Audacious review
A free, flexible desktop player for local music, streams, playlists, and audio effects.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Audacious is a lightweight, free, open-source desktop audio player for people who want control over local music and internet streams without a subscription plan. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and BSD derivatives, and supports local files, audio CDs, and network playback. Its core tools cover custom playlist creation and editing, music-library search, a graphical equalizer, audio effects, visualizations, ReplayGain, and gapless playback. It also supports interfaces based on Qt, GTK, and Winamp Classic styles.
The published feature set is broad for an audio-focused player. Format support includes MP3, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, AAC, M4A, WAV, WavPack, MOD, XM, FFmpeg-supported formats, and several specialized formats, including Ad-lib chiptunes, MIDI, Nintendo DS 2SF, and PlayStation Audio PSF. A plugin architecture extends format decoders, playlist support, transport protocols, lyrics, album art, and other capabilities. MPRIS and audtool integrations add control and interoperability options for compatible desktop workflows.
There is no paid tier to compare: Audacious is free and open source. Installation paths include Windows installers, Linux distribution packages, and macOS installation through Homebrew. The product is a strong fit for desktop listeners who prioritize audio playback, customization, and a wide format range. Users choosing a media player for video libraries should look elsewhere, since Audacious is primarily an audio player and its published capabilities do not document subtitles, 4K playback, or hardware-accelerated playback.
Audacious pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free and open source across Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Supports local files, audio CDs, internet streams, and broad formats
- Offers playlists, search, ReplayGain, gapless playback, and plugins
- Where it doesn't
- Primarily focused on audio rather than video playback
- Does not document subtitle or 4K playback support
- Hardware-accelerated playback is not documented
Audacious fact sheet, pricing and score →
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