Introduction
Needle is a free, open-source music player for macOS built with Tauri ↗, React + TypeScript, and Rust. Audio playback is handled by mpv ↗ through its JSON IPC, so lossless formats sound exactly the way they should — no resampling, no DSP, no streaming, no subscriptions.
What makes Needle different
Section titled “What makes Needle different”- Bit-perfect playback — audio is passed directly to mpv with no resampling or DSP applied. What’s in your files is exactly what reaches your DAC.
- Rich metadata — artist portraits, biographies, and album notes are fetched automatically via MusicBrainz, Wikidata, and Wikipedia and displayed alongside your music.
- Smart library — play history, listening patterns, and your tags drive dashboard recommendations and smart playlists with no manual curation needed.
- Mini player — a compact always-on-top window with full-bleed album art and an expandable queue for controlling playback without leaving your current app.
- Equalizer — six built-in presets plus a manual 10-band EQ, both wired through mpv.
- Accent colour & themes — choose System, Light, or Dark, and pick any accent colour. The whole interface adapts.
- No account required — Needle never phones home. Your library is stored locally in SQLite.
Supported formats
Section titled “Supported formats”| Format | Extension |
|---|---|
| FLAC | .flac |
| Apple Lossless | .alac, .m4a |
| WAV | .wav |
| AIFF | .aiff, .aif |
| MP3 | .mp3 |
| AAC | .aac, .m4a |
| OGG Vorbis | .ogg |
| Opus | .opus |
System requirements
Section titled “System requirements”- macOS 13 Ventura or later
- Apple Silicon or Intel Mac