I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but I HIGHLY recommend IINA for most media. It's free and open source, and is designed to look like Quicktime but it's way more robust and supports almost every file type. I know you can make playlists and use album covers etc for it, but maybe that's not exactly what you want. It's great software though for and much better than things like VLC imho. Answer from dris77 on reddit.com
Reddit
reddit.com › r/macos › are there any good music apps for osx?
r/MacOS on Reddit: Are there any good music apps for OSX?
July 18, 2024 -
I just got a MacBook Pro and I have a large music library I am trying to utilize. My main issue is that most of my music is in lossless FLAC format and for some reason Apple Music doesn't support FLAC!
I'm used to using AIMP on Windows and I can sort my music by Artist > Album > Track # and simply select an album to listen to, but on OSX I can't seem to find any programs that will allow me to do this without converting my entire music library to another format.
I tried using Foobar2000 but the interface is incredibly difficult to use and it keeps trying to play my music by track NAME instead of track number and after looking through various forums I'm just more confused on how to use this application.
I tried downloading Clementine but the application simply crashes on launch.
I'm running OSX Sonoma 14.5
Any suggestions for an application that works and has a decent interface?
Edit: The answer was paying $25 for Swinsian and updating to the beta version to enable a dark mode theme and now I'm 100% satisfied. (Hold shift in app menu while clicking update to see beta options)
Top answer 1 of 20
13
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but I HIGHLY recommend IINA for most media. It's free and open source, and is designed to look like Quicktime but it's way more robust and supports almost every file type. I know you can make playlists and use album covers etc for it, but maybe that's not exactly what you want. It's great software though for and much better than things like VLC imho.
2 of 20
13
If your library is mostly folders of FLAC/MP3, a lightweight player is easier than a full “library” app. I’ve been using Elmedia Player for quick listening because it opens FLAC without ceremony and runs natively on Apple silicon, then I just keep folders organized and let Spotlight/smart folders do the sorting. For day-to-day comfort, map media keys in System Settings → Keyboard, and enable a mini-player so you can keep tracks going while you work.
Elmedia Video Player
elmedia-video-player.com › blog › compare › best music players for mac in 2026
Best Music Player for Mac: Top 8 Choices for Mac Users 2026
We recommend this Mac audio player for heavy listeners who want more capabilities than the casual listener. ... As a music player app, IINA feels beyond its years compared to its counterparts. The highlight of this audio player for Mac is its incredible likeness to the Apple design language.
Published March 18, 2025
Videos
18:58
BEST Mac Apps for Music Creators! - YouTube
06:10
This Mac App Will CHANGE How You Listen to Music! - YouTube
14:20
I tested every streaming service on Mac/iPhone and it's not what ...
06:44
How To Use the Music App On Your Mac Without Subscribing To Apple ...
08:58
10 Mac Apps I Can’t Live Without - YouTube
12:24
The 35 Apps I Install on Every New Mac - YouTube
What music player has an equalizer for Mac?
You guessed it – Elmedia Player. It has a 10-band equalizer with different presets.
mac.eltima.com
mac.eltima.com › best-music-players.html
Best Music Players for Mac for MP3, FLAC, etc. [Free and Paid]
What is a free and simple music player for Mac?
In this article, we have reviewed several best free music players for Mac among which are Elmedia Player, VLC, Pine Player, and 5KPlayer. Each player offers unique features, allowing you to choose the one that best meets your needs. If you’re specifically searching for a versatile and free M4A player, Elmedia Player is the top recommendation. With its wide format support and user-friendly interface, it’s the perfect choice for high-quality media playback.
mac.eltima.com
mac.eltima.com › best-music-players.html
Best Music Players for Mac for MP3, FLAC, etc. [Free and Paid]
What is the best alternative to iTunes for Mac?
