install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install adplay

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Debian aptverified · 92%

sudo apt install adplay

Debian stable package indexes · adplay · source: deb.debian.org

overview

Package summary

Command-line player for OPL2 music

Project links

Commands and aliases

adplay

history

Project history and usage

AdPlay/UNIX is the console player frontend for AdPlug, aimed at playing OPL2/AdLib music files on Unix-like systems without requiring vintage sound hardware. In package-manager terms it is the small CLI companion to the larger AdPlug decoding library: install the library for embedding or utilities, install AdPlay when you want an `adplay` command.

Project history

The project dates itself to Simon Peter's 2001 AdPlay/UNIX codebase and has remained tied to AdPlug's library releases. Its README describes it as AdPlug's UNIX console frontend and notes that it supports the full range of AdPlug file playback features, while using emulated OPL2 output across available output devices.

AdPlay/UNIX evolved mostly by tracking AdPlug core capabilities and Unix audio backends. The NEWS file records early work such as GNU autotools conversion, a man page, FreeBSD fixes, modular output, OSS/null/disk outputs, SDL/ESD/QSA support, ALSA support, libao support, AdPlug database support, and later NukedOPL and surround-effect support.

Adoption history

The AdPlug project split AdPlay and other frontends into separate GitHub repositories when development moved from SourceForge to GitHub in 2015. The package appears in Homebrew, Debian, and Ubuntu according to the provided package-manager metadata, which matches its niche as a command-line retro-audio player rather than a general desktop music application.

Recent AdPlug site news still publishes AdPlay/UNIX releases alongside the core library. The site lists AdPlay/UNIX 1.9 in December 2025 and ties it to AdPlug 2.4, SDL2 build support, subsong fixes, and a RAW file writer.

How it is used

Typical use is direct playback from a terminal: pass one or more supported AdPlug music files to `adplay`, then use `adplay --help` or the man page for options. Because it delegates format support to AdPlug, it is useful for collections of DOS game and tracker-era AdLib formats rather than ordinary compressed audio formats.

Packagers care about its dependency relationship: AdPlay/UNIX needs AdPlug, with the README specifying AdPlug 1.4 or newer and 2.2 or newer for full feature support. That makes it a thin frontend package whose usefulness follows the breadth and correctness of the AdPlug core.

Why package nerds care

AdPlay/UNIX is a good example of the Unix package split between a reusable media library and a tiny CLI frontend. It gives retro-audio users a scriptable player while letting distributions package the decoder library separately for other applications.

Its long tail matters because OPL playback sits at the intersection of game preservation, tracker music, and emulator-adjacent tooling. A small command like `adplay` is often the easiest way to verify obscure AdLib files without launching a full emulator or media player plugin.

Timeline

2001: AdPlay/UNIX codebase copyright begins.
2010: AdPlay/UNIX 1.7 released with AdPlug 2.2.
2015: AdPlug development moved to GitHub and AdPlay became a separate repository.
2017: AdPlay/UNIX 1.8 released with AdPlug 2.3 and NukedOPL support.
2020: AdPlay/UNIX 1.8.1 released with AdPlug 2.3.2 integration.
2025: AdPlay/UNIX 1.9 released with AdPlug 2.4 integration and SDL2 build support.

Related projects

AdPlug is the decoding/playback library behind AdPlay/UNIX.
Other AdPlug frontends include player plugins and standalone ports such as the Winamp, XMMS, and DOS-facing AdPlay variants.

Sources

https://adplug.github.io/
https://github.com/adplug/adplay-unix#readme
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adplug/adplay-unix/master/NEWS
source_facts.package-manager

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
Installs with 3 runtime dependencies.
Build metadata lists 2 build dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`adplay`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08

manager version1.9

manager updated2026-06-18

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://github.com/adplug/adplay-unix

infoNo cached GitHub release or tag data was available.https://github.com/adplug/adplay-unixnone confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:adplay
Version	1.9
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/adplay
Homepage	https://adplug.github.io
Repository	https://github.com/adplug/adplay-unix
Upstream docs	https://adplug.github.io/
License	GPL-2.0-or-later
Source archive	https://github.com/adplug/adplay-unix/releases/download/v1.9/adplay-1.9.tar.bz2
Last updated	2026-06-18T02:28:54-04:00
Pulse	updated
Dependencies	adplug, libbinio, sdl2-compat
Build dependencies	libtool, pkgconf
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	adplay
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Head Version	HEAD
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	head stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Debian apt95%

adplay 1.8.1-4

console-based OPL2 audio player

https://adplug.github.io/

sudo apt install adplay

Section: sound
Architecture: amd64
7 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Adplay

Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: adplay from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Ubuntu apt95%

adplay 1.8.1-3build2

console-based OPL2 audio player

https://adplug.github.io/

sudo apt install adplay

Section: universe/sound
Architecture: amd64
7 dependencies
normalized package name match
Matched by: Adplay

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: adplay from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/adplay.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install adplay with Homebrew, apt