Best Music Players for Mac
Local audio players, from simple playlists to broader media playback.
6 items · Updated Oct 23
Choose a Mac music player for your own audio files, not a subscription catalogue. Cog and foobar2000 focus on audio playback; Tiny Player suits a compact drag-and-drop playlist. IINA, VLC and Elmedia also handle video, which may be useful if you want one player for mixed media.
Check the formats you actually own, playlist handling, keyboard controls and the system requirements of the version you install. Cog, IINA and VLC are free and open source; Tiny Player is free. Elmedia provides essential playback for free, while advanced functions such as streaming to external devices require activation. Do not assume all add-ons, streaming services or copyrighted recordings are included.
This selection is based on official product documentation and the catalog descriptions, not listening tests, sound-quality rankings or measured performance. A general-purpose media player does not necessarily provide the library-management workflow of a dedicated music app.
- Choose an audio-focused player with broad format support, gapless playback and ReplayGain.
- Use an audio-focused Mac player with configurable playback; choose components made for macOS.
- Drop local MP3, FLAC, AAC, AIFF or WAV files into a compact playlist with quick search.
- Use one Mac-oriented media player for music and video, based on mpv.
- Play local audio and network streams in the same open-source player used for video.
- Manage a personal music library with watched folders, metadata editing, lyrics and network storage playback.
What Gets Installed
Installed with Homebrew (5)
Opens this collection in the OpenNavo app, which installs the 5 apps above after you confirm, scanned for malware first.
From the developer’s website (1)
These apps aren’t in Homebrew, so they’re not in the Brewfile and Install All doesn’t install them. Download them from their developers’ websites.
Price Totals
Only verified prices are added up, and each region, currency and billing period is totaled on its own: no currency conversion, and subscriptions are never added to one-time prices.
None of the apps in this collection has a verified price yet.
Compatibility
0 of 6 apps are confirmed native on Apple silicon. Requirements come from Homebrew and vendor documentation; anything without a source reads “Unknown”.
| App | macOS | Apple silicon |
|---|---|---|
| Cog | macOS 12 or later | Unknown |
| foobar2000 | Unknown | Unknown |
| Tiny Player for Mac | macOS 13 or later | Unknown |
| IINA | macOS 12 or later | Unknown |
| VLC media player | Unknown | Unknown |
| Mornye | Unknown | Unknown |