Frequently Asked Questions

Basic information

What audio file formats does Rhythmbox support ?

Rhythmbox uses the GStreamer media framework for actual playback and a lot of other functionality, so in general Rhythmbox plays exactly those formats that are supported by GStreamer. GStreamer, on the other hand, uses a plugin system where each format is supported by a plugin. Thus, the formats supported by GStreamer ( and Rhythmbox ) depends on which plugins you have installed. Different distributions may ship with a different set of plugins by default.

To look for plug-ins, go to http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation.

Where does Rhythmbox store its data ?

How do I add support for my Android mobile in Rhythmbox ?

Rhythmbox supports a wide variety of Android devices. However, if your mobile is not detected as an Android device, please follow the following steps:

Run the following command in terminal, and connect your Android device to USB.

$ udevadm monitor --environment --udev 

Lot of lines ( attributes ) will be printed for your Android device. Create a new issue in rhythmbox, and copy and paste the lines beginning with "ID_MODEL=" and "ID_VENDOR=" there, so we can add support for your Android mobile in rhythmbox.

E.g. For Samsung Galaxy S10,

ID_MODEL=SAMSUNG_Android
ID_VENDOR=SAMSUNG

Where can I download plugins for Rhythmbox ?

Refer Rhythmbox Third Party Plugins page for the list of plugins.

How do I install Rhythmbox plugin downloaded from ThirdParty pages ?

Extract the plugin and copy the plugin folder to one of the following locations, based on your needs:

Now restart Rhythmbox. Goto Menu -> Preferences -> Plugins. Your new plugin should be listed there.

My plugin is not loaded even after performing the above steps. What now ?

If the plugin is a Python plugin, please note that Rhythmbox only supports plugins written for python3. You cannot use python2 plugins with the latest rhythmbox. Check the ".plugin" file which comes along with your plugin, for "python3" loader:

$ cat /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/rhythmbox/rbzeitgeist/rbzeitgeist.plugin | grep "Loader"
Loader=python3

If the loader is not the issue, then try starting Rhythmbox in a terminal to check for any error / warning information related to the plugin.

How do I restore the default list of radio stations ?

Run the following command and restart Rhythmbox

$ gsettings set org.gnome.rhythmbox.plugins.iradio initial-stations-loaded false

Note, that this will restore only the default radio stations that got shipped with Rhythmbox.

Where does Rhythmbox fetches artwork from ?

Rhythmbox uses last.fm to look up artwork.

If you have local image files, saved in the same directory as the audio file(s) with the filename "cover", "album", "albumart", ".folder", "folder" or "$artist - $album" Rhythmbox will use them instead of looking up a cover on last.fm. It will also use images extracted from file tags.

How do I set the music dir in an external device ?

Create a .is_audio_player file on the device. You can set a few fields in this file to override the media-player-info device information like this:

audio_folders=MUSIC/,RECORDINGS/
folder_depth=2
output_formats=application/ogg,audio/x-ms-wma,audio/mpeg

But if the media-player-info information for your device is wrong, you should file a bug, either with your distribution or in http://bugs.freedesktop.org/, to get it fixed.

After importing my MP3 files, why do my tags look all wrong ?

This usually happens, when your files are using a wrong charset. A lot of applications (especially older ones) created those broken ID3v1 tags. Unfortunately it is not possible to automatically detect this. But with a bit of work it can be fixed by re-tagging those files. You'll need Easytag for this.

This works in Easytag 1.99:

• from the menu, open Settings => Preferences

• navigate to the ID3 Tag Settings page
• make sure the "Write ID3V2 Tag" option is enabled
• set the "Character set for ID3 tags" to "Always save tags to UNICODE character set"
• below in the experts frame set "Use nonstandard character set when reading ID3 tags" to the charset the files are tagged in.
• save the preferences
• select all files that have wrong tags in the Easytag browser.

• from the menu, select File => Force Saving files.

Now the files should be fixed. When restarting Rhythmbox, it should re-scan those files correctly. If it doesn't do this, delete them from the library and import them again.

Can I use MIDI files with Rhythmbox ?

The Wildmidi plugin works fine with rhythmbox.

Development information

Where do I find Rhythmbox source ?

Please refer Contributing To Rhythmbox

How do I build Rhythmbox from source ?

Please refer Contributing To Rhythmbox

How do I contribute patches / translation / documentation to Rhythmbox ?

Please refer Contributing To Rhythmbox

How do I debug the metadata related bugs ?

Please refer Contributing To Rhythmbox