We have reviewed several apps in the article above. You can use any of the players we described here. However, our choice and the title of the best music player goes to Elmedia Player.
mac.eltima.com
mac.eltima.com › best-music-players.html
Best Music Players for Mac for MP3, FLAC, etc. [Free and Paid]
Appfigures
appfigures.com › top-apps › mac-app-store › united-states › music
Top Music Apps for Mac on the iOS App Store in the United States · Appfigures
$29.99 · Apple · 5. Minimoog Model D Synthesizer · $14.99 · Moog Music Inc. 6. Tuneful · Free · Martin Fekete · 7. iReal Pro · $21.99 · Technimo LLC · 8. Battlestation Groovebox · $7.99 · Bram Bos · 9. Model 15 Modular Synthesizer · $14.99 · Moog Music Inc. 10. Mp3tag · $24.99 · Florian Heidenreich · 11. DM10 - Drum & Synth Machine · $14.99 · Fingerlab · 12. AutoPad — Ambient Pad Loops · $5.99 · Ryan Robinson · 13. Easy Audio Recorder ·
GitHub
github.com › kyleneideck › BackgroundMusic
GitHub - kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic: Background Music, a macOS audio utility: automatically pause your music, set individual apps' volumes and record system audio.
Set your volume to its maximum level and lower the volumes of other applications. Only 2-channel (stereo) audio devices are currently supported for output. VLC pauses iTunes or Spotify when playing, and stops Background Music from unpausing your music afterward. Under VLC's preferences, select Show All. Navigate to Interface > Main interfaces > macosx and change Control external music players to either Do nothing or Pause and resume iTunes/Spotify.
Starred by 18.4K users
Forked by 733 users
Languages C++ 60.3% | Objective-C 16.0% | Objective-C++ 12.1% | C 5.9% | Shell 4.9% | JavaScript 0.4%
Eltima
mac.eltima.com › best-music-players.html
Best Music Players for Mac for MP3, FLAC, etc. [Free and Paid]
You can rely on IINA to play any of your music files: M4A, MP3, AAC, M4A, etc. It integrates Apple’s native gesture controls, dark mode, Touch Bar, and mouse and trackpad controls to give you the most authentic macOS feel. Besides, Slant ranked IINA as the №1 best video player for Mac. IINA is a compelling choice for an open-source audio program for Mac.
Published April 29, 2023 Views 0
Apple App Store
apps.apple.com › us › mac › grouping › 25212
Music for Mac - App Store
A recording studio on your Mac · View · The Best Audio Enhancer · View · Music · View · Creative beat making · View · Pump it up and chill! View · Audio recording and editing · View · 1 · Mix Music & Remix Songs · View · 2 · Vinyl Record Widget for Music · View · 3 · for Apple Music Spotify iTunes ·
VOX
vox.rocks › mac-music-player
VOX Mac Music Player: Best FLAC Player for Mac. iTunes Alternative.
Enjoy 5.1 multichannel audio playback for the most comprehensive, sophisticated experience. ... Enjoy your iTunes & Personal Music Library with ultimate possible quality. Experience the hands-down best iTunes alternative for Mac. Built-in radio app feature gives you access to thousands of radio stations around the world, categorized by country and genre.
MakeUseOf
makeuseof.com › home › mac › alternatives to itunes: 5 best free music players for macos
Alternatives to the Mac Music App: The 6 Best Free Music Players
June 28, 2021 - Configure an equalizer with over 30 presets and manual 10-grid settings for fine-tuning. You can even stream music straight to Sonos speakers. Download: VOX Player (Free, subscription available) IINA is an open-source audio and video player for Mac.
Digital Trends
digitaltrends.com › home › computing › best ofs
The best free music players for MacOS - Digital Trends
July 13, 2022 - Swinsian is updated regularly but it doesn’t support Apple Silicon natively. M1 and M2 Mac computers can run the app through Rosetta. Swinsian can be downloaded from the developer’s website. ... The free 5KPlayer is a unique audio player in that it can stream music from various online outlets while also showing videos.
Dipper Audio
dipper.audio › home › podcasting › top 10 must-have mac apps for musicians and podcasters | essential music & podcast tools
Top 10 Must-Have Mac Apps for Musicians and Podcasters | Essential Music & Podcast Tools - Dipper Audio
February 23, 2025 - These 10 Mac apps offer everything musicians and podcasters need to level up their production quality, efficiency, and creativity. From Dipper’s audio capture magic to the pro-level tools of Logic Pro X and Pro Tools, every app on this list brings something unique to the table.
