Next Major Version
fmedia project is no longer supported.
The next major version is available under a new name - phiola. It has better command-line interface, easier to use software interface, slightly improved architecture and core code, unified Windows/Linux GUI, final support for Android.
fmedia is a fast audio player/recorder/converter for Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Android*.
It provides smooth playback and recording even if devices are very slow.
It's highly customizable and can be easily extended with additional plugins.
Its low CPU & memory consumption saves energy when running on a notebook's battery.
Play or convert audio files, record new audio tracks from microphone, save songs from Internet radio, and much more! fmedia is free and open-source project, and you can use it as a standalone application or as a library for your own software.
fmedia can read: .mp3, .ogg (Vorbis/Opus), .opus, .mp4/.m4a/.mov (AAC/ALAC/MPEG), .mka/.mkv/.webm (AAC/ALAC/MPEG/Vorbis/Opus/PCM), .caf (AAC/ALAC/PCM), .avi (AAC/MPEG/PCM), .aac, .mpc, .flac, .ape, .wv, .wav; .m3u, .pls, .cue.
fmedia can write: .mp3, .ogg, .opus, .m4a (AAC), .flac, .wav, .aac (--stream-copy only).
* fmedia/Android is currently far behind on features compared to the full-functional desktop-version.
- Features
- Install
- Build
- Config
- Terminal UI
- Graphical UI
- Extract Tracks From flac.cue
- Use-Cases
- For Developers
- Bug Report
-
Audio I/O:
- ALSA (capture/playback)
- CoreAudio (capture/playback)
- DirectSound (capture/playback)
- JACK (capture)
- OSS (capture/playback)
- PulseAudio (capture/playback)
- WASAPI (capture/playback)
-
I/O:
- File (read/write)
- ICY-stream (read)
- HLS (read)
-
Containers:
- .aac (read, write: --stream-copy only)
- .ape (read)
- .avi (read)
- .caf (read)
- .flac (read/write)
- .mkv/.mka (read)
- .mp3 (read/write)
- .mp4/.m4a (read/write)
- .mpc (read)
- .ogg/.opus (read/write)
- .wav (read/write)
- .wv (read)
-
Lossy codecs:
- AAC (decode/encode)
- MPEG (decode/encode)
- Musepack (decode)
- Opus (decode/encode)
- Vorbis (decode/encode)
-
Lossless codecs:
- ALAC (decode)
- APE (decode)
- FLAC (decode/encode)
- WavPack (decode)
-
Playlists:
- .m3u/.m3u8, .pls (read)
- .cue (read)
- Directory
-
Other:
- PCM converter
- PCM peaks analyzer
- Mixer
- Dynamic Audio Normalizer
- Terminal UI
- Graphical UI (Windows, Linux/GTK)
fmedia uses modified versions of these 3rd party libraries: libALAC, libfdk-aac, libFLAC, libMAC, libmp3lame, libmpg123, libmpc, libogg, libopus, libsoxr, libvorbisenc, libvorbis, libwavpack, libDynamicAudioNormalizer, libzstd. See contents of alib3/ for more info.
Currently implemented features:
- Playback: .m4a, .mp3, .flac, .ogg, .opus (depends on OS)
- Recording: .m4a(AAC), .flac
- Convert (decode): .mp3, .mp4/.m4a(AAC-LC,ALAC), .flac
- Convert (encode): .m4a(AAC-LC), .flac
- Convert (stream copy): .mp3, .m4a
- GUI: list of meta tags
- GUI: file explorer
- GUI: 2 playlists
-
Unpack archive to the directory of your choice, e.g. to
"C:\Program Files\fmedia"- Right click on fmedia package file (e.g.
fmedia-1.0-win-x64.zip) in Explorer - Choose "Extract All..." in the popup menu
- Follow the Wizard steps
- Right click on fmedia package file (e.g.
-
Optionally, run the following command from console (cmd.exe):
"C:\Program Files\fmedia\fmedia.exe" --installThis command will:
- add fmedia directory into user's environment
- create a desktop shortcut to
fmedia-gui.exe
-
Run
fmedia-gui.exeto open graphical interface; or execute commands viafmedia.exefrom console (cmd.exe).
