foobar2000

foobar2000

Sample interface of one of 1.3.9's layouts
Developer(s)	Piotr Pawłowski
Initial release	December 20, 2002[1]
Stable release	1.3.10 (March 25, 2016[2]) [±]
Preview release	1.3.10 beta 2 (March 17, 2016[3]) [±]
Operating system	Windows XP SP2 and later[4]
Size	3.6 MiB
Type	Audio player
License	Core: Freeware SDK: BSD (3 clause)
Website	www.foobar2000.org

foobar2000 is a freeware audio player for Microsoft Windows developed by Piotr Pawlowski, a former freelance contractor for Nullsoft. It is known for its highly modular design, breadth of features, and extensive user flexibility in configuration. For example, the user-interface is completely customizable.^[5] Its extensive SDK (Software development kit) allows third-party developers enough power to completely replace the interface. foobar2000 supports a large number of audio file formats, has many features for organising metadata, files, and folders, and has a converter interface for use with command line encoders. To maximize audio fidelity in cases where resampling or downscaling in bit depth is required, it provides noise shaping and dithering. There are a number of official and third-party components which add many additional features. The core is closed source, whereas the SDK is licensed under the Three-Clause BSD license.

Since version 0.9.5, foobar2000 supports Windows XP SP2/SP3 and later releases only. This version features a revamped default interface, with embedded support for album list, album art,^[6] spectrum visualization, and some other features and improvements.

The name foobar is derived from a common placeholder name used in computer programming.

In September 2011,^[7] the developer of foobar2000 spun off its codebase to create a simplified audio player called "Boom".^[8]

Features

Core

• Several audio formats supported natively: MP1, MP2, MP3, MPC, AAC, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC, ALAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, AU, SND, CD, Speex, and Opus
• Customizable user interface layout
• Advanced tagging capabilities
• Support for ripping Audio CDs as well as transcoding of all supported audio formats using the Converter component
• ReplayGain support—both playback and calculation^[9][10]
• Gapless playback support^[11]
• Support for DSP effects such as equalization and crossfade
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts
• Media Library with automated folder watching^[12]
• Built-in Windows Media streaming^[13]
• Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player^[14]
• Ability to read within ZIP, GZIP, and RAR archives

Optional

• Additional audio format support: APE, HDCD, AC3, DTS, SACD, or DVD-Audio
• Playback statistics
• Kernel streaming support
• ASIO support (recommended player for Windows 7 by Cambridge Audio)^[15]
• WASAPI output support
• Integration with Apple iPod, including album art support and automatic transcoding of audio formats not supported by iPod
• CD burning support
• Ability to read within 7z archives
• UPnP media server
• Last.fm scrobbling and virtual radio stream playback
• SACD decoder which allows SACD discs to be read on a PC^[16]
• ABX testing (recommended for this purpose by Time magazine)^[17]

Limitations

• foobar2000 does not support Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) portable devices.^[5]
• Its highly extensible user interface is plain and utilitarian "out of the box", and lacks a built-in help feature.^[6]

See also

• Comparison of audio player software

References

1. "Official foobar2000 site & foobar2000 0.3 & SDK!". Hydrogenaudio. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
2. "foobar2000: News". 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
3. "foobar2000: News". 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
4. "Download foobar2000 and optional components". Foobar2000.org. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
5. "foobar2000 v0.9.6.9 Review". Retrieved 29 June 2012.
6. "Foobar2000 CNET Editors' review". Retrieved 29 June 2012.
7. "Foobar2000's News page : 2011-09-20". Retrieved 2012-09-10.
8. "Peter Pawlowski's home page : Software : Boom". Retrieved 2011-10-03.
9. "Hydrogenaudio wiki: ReplayGain". Retrieved 2012-06-25.
10. "foobar2000: 4.3 Replaygain". Retrieved 2012-06-25.
11. "Hydrogenaudio wiki: Gapless playback". Retrieved 2012-06-25.
12. "foobar2000 0.9.6 release notes". Retrieved 2009-06-09.
13. "foobar2000 1.0 release notes". Retrieved 2010-09-04.
14. "foobar2000". Retrieved 2008-10-31.
15. "Windows 7 ASIO USB audio set-up guide" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-06-25.
16. http://sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/
17. "Can You Hear the Difference Between Lossless and Lossy Audio?". Time. 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2012-03-23.

External links

• Official website
• foobar2000 FAQ
• Forums – Discussion and support
• Components – Repository of all first-party and some third-party components
• foobar2000 changelog page
• foobar2000 knowledge base at Hydrogenaudio
• #foobar2000 ^connect on freenode – Discussion and support
• How-To Guide – Details on how to use customizations and other features