Phiola

Phiola is a fast audio player, recorder, and converter for Windows, Linux, and Android. It is portable, includes all codecs, and offers multiple interfaces (CLI, TUI, GUI, SDK). Its instant startup and low resource consumption allow its use in scripts and preserve device battery life.

★★★★★

5.0(1 ratings)

• Multi-format Audio Playback. Supports formats such as MP3, OGG (Vorbis/Opus), MP4/MOV (AAC/ALAC/MPEG), MKV/WEBM (AAC/ALAC/MPEG/Vorbis/Opus/PCM), FLAC, APE, WAV and WavPack. Playback is managed with low CPU and memory usage, dedicating most of the time to the codec algorithms.
• Audio Recording. Records audio in formats like M4A (AAC), AAC (AAC-LC), OGG (Vorbis), Opus, FLAC and WAV. Supports recording from a microphone, capturing system audio output (loopback on Windows WASAPI and Linux PulseAudio) and from internet radio streams, with options to split files by time and apply filters like Dynamic Audio Normalizer.
• Audio Conversion. Converts files between the supported formats. Allows adjusting parameters such as bitrate, sampling frequency, applying gain and normalization. Supports precise copying of audio segments without re-encoding and extracting tracks from CUE files.
• Command Line Interface (CLI). Offers a complete set of commands for operations like playing, recording, converting, displaying file information and editing meta tags. Designed for automation and integration into scripts with a "run and exit" model.
• Terminal User Interface (TUI). Provides an interactive runtime interface within the terminal or console. Allows controlling playback, recording and other functions via keyboard shortcuts, with a very fast startup time.
• Graphical User Interface (GUI). Available for Windows, Linux and Android. Allows managing playlists via drag and drop. Configuration can be fully portable, stored in the same directory as the application.
• SDK and API for Developers. Exposes a C API with plugin support, allowing all Phiola functionalities to be integrated into your own C/C++/Java applications. The core is loaded as a dynamic module.
• Complete Portability. All necessary codecs are included. The application can run directly from a read-only flash drive without requiring installation or system dependencies.
• Low Resource Consumption. Minimizes CPU, memory, and disk I/O usage. The startup time until playback begins is ~25ms in TUI and ~50ms in GUI under Linux/PulseAudio, ideal for use in scripts.
• Metadata and Tag Management. Allows listing, searching, and editing meta tags in formats like MP3, OGG/Opus and FLAC. Supports writing ReplayGain tags and automatically renaming files based on patterns with metadata.
• Diverse Inputs and List Management. Accepts files, directories, HTTP/HTTPS/ICY/HLS URLs, standard input (stdin) and playlists (.m3u, .pls, .cue). Includes commands to create, sort, and correct paths in playlist files.
• Audio Streaming Server. Can act as an HTTP server that streams audio in formats like AAC and Opus, allowing music sharing on the local network.
• Remote Control and Background Execution. A running process can receive commands (such as stopping a recording) from another process or Phiola instance, facilitating task automation.
• Audio Device Listing and Selection. Command to list all available playback and capture audio devices on the system, allowing you to specify which one to use.

Phiola's development began around 2018 and is active. The main author is a developer known as "stsaz". The program is written primarily in the C language, with Android-specific parts in Java. It is published as an open-source project under a free license, focused on efficiency, portability and providing a solid technical foundation for audio manipulation.

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