MPD.CONF(5)

NAME
mpd.conf - mpd.conf documentation

DESCRIPTION

mpd.conf is the configuration file for mpd(1). If not specified on the command line, MPD first searches for it at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mpd/mpd.conf then at ~/.mpdconf then at ~/.mpd/mpd.conf and then in /etc/mpd.conf.

Each line in the configuration file contains a setting name and its value, e.g.:

connection_timeout "5"

Lines starting with # are treated as comments and ignored.

For settings that specify a file system path, the tilde ('~') is expanded to $HOME. In addition, the following path expansions are supported:

    •   $HOME

    •   $XDG_CONFIG_HOME

    •   $XDG_MUSIC_DIR

    •   $XDG_CACHE_HOME

    •   $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

music_directory "~/Music"

db_file "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mpd/database"

Some of the settings are grouped in blocks with curly braces, e.g. per-plugin settings:

            audio_output {
                type "alsa"
                name "My ALSA output"
                device "iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0"
                mixer_control "PCM"
            }

The include directive can be used to include settings from another file; the given file name is relative to the current file:

include "other.conf"

You can use include_optional instead if you want the included file to be optional; the directive will be ignored if the file does not exist:

include_optional "may_not_exist.conf"

See docs/mpdconf.example in the source tarball for an example configuration file.

This manual is not complete, it lists only the most important options. Please read the MPD user manual for a complete configuration guide: http://www.musicpd.org/doc/user/

OPTIONAL PARAMETERS

    db_file <file>
        This specifies where the db file will be stored.

    log_file <file>
        This specifies where the log file should be located. The special value "syslog" makes MPD use the local syslog daemon.

    sticker_file <file>
        The location of the sticker database. This is a database which manages dynamic information attached to songs.

    pid_file <file>
        This specifies the file to save mpd's process ID in.

    music_directory <directory>
        This specifies the directory where music is located. If you do not configure this, you can only play streams.

    playlist_directory <directory>
        This specifies the directory where saved playlists are stored. If you do not configure this, you cannot save playlists.

    state_file <file>
        This specifies if a state file is used and where it is located. The state of mpd will be saved to this file when mpd is terminated by a TERM signal or by the kill command. When mpd is restarted, it will read the state file and restore the state of mpd (including the playlist).

    restore_paused <yes or no>
        Put MPD into pause mode instead of starting playback after startup.

    user <username>
        This specifies the user that MPD will run as, if set. MPD should never run as root, and you may use this option to make MPD change its user id after initialization. Do not use this option if you start MPD as an unprivileged user.

    port <port>
        This specifies the port that mpd listens on. The default is 6600.

    log_level <level>
        Suppress all messages below the given threshold. The following log levels are available:

        •   error: errors

        •   warning: warnings

        •   notice: interesting informational messages

        •   info: unimportant informational messages

        •   verbose: debug messages (for developers and for troubleshooting)

    The default is notice.

    follow_outside_symlinks <yes or no>
        Control if MPD will follow symbolic links pointing outside the music dir. You must recreate the database after changing this option. The default is "yes".

    follow_inside_symlinks <yes or no>
        Control if MPD will follow symbolic links pointing inside the music dir, potentially adding duplicates to the database. You must recreate the database after changing this option. The default is "yes".

    zeroconf_enabled <yes or no>
        If yes, and MPD has been compiled with support for Avahi or Bonjour, service information will be published with Zeroconf. The default is yes.

    zeroconf_name <name>
        If Zeroconf is enabled, this is the service name to publish. This name should be unique to your local network, but name collisions will be properly dealt with. The default is "Music Player @ %h", where %h will be replaced with the hostname of the machine running MPD.

    audio_output
        See DESCRIPTION and the various AUDIO OUTPUT PARAMETERS sections for the format of this parameter. Multiple audio_output sections may be specified. If no audio_output section is specified, then MPD will scan for a usable audio output.

    filesystem_charset <charset>
        This specifies the character set used for the filesystem. A list of supported character sets can be obtained by running "iconv -l". The default is determined from the locale when the db was originally created.

    save_absolute_paths_in_playlists <yes or no>
        This specifies whether relative or absolute paths for song filenames are used when saving playlists. The default is "no".

    auto_update <yes or no>
        This specifies the whether to support automatic update of music database when files are changed in music_directory. The default is to disable autoupdate of database.

    auto_update_depth <N>
        Limit the depth of the directories being watched, 0 means only watch the music directory itself. There is no limit by default.

REQUIRED AUDIO OUTPUT PARAMETERS

    type <type>
        This specifies the audio output type. See the list of supported outputs in mpd --version for possible values.

    name <name>
        This specifies a unique name for the audio output.

OPTIONAL AUDIO OUTPUT PARAMETERS

    format <sample_rate:bits:channels>
        This specifies the sample rate, bits per sample, and number of channels of audio that is sent to the audio output device. See documentation for the audio_output_format parameter for more details. The default is to use whatever audio format is passed to the audio output. Any of the three attributes may be an asterisk to specify that this attribute should not be enforced

    replay_gain_handler <software, mixer or none>
        Specifies how replay gain is applied. The default is "software", which uses an internal software volume control. "mixer" uses the configured (hardware) mixer control. "none" disables replay gain on this audio output.

    mixer_type <hardware, software or none>
        Specifies which mixer should be used for this audio output: the hardware mixer (available for ALSA, OSS and PulseAudio), the software mixer or no mixer ("none"). By default, the hardware mixer is used for devices which support it, and none for the others.

FILES

    $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mpd/mpd.conf
        User configuration file (usually ~/.config/mpd/mpd.conf).

    /etc/mpd.conf
        Global configuration file.

SEE ALSO

mpd(1), mpc(1)

AUTHOR
Max Kellermann

COPYRIGHT
2003-2025 The Music Player Daemon Project