Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Microsoft Windows Media Player

Jellyfin is a free software media system for collecting, organizing, and streaming your personal media library from your own server to many types of clients. It provides a server backend and API along with a web interface, and is commonly used as an open alternative to proprietary media servers.

Key Features

• Library management for movies, TV shows, music, and photos with metadata fetching
• Web-based administration and playback interface, plus a broad ecosystem of official and third-party clients
• Streaming with on-the-fly transcoding support via FFmpeg
• User accounts and profiles for separating access and playback history
• Extensible architecture with plugins and integrations

Use Cases

• Host a private “Netflix-like” server for a household’s movie and TV collection
• Centralize and stream a music library to phones, desktops, and smart TVs
• Provide media access for friends or remote devices while keeping content on your own server

Limitations and Considerations

• Transcoding and high-bitrate streaming can require significant CPU/GPU resources depending on usage
• Some client capabilities and codecs may vary by platform, affecting direct play vs transcoding

Jellyfin focuses on giving you full control over your media, with no tracking or vendor-operated central services. It is well-suited for home labs and organizations that want a flexible, privacy-respecting media streaming stack.

Kodi is a free and open source home theater and media center application for playing and managing digital media. It is designed for a 10-foot, remote-friendly experience on TVs while also working well as a desktop media player.

Key Features

• Library management with media scanning, artwork, metadata, and collections
• Playback for a wide range of audio and video formats
• Network playback and streaming over common network protocols
• Add-on system for extending functionality (including official add-ons)
• Powerful theming and skinning engine for customizable UI
• Cross-platform support across major desktop and mobile operating systems

Use Cases

• Living-room HTPC media center for local and NAS-hosted libraries
• Unified playback app for video, music, photos, playlists, and slideshows
• Extensible media hub using add-ons and custom skins for tailored setups

Limitations and Considerations

• Add-on availability, quality, and maintenance can vary across the ecosystem
• Performance and hardware decoding capabilities depend on the platform and device

Kodi is a mature, community-driven media center focused on a polished TV experience and broad format support. Its add-on and skinning ecosystem makes it suitable for both simple playback and highly customized home theater setups.

Koel is a web-based personal audio streaming service designed for hosting and streaming your own music collection. It combines a modern web player with robust library management and supports multi-user setups.

Key Features

• Stream your personal music library via a fast, modern web interface
• Multi-user support with user accounts
• Favorites, playlists, and smart playlists
• Cross-device playback synchronization
• Library management: upload, delete, and edit track metadata and artwork
• Lossless audio support, equalizer settings, and visualizers
• Radio and podcast support
• Optional metadata enrichment integrations (e.g., MusicBrainz and Last.fm)

Use Cases

• Self-host a personal “Spotify-like” music server for your own library
• Provide a shared home or community music library with separate user accounts
• Stream music from a server while keeping a centralized, curated collection

Koel is well-suited for users who want a polished, developer-friendly music server with a familiar listening experience. It focuses on fast browsing and playback while keeping your library under your control.

Beets is a command-line music library management system focused on keeping large music collections consistently tagged and organized. It imports audio files, matches them to online databases (primarily MusicBrainz), and maintains a searchable local catalog.

Key Features

• Automatic tagging and metadata correction during import using MusicBrainz matching
• Local music library catalog with flexible querying and batch editing tools
• Plugin system to extend functionality
• Optional metadata enrichment such as album art, lyrics, genres, ReplayGain, tempo, and acoustic fingerprints (via plugins)
• Duplicate detection and missing-track checks (via plugins)
• Audio transcoding/conversion workflows (via plugins)
• Optional web-based browser/player interface to browse the library in a web browser (via plugins)

Use Cases

• Cleaning up and standardizing metadata for large music collections
• Automatically organizing imports and detecting duplicates or incomplete albums
• Building repeatable workflows for transcoding and library enrichment

Beets is a strong fit for users who prefer a scriptable, CLI-first approach to music collection management and want extensibility through plugins to tailor workflows to their needs.

Mopidy is an extensible music server written in Python. It runs as a background service and plays audio from local files and radio streams, while letting you control playback and playlists from other devices over the network.

