# foobar2000

54 Hacker News commenters recommended foobar2000 and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its simple, customizable layout, broad format support, and long-running reliability, and it has no real equivalent. Critics say it is Windows-first and weaker on other platforms.

## Why people recommend it

- Plays folders and network shares (6 comments): "nothing else seems capable of properly handling playback by folder structure" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49606087)) "foobar2000 allows me add folder / file set to playlist and start listening." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980722)) "I finally settled on simply using foobar2000 to play from an SMB share." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185535))
- Solid, long-lived, performant software (5 comments): "foobar's rock solid. I have a portable copy on a mounted NAS share and it's great for transcoding" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113391)) "Foobar is what I use to play music. Example of quality, performant, timeless software." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186318)) "It's still a wonderful piece of software and actively supported." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45930162))
- Simple, customizable layout (4 comments): "Foobar2000 simply has the perfect layout - and it's customizable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777553)) "I prefer foobar's simple interface." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45926294)) "used to be one of the best music players and you could infinitely customize it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185591))
- Plays a wide range of formats (4 comments): "The range of formats it can play with extensions is so good I still use it, even on Linux." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48509063)) "they sound great, and foobar is the one that can play em" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514322)) "Foobar2000 works nicely with the Opus files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49932804))

## What people warn about

- Weak support outside Windows (3 comments): "still not really at parity with the Windows version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45935514)) "they say Nope, only Windows is supported for this plugin" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790414)) "I actually ended up installing Foobar2000 through Wine because of my frustration, only to find that it wouldn't start reliably." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46796218))
- Not a fit for some users (3 comments): "I just couldn't get into it – it doesn't really jive with me anymore" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48187607)) "I could never get my mind around foobar2000." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45884215)) "doesn’t meet many of my requirements" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269766))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Winamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winamp.md): 60 recommend
- [iTunes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/itunes.md): 55 recommend
- [Plexamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/plexamp.md): 31 recommend
- [Audacious music player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/audacious.md): 17 recommend
- [Symfonium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/symfonium.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "foobar2000", https://hackerapproved.com/p/foobar2000/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).