Find out which is the best music player for Mac in 2021

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Top choice
Elmedia 4.8 Rank based on 131+ users, Reviews(131)
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Why is music so universally cherished? It connects us to each other on a profound level and evokes some of our deepest emotions while listening to it. That’s why it’s so important to have a well-rounded music player for Mac. The best music players will make listening to music extremely satisfying, convenient, and seamless.

That’s why we put together this list of the top music players for Mac. We’re sure one of these apps will resonate with you and be the perfect one for all your needs. Whether you want something basic or a feature-filled app, this list has you covered.

Let’s get right into it.

Table of content:

  1. Top Music Player for Mac chosen in 2021
  2. Elmedia Player
  3. VLC Media Player
  4. IINA
  5. Pine Player
  6. Vox
  7. Colibri
  8. Clementine
  9. Find the best music player for Mac in the year 2021
  10. FAQ

Top music Player for Mac chosen in 2021

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1. Elmedia Player
Requirements: OS X 10.9+. 59.66MB free space. Version 7.17(2353). (6 Dec, 2020). 4.8 Rank based on 131+ users, Reviews(131)
Category: MultimediaApplication
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When it comes to the preferred Mac music player of choice, Elmedia Player takes the lead. It comes with one of the highest standards of audio playback you can find on any audio player for Mac. Elmedia supports tons of audio formats like MP3, FLAC, AAC WMA, MKA, AC3, and more.

best music player mac

You also have amazing features like dedicated music volume control or the 10-band graphic equalizer to fine-tune every minor setting to the exact way you want to enjoy your music - manually or with the thoughtfully curated presets available. Not only that, but Elmedia Player also lets you set up passthrough for hardware decoders - AC-3 or DTS for surround sound. This app acts as an audio receiver too, letting you connect Macs together and play music through connected external speakers, for an even more wholesome experience. And Elmedia Player takes care of organizing and managing your library with an incredibly robust playlist feature, keeping your files neatly organized and stored.

Pros:

  • 10-band equalizer for micro-adjustments
  • Playlist features for organizing and categorizing music library
  • Acts as an audio receiver

Cons:

  • Not completely free

2. VLC Media Player

If you’re looking for free music apps for Mac, there are only a few that can compete with VLC Media Player. While predominantly a video player, VLC also offers a solid audio solution for music lovers. You get the same incredible support for multiple audio file formats as you get with video, seamless streaming capabilities from local files or online, and an easy to use playlist and music manager to help keep your music library organized and easily accessible. There’s not much else to say except that this is definitely worth a try, especially if you’re not interested in spending any money on a player and just want something simple and easy to use.

macintosh music player

Pros:

  • Wide range of support for audio file formats
  • Media manager lets you organize and maintain a clean library
  • Completely free to use and enjoy

Cons:

  • Tagging files may be a little finicky at times
  • Very basic and minimal in features
  • Design and UX feels outdated

3. IINA

IINA is arguably one of the best music apps for Macbook in recent years. Mainly because of how adaptive and native the UI and UX feel to the Mac ecosystem. IINA is an app that you can rely on to play any of your music files. It integrates Apple’s native gesture controls, dark mode, Touch Bar, and mouse and trackpad controls to give you the most natural “macOS” feel. You can adjust your settings with the built-in audio equalizer, stream music locally or from online, and play music in the background while you browse or work with its picture-in-picture mode.

best music player for Mac audiophile

Pros:

  • Native macOS feel throughout app and listening experience
  • Robust audio equalizer and audio controls

Cons:

  • Some heavy users might find it to be too basic

4. Pine Player

Unlike the other players mentioned so far in this article, Pine Player is an exclusively music player for Mac. It offers support for tons of formats like MP3, FLAC, APE, AAC, M4A, WAV, WMA, DSD, SACD ISO, and others. It offers incredible sound quality thanks to its Over Sampling Filter which converts basic MP3 files into a higher-resolution 32-bit, 768kHz. You also get to experience a very enjoyable listening experience with the crossfade and gapless function that lets you minimize the space between songs for quicker transitions and continuous seamless play. All in all, with this free music player for Mac you can ensure a very smooth experience that will have you listening to your music for hours, without ads or anything to distract you.

music player mac

Pros:

  • Many supported formats
  • Smooth and enjoyable music listening experience with enhanced features
  • Free app

Cons:

  • High-mids aren’t very crisp
  • App configuration and layout not very user-friendly