Key Features

• Extension system for adding new music sources and control frontends
• Plays local music and internet radio streams out of the box
• Optional MPD compatibility via the Mopidy-MPD extension for broad client support
• HTTP server functionality for web-based control and integrations
• Remote control from phones, tablets, and computers using MPD or web clients
• APIs oriented toward integrations and custom projects (including JSON-RPC)

Use Cases

• Networked home music playback controlled from multiple devices
• Raspberry Pi-based jukebox or DIY audio projects using extensions
• Centralized audio playback service integrated with existing MPD client setups

Mopidy is a flexible base for building custom music systems thanks to its plugin architecture and wide client compatibility. It fits well in homelabs and DIY setups where a lightweight, hackable music server is preferred.

musikcube is a cross-platform, terminal-based music player with a built-in audio engine, library scanner, and metadata indexer. It can also run as a lightweight streaming audio server, making it useful both as a local player and as a headless music hub.

Key Features

• Terminal UI (curses-style) designed for fast keyboard-driven navigation
• Local music library scanning and tag indexing backed by an on-disk database
• Built-in streaming server with remote API for clients and remote control
• Optional audio transcoding for streaming to clients
• Android companion app (musikdroid) for streaming and remote control
• Extensible architecture with a C++ core library (musikcore) and plugin support
• Designed to scale to very large libraries (hundreds of thousands of tracks)

Use Cases

• Run a keyboard-centric music player on desktop or over SSH
• Turn a Raspberry Pi connected to a DAC into a home stereo music hub
• Stream your local library to a phone on your LAN and use it as a remote

Limitations and Considerations

• The built-in server is not designed to be safely exposed directly to the public internet; it lacks native TLS and uses basic authentication mechanisms.

musikcube is a strong fit for users who want a fast terminal music experience and an integrated way to serve their library to other devices. It also provides a reusable C++ backend for developers building custom audio applications.

Black Candy is an open-source, self-hosted music streaming server that provides a web-based music library and player for personal use. It scans a mounted media directory, builds a browsable catalog from audio metadata, and serves audio to web and mobile clients.

Key Features

• Library indexing from a local media path (reads tags/metadata for artists, albums, tracks)
• Web player with playback queue, playlists and search
• Multi-user accounts and per-user preferences
• Mobile client support (Android APK / F‑Droid and iOS app available) and responsive web UI
• Docker images for easy deployment; supports environment variables for DB, media path and options
• Uses SQLite by default; optional PostgreSQL support for larger deployments
• Integrations: album/artist images via Discogs API; server-side audio handling via FFmpeg; image processing via libvips

Use Cases

• Personal cloud music server to stream your own music library across devices
• Small multi-user household or friend group music sharing with account separation
• Developers or hobbyists building features or integrations on top of a Rails-based streaming backend

Limitations and Considerations

• Default SQLite configuration may not scale well for very large libraries or many concurrent users; PostgreSQL is recommended for larger deployments
• Edge/master images are considered unstable and may contain breaking changes or data-loss risks; use stable releases for production
• Resource usage for large libraries (media scanning, transcoding with FFmpeg, image processing) can be significant and depends on host hardware

Black Candy is focused on delivering a simple, modern self-hosted music experience with mobile support and straightforward Docker deployment. It is suitable for personal and small-group use and can be scaled by using PostgreSQL and appropriate host resources.

Music Player Daemon (MPD) is a flexible, server-side music playback engine. It runs as a daemon and exposes playback, queue and library operations over a network protocol, enabling remote control from many clients.

Key Features

• Network protocol-based control for playback, queue management and metadata retrieval
• Multi-format audio support via a modular plugin system
• Local library indexing with fast search and remote client access
• Rich client ecosystem including libraries and protocol specifications (libmpdclient, protocol docs)
• Modern core in C++ with a Meson-based build, supporting Unix-like systems (and ports)
• A wide range of official and community clients (eg, myMPD, mpd clients) for desktop, mobile and embedded use

Use Cases

• Home or multi-room music systems with centralized playback and remote control
• Headless server in AV environments, streaming to networked speakers
• Integrations with other home-automation or media workflows via the MPD protocol

Limitations and Considerations

• MPD relies on a compatible client to issue commands and manage playback; features vary by client
• Some advanced features evolve across MPD and client projects; check compatibility with your setup

Conclusion

MPD provides a robust, networked backbone for playing and managing music across devices. Its extensible architecture and broad client ecosystem make it suitable for both simple home setups and complex multi-room configurations.

mStream is a lightweight open-source music streaming server that provides remote access and device sync for personal music collections. It serves a web-based player and supports mobile clients, letting users stream lossless and lossy formats from their own host.

