Quod Libet
Shares rank 23 of 30 music players by recommenders
Recommended as a cross-platform music library manager with good metadata handling and plugins. Caveat: its interface is odd and some find it laggy.
8 people recommended Quod Libet in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 9 comments.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- mixed feelings
- 1
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 3 of 12 months
In 5 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 5 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 38% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 8 of the 10 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good local music library management
“I got into Quod Libet as a primary music library manager”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What are tools you have made for yourself since the advent of AI” “For local music it's my preferred client as well.”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “The state of Linux music players in 2026” Strong metadata handling and search
“which has many of the important niceties, and also is good at metainfo handling”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “The long wait is over, Ganymede has arrived” “the ability to use custom genres from the metadata as search windows”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “The state of Linux music players in 2026”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Odd, somewhat functional interface
“while somewhat functional fits in the designed by aliens part”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “The state of Linux music players in 2026”
Other music players people recommend
The four most recommended other music players, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | 139 | 31 | 79 | 64% | 12 | — | — |
| mpv media player | 68 | 11 | 11 | 86% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Infuse video player | 61 | 14 | 9 | 87% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Winamp | 53 | 6 | 6 | 90% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Quod LibetThis page | 8 | 1 | 1 | 89% | 3 | — | — |
Also compared with Kodi, foobar2000, iTunes and Plexamp.
What people said
8 of the 10 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I found it lacking and iirc sometimes laggy (it is written in Python!”
“that's a good recommendation!”
“I got into Quod Libet as a primary music library manager”
“For local music it's my preferred client as well.”
“the ability to use custom genres from the metadata as search windows”
“while somewhat functional fits in the designed by aliens part”
“Cross platform and its plugin system should be enough reason on its own”
“which has many of the important niceties, and also is good at metainfo handling”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 3 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.