---
name: "xmms"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "xmms"
version: "1:1.2.10+20061101-1etch1"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/xmms"
---

# xmms(1)

an audio player for X.

## NAME

XMMS - an audio player for X.

## SYNOPSIS

**xmms** \[-h\] \[--help\] \[-n *\<session\>*\] \[--session=*\<session\>*\] \[-r\] \[--rew\] \[-p\] \[--play\] \[-u\] \[--pause\] \[-s\] \[--stop\] \[-t\] \[--play-pause\] \[-f\] \[--fwd\] \[-e\] \[--enqueue\] \[-S\] \[--toggle-shuffle\] \[-R\] \[--toggle-repeat\] \[-A\] \[--toggle-advance\] \[-m\] \[--show-main-window\] \[-q\] \[--quit\] \[-i *\<session id\>*\] \[--sm-client-id=*\<session id\>*\]  \[-v\] \[--version\] \[*filename*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

*XMMS* is the X Multimedia System.  It is used to play audio and other kinds of media files.  By default XMMS can play MPEG audio, Ogg Vorbis, RIFF wav, most module formats and a few other formats.  XMMS can be extended through plugins to play a number of other audio and video formats.

## OPTIONS

XMMS accepts the following options:

- **-h, --help**

  Show summary of options.

- **-n, --session**

  Select XMMS session (Default: 0).

- **-r, --rew**

  Skip backwards in playlist.

- **-p, --play**

  Start playing current playlist.

- **-u, --pause**

  Pause current song.

- **-s, --stop**

  Stop current song.

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

  Pause if playing, play otherwise.

- **-f, --fwd**

  Skip forward in playlist.

- **-e, --enqueue**

  Don't clear the playlist.

- **-Q, --queue**

  Add file(s) to playlist and queue

- **-S, --toggle-shuffle\[=*SWITCH*\]**

  Toggle the 'shuffle' flag.

  Optional argument SWITCH may be either 'on' or 'off'

- **-R, --toggle-repeat\[=*SWITCH*\]**

  Toggle the 'repeat' flag.

  Optional argument SWITCH may be either 'on' or 'off'

- **-A, --toggle-advance\[=*SWITCH*\]**

  Toggle the 'no playlist advance' flag.

  Optional argument SWITCH may be either 'on' or 'off'

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

  Show the main window.

- **-i, --sm-client-id**

  Set session manager identification.

- **-v, --version**

  Print version number and exit.

- **-q, --quit**

  Close remote session.

## SKINS

XMMS supports WinAmp style skins.  Skins may be stored in either archived (*.zip*, *.wsz*, *.tgz*, *.tar.gz*,  or *.tar.bz2*) or unarchived format.  XMMS looks for skinfiles in ${prefix}/share/xmms/Skins, ~/.xmms/Skins, and locations specified by the **SKINSDIR** variable.

## KEYBINDINGS

Global keybindings for XMMS:

z	Previous song\
 x	Play\
 c	Pause\
 v	Stop\
 b	Next song\
 l	Play file\
 j	Jump to file\
 r	Toggle Repeat\
 s	Toggle Shuffle\
 Shift + l	Play directory\
 Control + l	Play location\
 Control + p	Preferences dialog\
 Control + v	Visualization plugin dialog\
 Control + r	Time remaining\
 Control + a	Always on top\
 Control + w	Winshade mode\
 Control + d	Doublesize mode\
 Control + e	Easy move\
 Control + j	Jump to time\
 Control + z	Start of list\
 Control + n	No Playlist Advance\
 Control + 3	File info dialog\
 Control + Alt + w	Toggle Equalizer winshade mode\
 Shift + Control + w	Playlist winshade mode\
 Alt + w	Hide/show mainwindow\
 Alt + e	Hide/show playlistwindow\
 Alt + g	Hide/show Equalizer\
 Alt + s	Skin selecting window

Main window specific:

Arrow key up	Volume up 2%\
 Arrow key down	Volume down 2%\
 Arrow key right	Skip 5 seconds forward in song\
 Arrow key left	Skip 5 seconds back in song

Playlist window specific:

Arrow key up	Up one step in playlist\
 Arrow key down	Down one step in playlist\
 Delete	Remove selected songs from playlist\
 Control + Delete	Keeps the selected tracks and removes the rest\
 Q	Queue/Dequeue the tracks selected\
 Shift + Q	Clear the queue list\
 Alt + Q	Queue manager\
 Page Up	Move one page up\
 Page Down	Move one page down\
 Home	First page in playlist\
 End	Last page in playlist\
 Enter	Play selected song\
 Insert	Add file dialog\
 Shift + Insert	Add directory dialog\
 Alt + Insert	Add url dialog

Equalizer shade mode specific:

Arrow key up	Volume up 2%\
 Arrow key down	Volume down 2%\
 Arrow key right	Balance 4% to right\
 Arrow key left	Balance 4% to left

## FILES

- \~/.xmms/config

  Users xmms configuration.

- \~/.xmms/xmms.m3u

  Default playlist usually loaded on startup.

- \~/.xmms/gtkrc

  Users set of xmms-specific GTK config settings. Options such as widget color and fonts sizes can be set here.

- \~/.xmms/menurc

  Users set of keybindings.

- \~/.xmms/Skins, ${prefix}/share/xmms/Skins

  Default locations where XMMS should look for skinfiles.

- \~/.xmms/Plugins

  Location of user installed plugins.

## ENVIRONMENT

- **SKINSDIR**

  Colon separated list of paths where XMMS should look for skinfiles.

- **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*.

## OTHER INFO

The webpage for XMMS is at http://www.xmms.org.  Here you can find info about XMMS, download the latest version, plugins, and skins.

## SEE ALSO

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