Key Features

• Web-based music player with gapless playback and a Milkdrop-style visualizer. (github.com)
• Supports common audio formats including FLAC, MP3, AAC, OGG and others. (github.com)
• Playlist management, playlist sharing and drag-and-drop file upload via the web UI. (mstream.io)
• Lightweight Node.js server designed to run on Windows, macOS, Linux and ARM boards (e.g., Raspberry Pi). (github.com)
• Official demo interface available for previewing the web player. (demo.mstream.io)

Use Cases

• Stream a private music library to any device while keeping full control of data and audio files. (mstream.io)
• Provide shared access to a household or small group's music collection with playlist sharing and user accounts. (github.com)
• Run on low-power hardware (Raspberry Pi / small NAS) to serve multi-terabyte libraries with low CPU/memory overhead. (github.com)

Limitations and Considerations

• Mobile apps are provided by third parties (community/third‑party clients) rather than a single official first‑party store app; availability and maintenance can vary. (github.com)
• Core server is Node.js-based and relies on in-repo JavaScript libraries for metadata and fast in-memory indexing; deployment assumptions (e.g., persistence/backups) should be reviewed for large libraries. (github.com)

mStream is a practical choice for users who want a simple, self-hosted music streaming solution with broad format support and a browser-first player. It emphasizes ease of setup, low resource use, and a familiar web/mobile playback experience.

Gonic is a lightweight music streaming server that implements the Subsonic server API, allowing you to use many existing Subsonic-compatible clients. It scans your local music library, serves streams, and can transcode audio on the fly.

Key Features

• Subsonic-compatible API for broad client support
• Library browsing by folder structure and by tags
• On-the-fly audio transcoding with caching (via FFmpeg)
• Multi-user support with per-user preferences and playlists
• Podcast support
• Jukebox mode for server-side, gapless playback
• Web UI for configuration, user management, and library scans
• Scrobbling support (Last.fm and ListenBrainz)

Use Cases

• Self-hosted personal or family music streaming with existing Subsonic clients
• Lightweight music server for low-power devices (for example, Raspberry Pi)
• Centralized library with transcoding for bandwidth- or device-limited playback

Limitations and Considerations

• Transcoding features require FFmpeg to be available on the host
• Client experience depends on the capabilities of the chosen Subsonic client

Gonic focuses on being small, fast, and compatible rather than providing an all-in-one media suite. It is a practical choice if you want a simple Subsonic API server with solid scanning, transcoding, and multi-user playback.

Swing Music is a self-hosted music streaming server and web player for organizing and listening to your local audio files in a modern browser-based UI. It focuses on a clean library experience, discovery features, and fast playback without requiring a bundled desktop app.

Key Features

• Browser-based music player UI for listening from any device on your network
• Library management with metadata normalization and duplicate track handling
• Album versioning (for example Deluxe or Remaster) to group releases consistently
• Discovery helpers like related artists and related albums
• Folder-based browsing for libraries organized by directories
• Playlist management, collections, lyrics view, and listening statistics
• Daily mixes generated from listening activity
• Multi-user support and optional Last.fm scrobbling
• Silence detection support (requires FFmpeg)

Use Cases

• Build a private “bring your own music” streaming server for a home NAS library
• Provide a multi-user household music library with personal stats and playlists
• Stream your local music to a browser (and optionally an Android client)

Limitations and Considerations

• Some features (such as silence detection) require external dependencies like FFmpeg
• Platform support may vary by release (for example macOS availability may depend on version)

Swing Music is a strong option if you want a lightweight, good-looking web player for your own collection while keeping control of your files. It’s designed to be simple to run via binaries or containers and pleasant to use day to day.

Fladder is a cross-platform frontend client for Jellyfin that lets you browse and play your media library across mobile, desktop, web, and TV devices. It focuses on a clean UI, multi-profile support, and reliable playback including offline syncing.