-
Unpack archive to the directory of your choice, e.g. to your home directory (
~/bin/fmedia-1):mkdir -p ~/bin tar Jxf ./fmedia-1.0-linux-amd64.tar.xz -C ~/bin -
Optionally, create a symbolic link:
ln -s ~/bin/fmedia-1/fmedia ~/bin/fmedia -
Optionally, add fmedia GUI icon to KDE Applications:
cp ~/bin/fmedia-1/fmedia.desktop ~/.local/share/applicationsThen edit
Exec=andIcon=rows in~/.local/share/applications/fmedia.desktopif necessary. -
Run
fmedia --guito open graphical interface; or execute commands viafmediafrom console.
Read fmedia Build Instructions.
The global configuration file fmedia.conf is located within the fmedia directory itself. It contains all supported settings and their default values. You must restart fmedia after you make changes to this file.
Additional settings may be stored in file fmedia-ext.conf. This makes it easier to upgrade fmedia without the need to edit fmedia.conf.
Per-user configuration settings are also supported, they must be stored in fmedia-user.conf file in home directory:
Windows: %APPDATA%/fmedia/fmedia-user.conf
Linux: $HOME/.config/fmedia/fmedia-user.conf
Settings for a module must be in format "so.module.key value", e.g. to overwrite the global setting for OGG Vorbis encoding quality you should write:
vorbis.encode.quality "7.0"
Core configuration settings start with "core.", e.g. set codepage for non-Unicode text:
core.codepage win1252
By default fmedia runs with a terminal UI, which shows information about the currently playing audio track and the currently playing audio position. Hot keys are also supported, the most commonly used are:
Spacefor "Play/Pause"Right Arrow/Alt+Right Arrow/Ctrl+Right Arrowto seek forwardnto play the next tracksto stop playbackqto quit fmediahto show all supported commands
To run fmedia in GUI mode (Windows and Linux) you may execute the console binary like this:
fmedia --gui
Or use this special executable file (Windows only):
fmedia-gui.exe
You should use this binary file for opening files via Explorer's "Open With..." feature. Note: command-line options are not supported.
fmedia GUI is highly customizable, thanks to FF library that is used under the hood.
FF UI technology allows you to modify properties of every UI control: windows, buttons, menus, tray icons and more.
You may resize controls, set different styling, change any text, hotkeys, etc.
All this information is stored within fmedia.gui which is a plain text file.
After you make some changes in fmedia.gui, save it and then restart fmedia.
By default fmedia GUI saves its state in file %APPDATA%\fmedia\fmedia.gui.conf.
You can change this by setting portable_conf to true in fmedia.conf.
After that, fmedia.gui.conf will be stored in program directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\fmedia\fmedia.gui.conf), thus making fmedia completely portable.
While extracting a track from the album in FLAC using CUE sheet, the audio is first decoded to PCM and then re-encoded with FLAC. This behaviour won't result in any audio quality loss since FLAC is a lossless codec.
Note the difference between UNIX and Windows terminals when you use special characters and spaces:
-
Use single quotes ('') on Linux (sh, bash), e.g.:
fmedia './my file.ogg' fmedia file.wav -o '$filename.ogg' -
Use double quotes ("") on Windows (cmd.exe), e.g.:
fmedia "./my file.ogg"
Play files, directories, Internet-radio streams
fmedia ./file.ogg ./*.mp3
fmedia ./Music
fmedia http://radio-stream:80/
Play (mix) multiple streams simultaneously
fmedia --mix ./file1.ogg ./file2.ogg
Play wav file with a corrupted header
fmedia ./file.raw --fseek=44
Convert with parameters
fmedia ./file.ogg --out=./file.wav --format=int16
fmedia ./file.wav --out=./file.ogg --vorbis-quality=7.0
fmedia ./file.wav --out=./file.mp3 --mpeg-quality=0 --rate=48000
Convert all .wav files from the current directory to .ogg
fmedia ./*.wav --out=.ogg
Convert file and override meta info
fmedia ./file.flac --out=.ogg --meta='artist=Artist Name;comment=My Comment'
Extract several tracks from .cue file
fmedia ./album.flac.cue --track=3,7,13 --out='$tracknumber. $artist - $title.flac'
Split audio file
fmedia ./file.wav --seek=00:35 --until=01:35 --out=./file-1.wav
fmedia ./file.wav --split=01:00 -o 'file-$counter.wav'
Cut compressed audio without re-encoding
fmedia ./file.ogg --out=./out.ogg --seek=1:00 --until=2:00 --stream-copy
