Audacious is a free and open-source audio player software with a focus on low resource use, high audio quality, and support for a wide range of audio formats. It is designed primarily for use on POSIX-compatible Unix-like operating systems, with limited support for Microsoft Windows.
Audacious was the default audio player in Ubuntu Studio in 2011–12, and was the default music player in Lubuntu until October 2018, when it was replaced with VLC.
Audacious began as a fork of Beep Media Player, which itself is a fork of XMMS. Ariadne "kaniini" Conill decided to fork Beep Media Player after the original development team announced that they were stopping development in order to create a next-generation version called BMPx. According to the Audacious home page, Conill and others "had [their] own ideas about how a player should be designed, which [they] wanted to try in a production environment."
From the Wikipedia article “Audacious (software)”, CC BY-SA 4.0
What is Audacious?
Audacious is a proprietary video player program for Windows from Audacious developers (developed by William Pitcock). It ranks 7th by popularity among video players in this catalogue. The first release dates back to 2005. It is written in C++ and C. Besides Windows, it is available for Linux, BSD and macOS.
Installation and requirements
Official installers exist for 64-bit as EXE (NSIS). The main installer is 50.5 MB. Installation asks for administrator rights. The installer supports unattended (silent) installation.
Updates and version history
The current version is 4.6.1, released on June 12, 2026. 5 versions are listed since June 5, 2021, each with links to its own installer files. That is about 1 releases a year.
Popularity and file types
The Chocolatey package has been downloaded 13,432 times. The source code on GitHub (audacious-media-player/audacious) has 1,285 stars. Wikipedia has an article about it in 21 of our languages. Similar programs include VLC media player, MPC-BE and QuickTime.
Project description on GitHub: “A lightweight and versatile audio player”
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Documented silent install
- Also runs on Linux, BSD and macOS
- Mature project (since 2005)
Cons
- Proprietary licence: check the terms and price
- No native ARM64 build
- Installation needs administrator rights
In short: Audacious is a video player tool for 64-bit PCs. Administrators can deploy it unattended.
Screenshots
Is Audacious safe to download?
- The file is served by distfiles.audacious-media-player.org; check that it is the publisher’s official mirror
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
D13C2CD12621692F37B2F8DBF89DFD7457D2020C69AC6610C79DAD00A50C7D00· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link answered when we last checked it (October 22, 2026)
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Security practices (OpenSSF Scorecard)
Automated checks of the audacious-media-player/audacious repository on GitHub by the Open Source Security Foundation, last run on October 19, 2026.
- Actively maintained10
- No dangerous workflows10
- No binaries in the repository10
- Licence declared9
- Code review1
- Restricted token permissions0
- Pinned dependencies0
- OpenSSF Best Practices badge0
- Security policy0
- Fuzzing0
- Branch protection0
- Static code analysis0
The score rates how the project is developed and released, not whether the program is safe to install. scorecard.dev
Recent versions
All 5 versions ›5 versions over 5 years · about 1 a year
| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.6.1Latest | June 12, 2026 | 50.5 MB | 64-bit EXE (NSIS) |
| 4.5.1 | September 17, 2025 | 47.6 MB | 32-bit EXE (NSIS) |
| 4.3.1 | May 2, 2023 | 42.5 MB | 32-bit EXE (NSIS) |
| 4.2 | July 15, 2022 | 39.7 MB | 32-bit EXE (NSIS) |
| 4.1 | June 5, 2021 | 38.5 MB | 32-bit EXE (NSIS) |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id Audacious.MediaPlayer -echoco install audacious -yaudacious-4.6.1-win32.exe /SRelated guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Information
- Publisher
- Audacious developers
- Developer
- William Pitcock
- Category
- Video players
- Licence
- Copyright © 2001-2020 Audacious developers and others
- Price
- See the publisher’s site
- Source code
- github.com/audacious-media-player/audacious
- Written in
- C++ and C
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 64-bit
- Installer
- EXE (NSIS)
- Other platforms
- Linux, BSD, macOS
- Version
- 4.6.1
- Released
- June 12, 2026
- First release
- 2005
- Added to the catalogue
- June 5, 2021
- Versions listed
- 5
- Updates / year
- 1
- Chocolatey downloads
- 13,432
- GitHub stars
- 1,285
- GitHub forks
- 157
- winget ID
- Audacious.MediaPlayer
- Chocolatey package
- audacious
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
Alternatives to Audacious
See all ›-
VLC media player3.0.24VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files, and various streaming protocols.Open source22.6M ↓ -
Open source136.3K ↓ -
QuickTime7.79.80.95A powerful multimedia technology with a built-in media player, QuickTime lets you view Internet video and personal media in a wide range of file formats. And it lets you enjoy them in remarkably high quality.Proprietary2.1M ↓ -
MPC-HC2.8.4MPC-HC is an extremely light-weight, open source media player for Windows. It supports all common video and audio file formats available for playback.Open source193.6K ↓ -
MPV (Official CI build, MSVC)0.41.0A free (as in freedom) media player for the command line. It supports a wide variety of media file formats, audio and video codecs, and subtitle types.Open source288.4K ↓ -
Free5M ↓ -
Open source23.6K ↓ -
Open source10.5K ↓
Frequently asked questions
Is Audacious free?
Audacious is proprietary (closed-source) software (licence: Copyright © 2001-2020 Audacious developers and others). Whether it costs money depends on the edition: check the publisher’s site for prices and free tiers.
Is Audacious safe to download?
The download comes from distfiles.audacious-media-player.org; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install Audacious with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Can Audacious be installed silently?
Yes. The silent install page lists the exact command for each installer.
Does Audacious run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 64-bit version through emulation.
Where can I download an older version of Audacious?
The versions page lists all 5 versions with links to their official installer files, back to June 5, 2021.
What are alternatives to Audacious?
VLC media player, MPC-BE, QuickTime, MPC-HC and MPV (Official CI build, MSVC). The alternatives page compares them.