Key Features

• Stream media with direct play or server transcoding
• Download and sync media for offline playback while keeping progress in sync
• Manage your library, including refresh actions and basic metadata edits
• Multiple profiles for quickly switching users or servers
• Skip media segments such as intros and credits
• Trickplay support for improved timeline scrubbing
• Adaptive layout for mobile, tablet, desktop, web, and TV
• Dark/light mode with multiple color style options
• Simple comic book reading support for CBZ/CBR
• Integrations with Seerr/Jellyseerr

Use Cases

• Daily Jellyfin viewing on phones, desktops, and Android TV with a consistent UI
• Offline playback for travel while keeping watch progress synchronized
• Households with multiple users or multiple Jellyfin servers

Limitations and Considerations

• Some features may depend on Jellyfin server capabilities (for example, transcoding and segment markers)
• The hosted web build may be restricted to secure connections depending on where it is served

Fladder is a practical option for users who want a modern Jellyfin experience across many platforms with both streaming and offline workflows. It is especially well-suited for mixed-device setups and multi-user environments.

LMS (Lightweight Music Server) is an open-source music streaming server that provides a browser-based interface to browse, search and stream audio collections. It exposes a Subsonic/OpenSubsonic-compatible API, supports rich metadata and includes a built-in recommendation engine.

Key Features

• Web-based user interface with a media player and keyboard shortcuts
• Subsonic/OpenSubsonic API compatibility for third-party clients
• Multi-valued tags and detailed artist/release metadata handling (MusicBrainz identifiers supported)
• Recommendation engine and "radio" mode that fills play queue with similar tracks
• Audio transcoding for compatibility and bandwidth optimization (uses ffmpeg)
• Multi-library support, playlists (m3u/m3u8), podcasts and lyrics (lrc/txt/embedded)
• ReplayGain support and tracking integration with ListenBrainz (scrobbling and loves)
• User management with multiple authentication backends and administrative settings
• Lightweight filesystem-based artist image and disc image discovery; configurable scanner

Use Cases

• Provide network-available playback for a home or small office music collection via browser or Subsonic clients
• Run a low-footprint music streaming service on modest hardware (Raspberry Pi or small server) with on-the-fly transcoding
• Power a small internet/local radio-style "autofill" stream using the radio/recommendation features

Limitations and Considerations

• The tag-based recommendation engine can noticeably slow the user interface on very large libraries or on low-end hardware; it can be disabled if performance is impacted
• Audio transcoding (for compatibility or bandwidth reduction) relies on ffmpeg and increases CPU usage during transcoding operations
• Some features depend on external services (MusicBrainz, ListenBrainz) for best metadata and scrobbling functionality; network access is required for those integrations

LMS is a feature-rich option for managing and streaming personal music collections with emphasis on tags, metadata fidelity and interoperability through Subsonic-compatible APIs. It is suited to users who want a compact, configurable server with transcoding and discovery features.

Gaseous is a self-hosted server for managing game ROM libraries and associated titles. It scans and organizes ROMs, identifies games using multiple sources, enriches them with metadata, and provides basic in-browser emulation for supported platforms.

Key Features

• ROM and title management with library scanning and organization
• Game identification and metadata enrichment using external sources (e.g., IGDB) and signature-based matching
• Web UI for browsing a library, viewing game details, and launching gameplay
• Built-in browser emulation via a web-based emulator integration
• User authentication (available in v1.7.0 and later)
• Supports MariaDB (preferred) and MySQL as the backend database

Use Cases

• Build a centralized retro game library for a homelab or household
• Enrich and clean up ROM collections with consistent metadata and artwork
• Play supported retro titles directly from a browser without installing local emulators

Limitations and Considerations

• Internet exposure is discouraged by the project; if exposed, it should be protected (e.g., via VPN) and treated as higher risk
• Switching from older MySQL schemas to MariaDB may require rebuilding the database and re-importing via a library scan
• Metadata lookups may require an IGDB API key unless using an alternative proxy approach

Gaseous is a practical option for collectors who want a web-managed ROM library with light browser-based play. It focuses on library organization and metadata-driven browsing while keeping the deployment relatively straightforward with a SQL backend.

Metadata Remote is a lightweight web app for directly editing audio file tags on servers without a desktop environment. It focuses on fast, safe, file-first editing via a browser, without requiring a full music library management ecosystem.