Copy left channel's audio from a stereo source
fmedia ./stereo.ogg -o left.wav --channels=left
Change sound volume in an audio file
fmedia --gain=5.0 ./file.wav --out=./file-loud.wav
Capture audio from the default audio input device until stopped
fmedia --record --out=rec.flac
Record with the specific audio format
fmedia --record -o rec.wav --format=int24 --channels=mono --rate=48000
Record for 60 seconds then stop
fmedia --record --out=rec.flac --until=60
Record from playback or "record what you hear" (Windows/WASAPI only)
fmedia --dev-loopback=1 --record --out=./rec.wav
Record from playback AND record from microphone in parallel into 2 different files (Windows/WASAPI only)
fmedia --dev-loopback=1 --dev-capture=1 --record --out='./rec-$counter.wav'
Record while playing
fmedia ./file.ogg --record --out=./rec.wav
Live output
fmedia --record
Record audio from Internet radio (without re-encoding)
fmedia http://radio-stream:80/ -o ./radio.mp3 --stream-copy
Play AND record audio from Internet radio into separate files (without re-encoding)
fmedia http://radio-stream:80/ --out-copy -o './$time. $artist - $title.mp3' --stream-copy
Modify file's meta tags in-place
fmedia --edit-tags --meta='artist=ARTIST;title=TITLE' ./file.mp3
Set artist, track number and title meta tags from file name
fmedia --edit-tags --meta-from-filename='$artist - $tracknumber. $title' './Cool Artist - 04. Best Song.mp3'
Print audio meta info
fmedia --info ./file.mp3
Print audio meta info and all tags
fmedia --info --tags ./file.mp3
Show PCM information
fmedia input.ogg --pcm-peaks
Create a playlist file from directory:
fmedia ./Music -o music.m3u8
fmedia can be used as a sound library: you can freely use its abilities in your own software. And you don't have to build fmedia by yourself to use its features. All you need to do is link your binary file with core.so (or core.dll) and you'll be able to do everything that fmedia can: playback, record and convert audio from your application.
You may add support for a new audio format into fmedia. To do that you have to add your module into "fmedia.conf" and add an appropriate file extension into "input_ext" or "output_ext" section.
For example, after you have built your module (e.g. xyz.so), add it into "fmedia.conf":
mod "xyz.decode"
Then associate it with ".xyz" file extension:
input_ext {
...
"xyz.decode" xyz
}
fmedia will call module "xyz.decode" each time user orders fmedia to play "*.xyz" files.
See fmedia source code for more details.
For example, main.c::main() will show you how fmedia command line binary initializes core module.
See src/format/wav.c for an example on how to write a simple filter for fmedia.
If you'd like to use low level interfaces, take a look at the source code of FF libraries. Together they provide you with an easy interface that you can use to work with a large set of file formats, decode or encode audio and much more. fmedia itself is built upon FF library - it's completely free and open-source.
You are welcome to participate in fmedia's development. Send suggestions, improvements, bug reports, patches - anything that can help the project!
Understanding the top-level source code hierarchy can help you to get involved into fmedia quicker. The source code consists of these separate repositories:
------------------------
fmedia
------------------------
ffos, avpack, ffaudio
------------------------
ffbase
------------------------
Each of them plays its own part:
- ffbase provides base containers and algorithms
- ffaudio provides audio I/O
- ffos provides cross-platform abilities. Code based on ffos can run on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD.
- avpack provides API for reading/writing audio-video container formats, e.g. ".mp4".
- fmedia contains application code, it's largely based on all FF libraries.
If you encounter a bug, please report it: the more issues will be reported by users, the more stable fmedia will become. When filing a bug report try to provide information that can help us to fix the problem. Try to execute the same command once again, only this time add --debug switch, e.g.:
fmedia --debug OPTIONS INPUT_FILES...
It will print a lot of information about what fmedia is doing. This info or a screenshot would be very helpful.
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