Jieyi’s guide to selecting the best Android music player app, based on your files, car use, and other needs.
There are a ton of music player apps for Android. Some play songs you’ve downloaded from the internet, some stream songs from subscription catalogs, and others just let you browse audio that you’ve saved to your phone or SD card. I’ll talk about how to choose between those options in this article.
I’m assuming that you want to play audio that you’ve already stored on your phone or an SD card. That is, you don’t want to download new songs from the internet, nor do you want to subscribe to a catalog like Spotify or Apple Music. If you’re looking for a music downloader or streaming app instead, you should read my previous article on that topic.
Types of local music players
The first thing to know is that there are two basic kinds of local-file music players:
A “scanner” scans your storage to find all the songs it can find and plays them back automatically.
A “browsable” player lets you manually navigate through folders, playlists, and so on to select what to play.
Some apps will try to offer both, but they tend to be bad at either one. The scanner apps tend to have poor UIs and limited control over playback (like no queueing), while browsable apps often lack good metadata support and fail to handle many common file types.
Supported music file formats
So the first step is to determine which format your own collection uses. Most people will probably be using MP3s, which is fine, but there are also a bunch of other formats out there, including lossless ones like FLAC, compressed ones like AAC, and weird special-purpose ones like DSF or APE. You might not care much about the distinction, but different apps support different combinations of these formats. So if you want to avoid having to convert your files, you need to make sure that your chosen player supports the same file types as your collection.
Let’s go over the major file types:
MP3 — This is by far the most popular format. It’s widely supported, and just about every mainstream Android music player supports it. It’s a lossy format, meaning that it sacrifices quality for smaller file size.
FLAC — This is a lossless format, meaning that it doesn’t sacrifice any quality. But because it has higher fidelity, it takes up more space than MP3. FLAC is becoming increasingly popular among audiophiles, and is widely supported.
WAV — This is another lossless format, though less popular than FLAC. WAV is generally considered to have better sound quality than FLAC, but it’s very large. WAV is widely supported.
AAC — This is a lossy format similar to MP3. AAC is used by iTunes, Apple Music, and some online music services. It tends to be slightly better sounding than MP3 at the same bit rate. AAC is widely supported.
M4A — This is a container format for audio files, commonly used for Apple Music. M4A usually contains AAC-encoded audio. M4A is widely supported.
OGG/Opus — These are open-source lossy formats. They tend to be smaller than MP3 at the same bit rate, but Opus is generally considered to have better sound quality than OGG. Both are widely supported.
ALAC — This is a lossless format developed by Apple. ALAC is commonly used with Apple Music. ALAC is widely supported.
APE — This is a lossless format used by Monkey’s Audio. APE is somewhat popular among audiophiles, but less so than FLAC. APE is widely supported.
WMA — This is a lossy format developed by Microsoft. WMA is used by Windows Media Player. WMA is less popular than MP3 or AAC, but still widely supported.
DSF — This is a lossless format for DSD audio, short for DSD Stream File. DSF is somewhat popular among audiophiles, but less so than FLAC. DSF is less widely supported than FLAC.
MIDI — This is a format for storing musical notes, rather than actual audio. MIDI files are small, but they require a synthesizer to play back. MIDI is somewhat popular among musicians, but less so than MP3 or AAC.
Recommended music player apps
Once you know which file types you’re using, you can start shortlisting the possible apps. There are a lot of apps out there, but only a few are worth considering.
Musicolet is my favorite free app for playing audio files. It’s ad-free, doesn’t require internet access, and doesn’t share or collect any data. It also has lots of features that most users will appreciate, such as support for multiple queues, folder browsing, tag editing, lyrics, and Android Auto. Musicolet is available on Google Play.
Oto Music is another great option for readers who prioritize a polished Material-style interface and everyday feature set. The free ad-free player is excellent, and while the paid Oto Music+ version offers a few extra features, I think the free version is more than enough for most people. However, it does have a caveat that its library is quite large, so it may not be suitable for everyone.
Poweramp is the paid power-user option for deep audio customization and controls. While Poweramp isn’t perfect, I think it’s well worth the price if you’re into advanced audio features. The trial period and purchase price are justified instead of simply treating it as the default winner.
InShot Inc. Music Player & MP3 Player and Leopard V7 Music Player are two of the most popular ad-supported free players. InShot Inc. Music Player & MP3 Player has a 4.8 rating with 4.42M reviews, while Leopard V7 Music Player has a 4.7 rating with 100M+ downloads. Both apps contain ads, but the amount of ad friction varies depending on the app.
Android Auto support
If you’re going to use your phone in the car, you should require confirmed Android Auto support. Many apps claim to support Android Auto, but not all of them actually work well with it. For example, Pi Music Player lacks Android Auto support, and Leopard V7 has reported problems with car-control.
As your collection grows, you’ll want to take advantage of some of the more advanced library-management features. Folder browsing is essential, as is support for artist/album/playlist views. Multiple queues are useful for managing your playlist, and flexible sorting helps you organize your music. Tag editing is important for keeping your music collection consistent, and album-art editing helps you keep your music collection visually appealing. Search is also a must-have, as is backup/restore. Resume behavior is important for making sure that your music plays back where it left off. Large libraries can cause stability issues, so it’s important to choose an app that’s stable even when dealing with large amounts of music.
Privacy and permissions
Privacy and permissions are important considerations when choosing a music player app. You should inspect whether the app requires internet access, whether it displays ads, whether it allows in-app purchases, and what the app says about data safety. Musicolet and Oto Music don’t require internet access and don’t display ads, while InShot Inc. Music Player & MP3 Player and Leopard V7 Music Player both display ads. Musicolet, Oto Music, and InShot Inc. Music Player & MP3 Player allow in-app purchases, while the Leopard V7 listing does not, but only InShot Inc. Music Player & MP3 Player’s data-safety listing says location may be shared with third parties; Leopard V7 Music Player declares no data shared. Musicolet and Oto Music both declare that they don’t collect any data.
When comparing free versus paid tradeoffs, you should consider what you value most. If you’re looking for a simple, ad-free player, then Musicolet is a great choice. If you prefer a more polished interface, then Oto Music is a good choice. If you’re willing to pay for additional features, then Poweramp is a great choice. If you want to minimize the number of ads you see, then you should consider using an ad-supported free player. If you want to ensure that your music collection is private, then you should look for an app that doesn’t share your data with third parties. Finally, if you want to customize your equalizer or interface, then you should look for an app that offers those features.