5. Vox

Vox is also a very popular music app for Macbook users because of so many of the features it offers. This app is very easy to start using right away because of its very user-friendly design and UI. Vox supports all kinds of audio file formats like ALAC, DSD, WAV, AIFF, and more. It’s an all-in-one kind of music app that gives you access to thousands of radio stations, offers playlist customization, and a rich audio listening experience. Although this app is free, there are some features locked in its premium version. For $4.99 a month, you unlock advanced features like gapless playback, a built-in 10-band equalizer, unlimited cloud storage space with its Vox Music Cloud, a refined studio-like listening experience, playlist syncing and deeper customization options and a ton more. If you’re a heavy music user, then this app will be worth every penny.

best audio player for mac

Pros:

  • Very comprehensive app for heavy music lovers
  • Feature-rich and support for all kinds of formats
  • Sync between Mac and iOS devices
  • Unlimited cloud storage

Cons:

  • Not completely free, subscription fee
  • Very CPU-heavy
  • Premium cost for basic functions like EQ

6. Colibri

Colibri is not a free app but a paid music player Mac users definitely enjoy. It boasts a high-resolution, lossless playback experience with formats like FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, DSD, TTA, and more. One of the notable points about this player is it’s incredibly tiny CPU and battery usage, which a lot of users appreciate. Pick up where you left off with this app as it remembers your usage and history, which gives you full control of your experience. This app thinks proactively, by updating your library, deleting corrupted files and working behind the scenes to deliver the most gratifying listening experience.

Play music on Mac with Colibri

Pros:

  • Small footprint and CPU usage
  • Minimal battery usage

Cons:

  • No free or trial version; only paid
  • Can be slow in opening larger number of files
  • UI not very friendly

7. Clementine

A music player for Macs that’s been around for a while now, Clementine offers a host of helpful features that music lovers can appreciate. The ability to search their local music library, create smart and dynamic playlists, tabbed playlists, import and export M3U, XSPF, PLS and ASX, transcode music formats and tons more. With Clementine, you can also easily play and audio CDs without any issues, search for any uploaded songs in Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Box, get access to radio and streaming resources like Spotify, Grooveshark, SomaFM, Magnatune, Soundcloud and more. As you can see, this app is packed with features.

However, as many users have noted, it seems as though support for this app has stopped since their last update in 2016. So if you download this app from their website, you can still use it but you most likely won’t receive any support if you run into any issues with the app.

best music app for Mac

Pros:

  • Lots of features
  • Free app

Cons:

  • Very out-dated UI and navigation across app
  • No support since 2016

Find the best music player for Mac in the year 2021

For your convenience, we’ve pulled together some of the top features and laid them out for you. This chart will help you decide on the perfect music player for you, easier and quicker than ever!

Top features the best Mac music player should have:

  • Multiple audio format support
  • Local file streaming to TV and other devices
  • Playlist creation and personalization
  • Audio fine-tuner
  • Built-in audio equalizer
  • Audio playback adjustment
  • High-resolution audio playback

Choosing a music player can be a bit overwhelming. You want something that will cover all your needs, no matter how demanding they are. And you don’t want to get stuck with a music player than end up disappointing you or not meeting your expectations.

The best way to make sure that doesn’t happen to you is by checking if all the top features you need are in the app you’re looking for. For example, everything on the list mentioned above are features that some of the most popular apps like Elmedia Player have. With this in mind, you can investigate further and download and even try for yourself and see how you like the app and if it will be good for you.

FAQ

Here we answered the frequently asked questions about music players for Mac and their features. Hopefully, they can be useful for you. If you still have any questions on playing music on your macOS devices, please leave them in the comments below and we will answer as soon as possible.

  1. Open the Music app on your Mac and click “File” on the menu bar and select “Add To Library” or “Import”.
  2. Find the file or folder you want and click “Open”.
  3. Adding a folder will import all the contents of that folder to your Music library.

Another way to import music to your Macbook is by dragging and dropping files and folders from Finder directly to the open Music window.

Apple Music is free for new subscribers for a trial period. After this trial period, your subscription will be renewed on a monthly basis. You can choose from one of three subscription options:
  1. Student ($4.99/month)
  2. Individual ($9.99/month)
  3. Family ($14.99/month)
With the introduction of macOS Catalina, Apple decided to ditch iTunes - as previously known, and replace it with Apple Music. This change comes with three new apps - Apple Music, Apple TV, and Podcasts.
Elmedia Player
Requirements: OS X 10.9+ , 59.66MB free space
Version 7.17(2353) (6 Dec, 2020) Release notes
Category: MultimediaApplication
Free website version
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