HifiMule

Play your self-hosted music library and sync it to any portable player.

HifiMule is a desktop application for Windows, macOS, and Linux that lets you play music from a self-hosted media server and sync it to a portable player — including MTP devices, DAPs, iPods running Rockbox, and USB mass-storage players.

Connect to your server to browse and play your library, or pick what you want to take with you. HifiMule computes what’s changed, downloads only the new files, and resumes where it left off if interrupted.

Supported media servers

Jellyfin — free, open source media server
Navidrome and any other Subsonic-compatible server

Supported devices

HifiMule supports players connected through Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) as well as devices that appear as USB drives, including:

Digital audio players (DAPs)
MTP phones and portable players
Garmin smartwatches
iPods running Rockbox
USB sticks and SD card readers
Generic MP3 players

Features

Browse your library — Navigate artists, albums, and collections directly from HifiMule
Desktop playback — Play tracks or complete albums with pause, resume, stop, Back, Next, and seek where supported
Queue and previews — Add, reorder, or remove upcoming tracks, and preview a track without losing your main listening session
Background listening — Keep listening after the window closes, use supported operating-system media controls, and quit explicitly when you’re finished
Selective sync — Choose exactly what goes on your device, nothing more
Delta transfers — Only files that aren’t already on your device are downloaded
Resumable — If a sync is interrupted, it picks up exactly where it left off
Scrobble bridge — Reads Rockbox playback logs and reports your listening history back to your server
Runs in the background — A system tray icon keeps HifiMule available without getting in your way

Screenshots

Connect to your media server

Jellyfin server detected on the login screen

OpenSubsonic server detected on the login screen

Browse, configure, and sync

Artist library with an empty sync basket

Genre library view with device controls

Device settings modal

Sync starting state

Play music and manage your queue

Start a track or a complete album from your library. The playback bar stays available while you browse, with transport controls, audio-output selection, and a seekable timeline when the source and format support it.

Playing an album from the library with the persistent playback bar

Preview a full track without replacing the album or queue you were already listening to, then return to your preserved session.

Previewing a track while preserving the main listening session

Open the Playing view to reorder or remove upcoming tracks.

Managing upcoming tracks in the Playing view

Installation

Download the latest installer for your platform from the Releases page:

Platform	File
Windows	`.msi` or `.exe` installer
macOS	`.dmg` image
Linux	`.AppImage` or `.deb` package

Run the installer, launch HifiMule from your applications, and follow the setup to connect your media server.

Getting started

Open HifiMule from your applications or system tray
Connect — Enter your server address and credentials
Browse — Navigate your music library
Listen — Play a track or album, add more music to the queue, or preview another track
Sync when you’re ready — Add music to the basket, plug in your portable player, and start the sync. HifiMule downloads only what’s missing and skips the rest

License

HifiMule is open source. See the repository for details.