What is a cloud music player?
A cloud music player is a type of music player that allows users to stream and listen to music from an online storage service, commonly known as the cloud. Instead of storing music files locally on a device, cloud music players access and play music files that are stored remotely on servers.
This allows users to have access to a vast library of music without needing to download or store the files on their devices. Users can typically create playlists, save favorite songs, and sometimes even upload their own music to the cloud service.
Cloud music players often provide additional features such as personalized recommendations and social sharing options.
Looking for your missing self-hosted web music player?
If you're looking for a versatile and customizable music player that allows you to stream and enjoy your favorite tunes from the cloud, you're in luck! We've compiled a list of 11 open-source and free cloud music players available for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.
These players offer a range of features and functionalities, allowing you to explore and listen to a vast library of music without limitations. Whether you're a music enthusiast or a casual listener, these cloud music players provide a seamless and enjoyable music streaming experience. Let's dive in and discover the world of open-source music players!
1. Cloud Player Desktop
Cloud-Player Desktop is a native desktop application for macOS and Windows that allows you to play YouTube, SoundCloud, and Mixcloud tracks in one app.
You can control the player with your keyboard and easily start it with a desktop shortcut.
Cloud-Player2. Cloud-Player
Cloud-Player has been rebranded as aux.app. The repository for Cloud-Player will no longer be maintained.
The new aux.app offers a single music player that combines multiple streaming providers, a native desktop player for macOS and Windows, no signup required with temporary accounts, the ability to add tracks to playlists and save favorites, continuous playback with preloading and crossfading technology.
Cloud-Player3. Nuclear
Nuclear is a free and open-source desktop music player focused on streaming from free sources.
Features
- Searching for and playing music from YouTube (including integration with playlists and SponsorBlock), Jamendo, Audius and SoundCloud
- Searching for albums (powered by Last.fm and Discogs), album view, automatic song lookup based on artist and track name (in progress, can be dodgy sometimes)
- Song queue, which can be exported as a playlist
- Loading saved playlists (stored in json files)
- Scrobbling to last.fm (along with updating the 'now playing' status)
- Newest releases with reviews - tracks and albums
- Browsing by genre
- Radio mode (automatically queue similar tracks)
- Unlimited downloads (powered by youtube)
- Realtime lyrics
- Browsing by popularity
- List of favorite tracks
- Listening from local library
- Audio normalization
- No accounts
- No ads
- No CoC
- No CLA
nukeop4. ViMusic
ViMusic is a free Android application for streaming music from YouTube Music.
Features
- Play (almost) any song or video from YouTube Music
- Background playback
- Cache audio chunks for offline playback
- Search for songs, albums, artists videos and playlists
- Bookmark artists and albums
- Import playlists
- Fetch, display and edit songs lyrics or synchronized lyrics
- Local playlist management
- Reorder songs in playlist or queue
- Light/Dark/Dynamic theme
- Skip silence
- Sleep timer
- Audio normalization
- Android Auto
- Persistent queue
- Open YouTube/YouTube Music links (
watch,playlist,channel)
vfsfitvnm5. Cider (Apple Music)
This is a free and open-source cross-platform Apple Music experience based on Electron and Vue.js written from scratch with performance in mind. 🚀
ciderapp6. YouTube Music Desktop App
This is a free YouTube Music Desktop App bundled with custom plugins (and built-in ad blocker / downloader).
th-ch7. Musikcube
Musikcube is a cross-platform, terminal-based audio engine, library, player, and server written in C++. It can be easily compiled and run on Windows, macOS, Linux, and even on a Raspberry Pi with Raspbian, making it a versatile option for streaming audio.
Musikcube ships with a streaming audio server enabled by default. it runs a websocket server on port 7905, used for metadata retrieval. an http server runs on port 7906, and is used to serve (optionally transcoded) audio data to clients.
clangen8. RetroMusicPlayer
This is a cool and open-source music player for Android devices. It is feature-rich come with no ads, also it supports many cloud music services.
Features
- Base 3 themes (Clearly White, Kinda Dark and Just Black)
- Chromecast support
- Choose from 10+ now playing themes
- Driving Mode
- Headset/Bluetooth support
- Music duration filter
- Android Auto support
- Wallpaper accent picker on Android 8.1+
- Material You support on Android 12+
- Monet themed icon support on Android 13+
- Folder support - Play songs by folder
- Gapless playback
- Volume controls
- Carousel effect for album covers
- Home screen widgets
- Lock screen playback controls
- Lyrics screen (download and sync with music)
- Sleep timer
- Easy drag to sort playlist & play queue
- Tag editor
- Create, edit and import playlists
- Playing queue with reorder
- User profile
- 30+ languages support (help translate the project: Crowdin
- Browse and play your music by songs, albums, artists, playlists and genre
- Smart Auto Playlists - Recently played, most played and history
- Build your playlist on the go
RetroMusicPlayer9. Timber
This is a cool mobile music player that support several music and media cloud services.
Features
- Material design
- Browse Songs, Albums, Artists
- Create and edit playlists
- 6 different now playing styles
- Homescreen widgets
- Browse device folders
- Dark theme and UI customisability
- Gestures for track switching
- LastFM scrobble
- Android Wear and Android Auto support
- Playing queue in notification (Xposed)
- Lyrics support
- Chromecast support
naman1410. YesPlayMusic
YesPlayMusic is a free and open-source desktop music player that can also work as PWA.
The new 2.0 Alpha beta version of S has been released, featuring various enhancements such as NetEase Cloud account login, MV playback, lyrics display, private FM, and more.
The current version will enter maintenance mode and only receive major bug fixes. Additional features and improvements are still being developed.
qier22211. MusicX
MusicX is a music player app built with Jetpack Compose and Material 3 guidelines. It uses Firebase as the backend, AudD API for lyrics, and features a clean UI with dark theme support.
Built with Kotlin, it follows modern Android development practices, Jetpack libraries, and MVVM architecture. Highly rated in Android's M.A.D scorecard, it is a valuable learning resource for beginners.
Vaibhav2002