Install xmp with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, winget, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xmp

Project history

The project homepage identifies xmp as a portable command-line module player and shows the long-running copyright line for Claudio Matsuoka and Hipolito Carraro Jr. The modern project split begins with the 4.0 line: the site says xmp was separated into libxmp, which renders modules to PCM, and a player application that uses the library.

That split gave the project two lives. The xmp CLI stayed the package-manager executable for people who want to play modules in a terminal, while libxmp became the reusable engine for players, information extractors, renderers, games, bindings, Android builds, and JavaScript/WebAssembly experiments.

Adoption history

xmp's adoption followed tracker-music preservation and portability. The homepage lists mainstream and obscure formats from Amiga, Atari, Acorn, Apple IIgs, C64, and PC families, plus compressed module formats and packers. That breadth made it useful when a listener or tool author cared about old module quirks rather than only the four best-known tracker formats.

The project also spread through related front ends and embeddings. The official related-projects list points to Xmp for Android, Python bindings, WebXmp, and Chiptune.js, while the libxmp repository packages the playback core as a library rather than only a standalone player.

How it is used

As a CLI, xmp is normally used by passing one or more module files and letting the player decode format metadata, instruments, patterns, and sample data through libxmp. It is useful for quick auditioning, batch playback, and verifying whether an old module is recognized correctly.

As an ecosystem component, libxmp is used when applications need to render modules to PCM data without shelling out to a player. That puts the package beside tools such as MikMod and OpenMPT/libopenmpt in the tracker-playback space.

Why package nerds care

xmp matters because package managers are one of the ways obscure media formats stay executable. A single brew or distro package can keep decades of tracker music playable without asking users to run an emulator or hunt for platform-specific players.

It is also a neat package split: the command-line player is small and familiar, while the hard compatibility work lives in libxmp for downstream programs.

Timeline

• 1996: The project copyright line begins for Claudio Matsuoka and Hipolito Carraro Jr.
• 2013-04-21: The GitHub xmp-cli repository is created.
• 4.0 era: The project splits into libxmp and the xmp player application.
• 2026: The homepage lists libxmp 4.7.0 and xmp 4.3.0 as current stable lines.

Related projects

• libxmp is the playback/rendering library underneath the modern xmp CLI.
• Xmp for Android uses libxmp through the Android NDK.
• WebXmp and Chiptune.js demonstrate browser-side or JavaScript/WebAssembly uses of libxmp.
• MikMod and libopenmpt are adjacent module-playback projects in the same preservation and tracker-music niche.

Sources

• https://github.com/libxmp/libxmp
• https://github.com/libxmp/xmp-cli
• https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/focal/man1/xmp.1.html
• https://xmp.sourceforge.net/