has to account for plugin ABI versions, codec legalities, UI toolkit choices, audio backends, translations, Windows bundles, and distro-specific freshness. The project history makes that complexity feel earned rather than accidental.

Timeline

• 1997: XMMS started, later becoming Audacious's historical base.
• 2005: Beep Media Player developers abandoned that GTK 2 port lineage; the code later changed hands and became Audacious.
• 2007: The original GTK 1 XMMS version continued updates through this period, while Audacious continued separately.
• 2011: The current GitHub repository was created.
• 2026-05: Audacious 4.6 released with new plugins, Wayland-related behavior, CLI playlist export, and Meson-only direction.
• 2026-06: Audacious 4.6.1 released with fixes including musl build support.

Related projects

• XMMS: the historical media player on which Audacious was originally based.
• Beep Media Player: the short-lived GTK 2 port in the lineage described by Audacious.
• audacious-plugins: the official plugin package that provides much of the player's codec, effect, visualization, transport, and playlist functionality.
• Winamp: Audacious preserves Winamp-style skins through one of its interfaces.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/audacious-media-player/audacious
• https://audacious-media-player.org/
• https://audacious-media-player.org/download
• https://audacious-media-player.org/history
• https://audacious-media-player.org/news/64-audacious-4-6-released
• https://audacious-media-player.org/news/65-audacious-4-6-1-released
• https://github.com/audacious-media-player/audacious#readme