OPENMPT123(1)

📦
version 0.8.10 · 10 versions
, in arch rolling, fedora 44

💿 OPENMPT123(1) — like, the manual page, but make it make sense 💿

okay bestie so this is a page from the User Commands manual, and it's about a little program called openmpt123. it's giving "terminal music player that absolutely ate" and i'm obsessed. let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

openmpt123 — a command line module music player that's built on top of libopenmpt. periodt.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

openmpt123 [options] [--] file1 [file2] ...

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so first of all, the whole flex:

openmpt123 v0.8.10, libopenmpt 0.8.10+r25841 (OpenMPT 1.32.12.00 https://source.openmpt.org/svn/openmpt/tags/libopenmpt-0.8.10@25841 (2026-10-31T18:27:32.287400Z) clean) Copyright © 2013-2026 OpenMPT Project Developers and Contributors <https://lib.openmpt.org/>

and what does it do? literally what it says on the tin, bestie: openmpt123 plays module music files. that's the whole gig. iconic behavior honestly 💅

🧚 OPTIONS 🧚

okay this is the long part, grab a snack 🍓

  • -h, --help — show the help. classic.
  • --help-keyboard — shows you the keyboard hotkeys, but only in ui mode. (yes there are hotkeys. we'll get there.)
  • -q, --quiet — shhh. surpresses all the non-error screen output. only the messiest stuff gets through.
  • -v, --verbose — the opposite of that. more screen output, more to look at.
  • --version — show version info and then dip. exits immediately.
  • --short-version — just the version number, nothing else. no small talk.
  • --long-version — the full long version info, then exit.
  • --credits — the elaborate contributors list. give the people their flowers 💐
  • --license — show the license.
  • --probe — checks each file to see if it's actually a supported file format. vibe check for your files, basically.
  • --info — display info about each file.
  • --ui — interactively play each file. this is the main character mode.
  • --batch — just play each file, no interactive nonsense.
  • --render — render each file out into individual PCM data files.
  • --banner n — the openmpt123 banner style. [0=hide,1=show,2=verbose] and the default is 1.
  • --assume-terminal — skips the check for whether stdin/stderr are a terminal, and always allows the UI. default 0.
  • --terminal-width n — pretend the terminal is n characters wide. default -1.
  • --terminal-height n — pretend the terminal is n characters high. default -1.
  • --[no-]progress — show playback progress. default 1.
  • --[no-]meters — show peak meters. default 1.
  • --[no-]channel-meters — show channel peak meters. this one's EXPERIMENTAL. default 0.
  • --[no-]pattern — show the pattern. also EXPERIMENTAL. default 0.
  • --[no-]details — show song details. default 1.
  • --[no-]message — show the song message. default 0.
  • --update n — set the output update interval to n ms. default -1.
  • --samplerate n — set the samplerate to n Hz. default 48000.
  • --channels n — use n [1,2,4] output channels. default 2.
  • --[no-]float — output 32bit floating point instead of 16bit integer. default 1.
  • --gain n — set the output gain to n dB. default 0.
  • --stereo n — set stereo separation to n %. default 100.
  • --filter n — set interpolation filter taps to n [1,2,4,8]. default 8.
  • --ramping n — set volume ramping strength to n [0..5]. default -1.
  • --tempo f — set tempo factor to f. default 1.
  • --pitch f — set pitch factor to f. default 1.
  • --dither n — which dither type to use, if that even applies to the output format you picked: [0=off,1=auto,2=0.5bit,3=1bit]. default 1.
  • --playlist file — load a playlist from file.
  • --[no-]randomize — randomize the playlist. default 0.
  • --[no-]shuffle — shuffle through the playlist. default 0.
  • --[no-]restart — restart the playlist when it finishes. default 0.
  • --subsong n — select subsong n. -1 means play all subsongs consecutively. default -1.
  • --repeat n — repeat the song n times. -1 means forever (yes, forever). default 0.
  • --seek n — seek to n seconds right at the start. default 0.
  • --end-time n — play until the position hits n seconds. 0 means until the end. default 0.
  • --ctl c=v — set the libopenmpt ctl c to value v.
  • --driver n — set the output driver. default default,
  • --device n — set the output device. default default. use --device help to see the available devices 👀
  • --buffer n — set the output buffer size to n ms. default -1.
  • --period n — set the output period size to n ms. default -1.
  • --stdout — write raw audio data to stdout. default 0.
  • --output-type t — use output format t when writing to individual PCM files. this only applies to --render mode. default auto.
  • -o, --output f — write PCM output to the file f instead of streaming it to an audio device. this only applies to --ui and --batch modes. default is empty.
  • --force — force overwriting of the output file. default 0.
  • -- — interpret all further arguments as filenames.

⌨️ Keyboard hotkeys ⌨️

these only work if you're in ui mode, so: use openmpt123 --ui. then go off 🫶

  • q — quit
  • — pause / unpause
  • N — skip 10 files backward
  • n — prev file
  • m — next file
  • M — skip 10 files forward
  • h — seek 10 seconds backward
  • j — seek 1 seconds backward
  • k — seek 1 seconds forward
  • l — seek 10 seconds forward
  • u or i — +/- tempo
  • o or p — +/- pitch
  • 3 or 4 — +/- gain
  • 5 or 6 — +/- stereo separation
  • 7 or 8 — +/- filter taps
  • 9 or 0 — +/- volume ramping

Copyright © 2013-2026 OpenMPT Project Developers and Contributors <https://lib.openmpt.org/>

no note about bugs in this one bestie, the page is clean. go play some module music. 🎶

okay that's the whole thing!! and for the cute sign-off: this page is openmpt123 v0.8.10 and it's dated October 2026 — and yes, it's still living over at OPENMPT123(1) in the User Commands manual. mwah 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from