---
name: "audacious"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "audacious"
version: "4.6.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/audacious"
---

# audacious(1)

an advanced audio player.

## NAME

audacious - an advanced audio player.

## SYNOPSIS

**audacious** \[*option* ...\] \[*file* ...\]

## DESCRIPTION

Audacious is a free advanced audio player for Linux and many other UNIX-compatible systems.  It focuses on low resource usage, high audio quality, and support for a wide range of audio formats.  It was originally based on Beep Media Player, which was in turn based on XMMS.

## OPTIONS

### Getting help:

- **-h, --help**

  Show a brief list of options.

### Opening files:

- **-e, --enqueue**

  Add the files on the command line to the current playlist but do not start playback.

- **-E, --enqueue-to-temp**

  Add the files on the command line to the \`\`Now Playing'' playlist and start playback.

### Controlling playback:

- **-p, --play**

  Start playback.  If paused, playback will resume from the same point.  If already active and not paused, it will restart from the beginning of the song.

- **-u, --pause**

  Pause playback, or resume if already paused.

- **-t, --play-pause**

  Equivalent to **--pause** if playback is active, otherwise **--play**.

- **-s, --stop**

  Stop playback.

- **-r, --rew**

  Skip to the previous song in the playlist.

- **-f, --fwd**

  Skip to the next song in the playlist.

### Miscellaneous:

- **-m, --show-main-window**

  Show the Audacious window if it is hidden and bring it to the top.

- **-j, --show-jump-box**

  Show the Jump to Song window.

- **-H, --headless**

  Start in command-line mode; i.e., without any graphical user interface.

- **-q, --quit-after-play**

  Exit as soon as playback stops, or immediately if there is nothing to play.

- **-v, --version**

  Print version information and exit.

- **-V, --verbose**

  Print debugging output while running (may be used twice for even more output).

## KEYBINDINGS

Control + Return	Play\
 Space, Control + ,	Pause\
 Control + .			Stop\
 Alt + Up			Previous song\
 Alt + Down			Next song\
 Right arrow			Seek forward (by default 5 seconds)\
 Left arrow			Seek backward (by default 5 seconds)\
 Escape				Scroll to current song\
 Control + a			Select all songs in playlist\
 Shift + Control + a	Cancel selection\
 Control + + (plus)	Increase volume 5 percent\
 Control + - (minus)	Decrease volume 5 percent\
 Control + s			Toggle shuffle\
 Control + r			Toggle repeat\
 Control + n			Toggle advancing in playlist\
 Control + m			Toggle stopping after current song\
 Control + e			Display Equalizer\
 Control + y			Display Search Tool\
 Control + i			Display Song Information dialog\
 Control + k			Display Jump to Time dialog\
 Control + j			Display Jump to Song dialog\
 Control + p			Display Playlist Manager dialog\
 Control + u			Display Queue Manager dialog\
 Control + o			Display Open Files dialog\
 Shift + Control + o	Display Add Files dialog\
 Control + l			Display Open URL dialog\
 Shift + Control + l	Display Add URL dialog

## FILES

- \~/.config/audacious/config, ~/.config/audacious-2/config, etc.

  Configuration file for each Audacious instance.

- \~/.config/audacious/playlists, ~/.config/audacious-2/playlists, etc.

  Folders in which playlists are stored.

- \~/.local/share/audacious/Skins, share/audacious/Skins

  Default locations where Audacious should look for skin files.

## ENVIRONMENT

- **SKINSDIR**

  Colon separated list of paths where Audacious should look for skin files.

- **TARCMD**

  Tar command supporting GNU tar style decompression.  Used for unpacking gzip and bzip2 compressed skins.  Default is *tar*.

- **UNZIPCMD**

  Command for decompressing zip files (skins).  Default is *unzip*.

## SEE ALSO

[**audtool**(1)](/audtool/1.md)

## WEBSITE

*https://audacious-media-player.org*