Installation

This page explains how to install Listen on Windows, Fedora and other Linux distributions, and how to try it without a server. Download all packages from the project’s Releases page on GitHub (the latest release is the one marked “Latest”).

Windows 10 and 11

1. Download Listen-Setup-<version>.exe and run it.
2. Windows SmartScreen may say the app is unrecognised, because the installer is not code-signed yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.
3. Follow the installer. You can tick an option to create a desktop icon, and the last page offers to start Listen.

The installer installs for your user only, into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Listen, and needs no administrator rights. A Start menu entry is always created.

Note: Some antivirus programs find it unusual that Listen can read a browser’s YouTube sign-in. Listen reads only the cookies of youtube.com and music.youtube.com, only when you choose a browser for YouTube Music, and sends them nowhere but YouTube. See YouTube Music.

Helper programs

Listen plays through three separate open-source programs:

The last step of the first-start wizard installs them for you with winget, Windows’ package manager. Listen opens a console window of its own that runs winget install for the programs that are missing. mpv asks for administrator rights once. When winget is done, press Check again; Listen uses the programs after a restart.

If you skipped the wizard or something is still missing, Listen shows a Helper programs dialog when it starts, with Install with winget, Check again and Later. You can also install the programs yourself:

winget install shinchiro.mpv yt-dlp.yt-dlp DenoLand.Deno

To update them, for example when YouTube Music songs stop playing, open Settings → Advanced → Updates → Helper programs and press Update. Show opens the dialog with the current state of each program.

Tip: If winget is missing, the console window points you to “App Installer” in the Microsoft Store.

Fedora

Install the RPM with dnf:

sudo dnf install ./listen-<version>-1.fc44.x86_64.rpm

Pick the file that matches your Fedora release (the fc44 part). The RPM pulls in mpv, PipeWire’s pw-record (for the visualizer) and the graphics libraries Listen needs. It recommends yt-dlp and Node.js for YouTube Music, plus a few optional packages (for example udisks2 for CD ripping and cifs-utils). If your setup skips recommended packages, install yt-dlp and nodejs (or Deno) yourself if you use YouTube Music.

The RPM installs the program under /usr, adds the menu entry and icon, and lets the built-in updater update it later (see Updates).

Other Linux distributions

Download listen-<version>-x86_64.tar.gz, unpack it and copy three files into your home folder:

tar xzf listen-<version>-x86_64.tar.gz
install -Dm755 listen-<version>-x86_64/listen ~/.local/bin/listen
install -Dm644 listen-<version>-x86_64/io.github.leks2205.Listen.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/io.github.leks2205.Listen.desktop
install -Dm644 listen-<version>-x86_64/io.github.leks2205.Listen.svg ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/io.github.leks2205.Listen.svg

Make sure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH. The archive also contains the licence files and the README.

Install these runtime dependencies with your package manager:

yt-dlp needs a JavaScript runtime to talk to YouTube. Listen finds Deno or Node in the usual places, including ~/.nvm and ~/.local/bin, even though desktop applications do not get your shell’s PATH.

A tarball install in ~/.local/bin can be updated by the built-in updater, which replaces the file in place (see Updates).

Try it without a server

To look around first, start Listen in demo mode:

listen --demo

Demo mode uses a small built-in library with placeholder artwork, so no server or account is needed. It does not save settings or credentials, and it does not check for updates. See Command line for the other options.

Building from source

If you prefer to build Listen yourself, see Building from source.