# Install mp3cat with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Reads and writes mp3 files. Version 0.5 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#mp3cat.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:mp3cat
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install mp3cat
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install mp3cat
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: audio/mp3cat/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#mp3cat
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/mp/mp3cat/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:mp3cat
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.5
- **Source summary:** Reads and writes mp3 files
- **Homepage:** <https://tomclegg.ca/mp3cat>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/tomclegg/mp3cat>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- mp3cat (alias)
- mp3dirclean (alias)
- mp3http (alias)
- mp3log (alias)
- mp3log-conf (alias)
- mp3stream-conf (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.5
## Project history and usage

mp3cat is a small Unix-style MP3 stream utility distributed from Tom Clegg's site and GitHub repository. Its core behavior is deliberately narrow: it copies a byte stream while skipping everything except MP3 frames with valid headers, so it can clean concatenated or noisy input and write the remaining frames to standard output or to its own directory format.

### Project history

The distinctive feature is the "mp3dir" workflow. Instead of producing one file, mp3cat can append valid frames to current.mp3 and rotate timestamped segment files after a size threshold. The same format can be read like a following log: mp3cat waits at the end of current.mp3, notices rotations, and continues from the next file. The accompanying tools, including mp3log-conf and mp3stream-conf, place it in the same practical niche as daemontools-style audio logging and simple MP3 streaming.

### How it is used

The project page says the software was written for Kootenay Cooperative Radio in Nelson, British Columbia, and presents a live-radio use case: record from a sound card into an mp3dir, clean old segments, and stream the directory to network clients. In package managers it is a niche command-line audio utility rather than a general editor or encoder; Homebrew describes it simply as a tool that reads and writes MP3 files.

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/mp3cat>
- <https://github.com/tomclegg/mp3cat>
- <https://tomclegg.ca/mp3cat>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - mp3cat: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/mp/mp3cat/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- MacPorts - mp3cat: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: audio/mp3cat/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/mp3cat.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/mp3cat.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