ZDNET
zdnet.com › home › tech › services & software › operating systems › mac os
My 4 favorite music players for MacOS (that aren't Apple Music) | ZDNET
March 28, 2024 - If you open Audio Effects (from the Window menu), you'll find EQ, compressor, spatializer, and filter options. VLC is one of my favorite all-around media players. You can install VLC from the Mac App Store for free. Do you miss the days of Winamp and XMMS? I certainly do. I not only loved their UIs, but the feature sets and size of these music players were just so spot-on for me.
Chasing Sound
chasingsound.com › posts › best-music-guitar-apps-for-mac
The Music Apps I Install On Every Mac — Chasing Sound
April 27, 2021 - The two I use the most for guitar lessons and general audio routing/recording are Audio Hijack and Loopback. Audio Hijack is an app that allows you to take audio from anywhere on your Mac, and make ...
Macintosh Repository
macintoshrepository.org › applications
Music & Sound Applications - Macintosh Repository
Found 920 software entries in Applications from category: Music & Sound ... Old categories ID's: 19 Logic Platinum 5 offers countless creative options for MIDI and audio manipulation. It features extensive audio hardware support including TDM (Mac OS), OMF and OpenTL support, and is capable ...
Macupdate
apple-music.macupdate.com › music & audio › apple music
Download Apple Music for Mac | MacUpdate
Stream over 100 million songs ad-free ... on Mac. ... Apple Music is a premium music streaming service from Apple, offering access to over 100 million songs, expertly curated playlists, and exclusive content — all ad-free. Enjoy seamless playback across your Apple devices, download tracks ...
Macworld
macworld.com › home › software
Best music software for Mac
June 17, 2024 - We've rounded up the best audio recording software for Mac, whether you are in a studio or at home these apps are worth a listen. ... Your Mac has the potential to be a powerful music studio for recording and editing, and that’s just using GarageBand – an app that comes free with your device.
Setapp
setapp.com › lifestyle › best-music-players-for-mac
2026 Setup: Choose the BEST music player for Mac from these top 5 apps
October 2, 2025 - IINA always comes up when people talk about the best media players for Mac — and for good reason. It’s completely free, open-source, and looks great. Plus, it plays almost any file you throw at it. The app is pretty straightforward: it includes a built-in equalizer, dark mode, and the ability to speed up audio playback up to 16x (which, by the way, is the fastest I’ve ever seen). When IINA detects music, it automatically switches to music mode, optimizing the UI for audio playback and displaying album artwork and track details.
Apple Community
discussions.apple.com › thread › 6489012
"Audio Music Apps" Folder - Apple Community
December 25, 2014 - Everything you do in LPX, GarageBand X and MainStage happens in the same "Audio Music Apps". They all access now the same folder.
Colibri
colibri-lossless.com
Colibri | Mac Lossless Audio Player
A native Mac audio and music player that supports crystal-clear bit-perfect gapless playback of all popular lossless and lossy audio formats, uses only a tiny amount of computing power and offers a clean and intuitive user experience – it only ‘does what it says on the can’. Transparency is key - be it the sound or the feedback from the users. To that end, I've written a small app that gathers all the Mac App Store reviews for Colibri from all available countries where the app can be purchased.
Eclecticpassions
eclecticpassions.net › home › swinsian: how i chose the best macos music library app
Swinsian: How I Chose The Best MacOS Music Library App
August 22, 2024 - Soon, when I get a new Apple Silicon Mac, I will be trying the latest release, as it does offer lots of complex music library and search features. VOX: Subscription model ($5/m), integrates with streaming services and supports hi-res, but personally I did not like GUI. Clementine: FOSS, can transcode audio, support streaming services and even has an Android remote app.
Apple
apple.com › logic-pro
Logic Pro for Mac - Apple
Logic Pro turns your Mac into a professional recording studio able to handle even the most demanding projects. Create and arrange music in real time and quickly build beats and melodies.