Linux command line also provides a unique and not-so-well-known music player feature. You can listen to your favorite music using music players based on the command line.

These music players are fast and consume less memory compared to GUI apps. So, let’s look at some of your best options for command-line music players.

1. MOC

MOC or Music On Console is a minimalistic music player for Linux. It is based on a command-line interface, and you can use your keyboard to go through your audio files. You can navigate to a directory and play the audio files from there using MOC.

MOC supports all major audio formats and also works in the background so you can perform other tasks on your system. You can press the Q button to minimize the MOC player and also change its theme using various color schemes.

The app consumes little memory, so you will not experience any lags during the playback. To enhance your music experience, it also has an equalizer and a mixer.

Moreover, MOC lets you assign shortcut keys for various music player operations. And as it is open-source, it is free for everyone. If you’re a musician, you can check out these great Linux apps for musicians.

Download: MOC (Free)

2. mpg123

mpg123 is an open-source music player for Linux. Its command-line interface makes it more efficient and gives you a seamless music player experience. Its terminal control keys allow you to use the media player with your keyboard.

mpg123 also supports audio shuffle, and you can easily create your playlists. You can fine-tune the sound as well with its real-time equalizer.

In addition to all that functionality, the player is also pretty customizable. You can customize audio settings such as gapless playback and mono or stereo output. It supports ReplayGain too, which normalizes the loudness of all your audio files.

mpg123 is a free app that is constantly updated and improved with new features and optimizations. It is light on your resources and occupies less space than other music players.

Download: mpg123 (Free)

3. cmus

cmus is a fast command-line music player for Linux. Like other apps on this list, it uses fewer system resources, making it fast. If you are using an older device, cmus will give you a good music player experience.

cmus provides continuous playback to play your music without any pause. It also provides a ReplayGain feature for normalizing volume.

You can browse through your system directories to add music to cmus from anywhere. In addition, it allows you to add or edit the audio queues, and you can create your custom playlists as well.

The app also lets you search for a song on your device. And you can bind keys to various operations to quickly access its features. You can control the music player remotely through the “cmus-remote” command. And the best part is that it is an open-source, free app.

Download: cmus (Free)

4. musikcube

musikcube is a feature-packed music player for Linux with a command-line interface that makes it run smoothly on all Linux devices. It also supports streaming audio from several online sources.

musikcube has a file scanning feature that recognizes your music files in the device directory. It supports crossfading playback as well, which makes the transition smoother from one song to another.

You can create your favorite playlist and add or edit your music queue. There is no need to worry about the number of audio files in your directory, as musikcube supports huge volumes.

musikcube is also an open-source app like many others on this list. Similar to cmus, you can use it for remote playback as well.

Download: musikcube (Free)

5. Tera

If you want to listen to your favorite radio station through your music player, Tera is a great option. It is a music player as well as a radio player inside one app.

As you might have guessed, it is based on a command-line interface. You can listen to your favorite songs from the device directory and tune in to your favorite radio stations right from the terminal.

Tera provides all the major music player features such as creating and editing playlists, shuffling your audio files, managing the music queue, and much more. You can also search for your favorite radio station by name, state, or language.

Tera has more than 27,000 radio stations available, and you can save your favorite stations as a list. The app is open-source and free.

Download: Tera (Free)

6. ncmpcpp

ncmpcpp is a highly customizable music player for Linux based on the command line. You can customize the interface as well as audio settings according to your preferences. It runs on Music Player Daemon, which is a famous music player server.

With ncmpcpp, you can edit tags for your audio files that help in finding various audio files easily. The app lets you create and edit playlists, and your local media library will show you all the audio files present on your device directories.

The app’s music visualizer feature will generate visually-appealing patterns when you play the music. And if an artist’s detail is missing from your song, ncmpcpp can fetch the missing details from online servers.

Download: ncmpcpp (Free)

7. Tizonia

Tizona is a powerful music player based on the cloud. It has support for all major streaming sites such as Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, TuneIn, Google Play Music, and others. You can stream your music through a simple and fast command-line interface.

Tizonia has support for a wide range of audio formats, and it is also useful for playing music from your local files. It has robust audio and streaming engines that make it swift and optimized.

It also supports the remote control feature through its interface. And its command-line interface allows you to keep the music playing in the background while performing other tasks.

Tizonia is easily available for all major Linux distros. It is an open-source music player and completely free to use. If you’re a Spotify user, you can check out some of the best Linux alternatives for Spotify.

Download: Tizonia (Free)

Listen to Music Through the Linux Terminal

Command-line music players are not well known to most Linux users. But these music players are quite easy to install and use. These apps provide a whole new music player experience as compared to the GUI-based apps.

As these apps don’t take up many resources, you can easily multitask on your device. And they can work well on older devices too. So, go through the music players listed above and select the right one for your device.