Strawberry Music Player Download for Linux

What Strawberry is

Strawberry is a music player and music organizer for people who own their music. It descends from Clementine and keeps that familiar layout, but the development focus moved to library management for large collections rather than internet-radio features.

It is released under GPL-3.0 with 4.0k stars on GitHub. The current release is 1.2.31, and Linux packages are the primary distribution target.

Beyond playback it handles the unglamorous work of a big library: reading and editing tags in bulk, applying ReplayGain so album volume stops jumping, transcoding to another format, and pulling in streams from Subsonic and Tidal when you want them.

Best for

• Collectors with libraries measured in tens of thousands of files on Linux
• Linux desktop users who want packages from .deb and .rpm rather than an AppImage in a folder
• People who care about gapless playback on live albums and DJ mixes
• Anyone who needs ReplayGain and transcoding without a second tool installed
• Users who want Subsonic or Tidal streaming inside the same library they already organize
• Former Clementine users who want the same workflow with active maintenance

Key features

• Gapless playback for albums that were meant to run continuously
• ReplayGain analysis and application to tame volume differences across albums
• Transcoding to other formats from inside the player
• Fast, searchable library management for very large local collections
• Smart playlists, queue handling and tag editing in bulk
• Streaming from Subsonic and Tidal accounts already configured for other apps
• Linux packages for Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora, plus the source tarball
• Free and open source under GPL-3.0 — no account and no ads on any platform

Platforms & requirements

Linux is the free, fully supported platform. Release 1.2.31 ships as .deb packages for Debian 13 and Debian 12, a .deb for Ubuntu 24.04, an .rpm for Fedora 45, and a source tarball at about 11 MB. Package sizes are roughly 7 MB for the binaries.

macOS and Windows builds exist but are currently sponsor-only: you support the developer and get access to those downloads. That is the honest status, and it is worth reading the notice on the project before you promise a Windows copy to anyone.

Because the Linux builds are native packages, Strawberry integrates with your desktop's audio stack and notification system instead of running in its own sandbox.

How to install Strawberry safely

• Play your Linux package from the official GitHub releases page and pick the build that matches your distribution and version
• Install the .deb with your package manager rather than extracting it by hand, so dependencies are resolved
• Prefer your distribution's own repository first if it carries a recent Strawberry — you get automatic security updates
• For Windows or macOS, use the sponsor link on the project's site; do not trust mirror sites that claim to host the installer
• Point Strawberry at your music folders once, let it scan, then adjust ReplayGain and transcoding settings to taste
• Keep your Subsonic or Tidal credentials in the app's own settings rather than in a shared config file

Limits to know

• Windows and macOS downloads are sponsor-only right now. Linux packages are free; the other two platforms are not currently offered as free downloads
• It is a library player, not a music source. Strawberry organizes and plays what you own or what your Subsonic and Tidal accounts already provide
• No mobile app. There is no Android or iOS client, so remote control happens through other tools
• The interface is dense and desktop-first; on a small screen or a touch device it feels old-fashioned
• The project is maintained by a small team, so a new release can take a while
• Tidal integration depends on that service's API staying put, which is not under the project's control

Alternatives to compare

Clementine is its ancestor: same Amarok 1.4 lineage, more emphasis on internet radio and cloud storage, and builds for Windows, macOS and Linux. If you want the original rather than the fork, start there.

MusicPlayer2 is the other direction entirely — a roughly 6 MB portable Windows player for people who do not want a library database at all. It is Windows-only, but it starts instantly and converts formats from the same window.

Choose Strawberry when the library itself is the point: tens of thousands of files, correct album ordering, consistent volume and quick search. Choose the alternatives when you want a lighter app or broader platform coverage.