Key Features

• Edit standard and extended audio metadata fields, including custom field create/delete
• Bulk apply changes to individual files or entire folders
• Smart metadata suggestions based on filenames, folder patterns, sibling files, and MusicBrainz lookups
• In-browser audio playback and real-time search/filtering
• File and folder renaming from the UI
• Album art upload, preview, delete, bulk apply, and automatic corruption repair
• Extensive undo/redo history for up to 1000 operations, including bulk changes
• Keyboard-first navigation and editing workflow

Use Cases

• Cleaning up and organizing music libraries on NAS or headless media servers before Jellyfin/Plex scans
• Bulk metadata normalization for large collections and mixed formats
• Ongoing tag and artwork maintenance from any device without transferring files

Limitations and Considerations

• Edit history is stored in memory and is cleared on container restart
• Designed for internal network use; deploy behind an authenticated TLS-enabled reverse proxy if remote access is required

Metadata Remote is well-suited for homelab and server setups where you want a focused, fast metadata editor with minimal operational overhead. It combines direct file editing with practical tooling for bulk changes and tag inference.

Roon is a music playback ecosystem centered around a “Core” server that manages your library and streams audio to one or more players (“Outputs”) across your network. It unifies local music files with supported streaming services and presents your library with rich metadata and discovery tools.

Key Features

• Centralized Core that manages library indexing, metadata, and multi-room playback
• Rich artist/album credits, biographies, reviews, lyrics, and interconnected browsing (“music discovery”)
• Multi-room audio to many endpoints (Roon Ready, AirPlay, Chromecast, and other supported devices)
• High-resolution playback with bit-perfect output where supported
• DSP features (device-dependent/plan-dependent) such as EQ, upsampling, convolution, and headphone crossfeed
• Remote control apps for desktop and mobile to browse and control playback
• Zone grouping, synchronized playback, and per-zone signal path inspection

Use Cases

• Run a home music server that streams local hi-res files to multiple rooms
• Combine local library with streaming catalogs and explore music via credits and recommendations
• Centralize playback control for a mixed ecosystem of network streamers, PCs, and mobile devices

Limitations and Considerations

• Not an open-source project; Core and clients are proprietary and require a subscription/license
• Streaming service integration depends on Roon’s supported providers and their regional availability

Roon is best suited for users who want a single, metadata-rich library experience and synchronized playback across many devices. Its Core-based architecture makes it a powerful hub for whole-home audio and high-quality playback when paired with compatible endpoints.

Emby is a personal media server that brings your movies, TV shows, music, photos, and home videos into a single library and streams them to many devices. It includes a web interface and companion apps, with on-the-fly conversion to improve playback compatibility.

Key Features

• Centralized library with automatic organization and rich metadata
• Streaming to web clients and dedicated apps for mobile, TV, and desktop platforms
• On-the-fly transcoding for device and bandwidth compatibility
• Live TV streaming with DVR features and recordings management
• User management with parental controls, access schedules, and session monitoring
• DLNA/UPnP discovery and playback to compatible devices
• Activity-based notifications for key server events

Use Cases

• Build a home media hub for local streaming to TVs, phones, and browsers
• Stream your personal media remotely while traveling
• Manage family access to content with profiles and parental restrictions

Emby is a solid option for users who want a polished media library experience with broad device support, including Live TV/DVR and parental controls. It is suited for personal and family media collections that need reliable streaming and compatibility features.

Plex is a media server platform for organizing and streaming your personal collection of movies, TV shows, music, and photos to a wide range of devices. It provides library management with metadata, user-friendly clients, and remote access so your media is available beyond your home network.

Key Features

• Centralized media library management with automatic metadata, posters, and descriptions
• Streaming to many client devices (smart TVs, streaming sticks, mobile devices, and web)
• User accounts with shared libraries and per-user viewing progress
• On-the-fly transcoding to match client and bandwidth capabilities
• Search and discovery features, including a unified watchlist and title lookup

Use Cases

• Run a home media server on a PC or NAS to stream your personal video and music collection
• Share selected libraries with family members with separate profiles and watch history
• Access your media remotely while traveling from supported apps and web clients

Limitations and Considerations

• Plex Media Server is proprietary software and is not open source
• Some advanced features require a Plex Pass subscription, and some functionality relies on Plex account services

Plex is widely used for turning a personal media collection into a polished, Netflix-like experience across devices. It is best suited for users who want a feature-rich media server with broad client support and strong library organization.