Version 3.0.0

New functionalities:

stop sounds by calling sound.stop()

check if sound is still playing with sound.is_alive()

playsound3

Cross platform library to play sound files in Python.

Installation

Install via pip:

pip install playsound3

Quick Start

After installation, playing sounds is simple:

from playsound3 import playsound

# Play sounds from disk
playsound("/path/to/sound/file.mp3")

# or play sounds from the internet.
playsound("http://url/to/sound/file.mp3")

# You can play sounds in the background
sound = playsound("/path/to/sound/file.mp3", block=False)

# and check if they are still playing
if sound.is_alive():
    print("Sound is still playing!")

# and stop them whenever you like.
sound.stop()

Reference

playsound

def playsound(
    sound: str | Path,
    block: bool = True,
    backend: str | None = None,
) -> Sound

sound (required)
The audio file you want to play (local or URL).

block (optional, default=True)
Determines whether the sound plays synchronously (blocking) or asynchronously (background).

backend (optional, default=None)
Specify which audio backend to use. If None, the best backend is determined automatically.

To see a list of backends supported by your system:

from playsound3 import AVAILABLE_BACKENDS, DEFAULT_BACKEND

print(AVAILABLE_BACKENDS)  # for example: ["gstreamer", "ffmpeg", ...]
print(DEFAULT_BACKEND)  # for example: "gstreamer"

Sound

playsound returns a Sound object for playback control:

Method	Description
`.is_alive()`	Checks if the sound is currently playing.
`.wait()`	Blocks execution until playback finishes.
`.stop()`	Immediately stops playback.

Supported systems

Linux
- GStreamer
- ALSA (aplay and mpg123)
Windows
- WMPlayer
- winmm.dll
macOS
- AppKit
- afplay
Multiplatform
- FFmpeg

Supported audio formats

The bare minimum supported by every backend are .mp3 and .wav files. Using them will keep your program compatible across different systems. To see an exhaustive list of extensions supported by a backend, refer to their respective documentation.

Fork information

This repository was originally forked from playsound library created by Taylor Marks. The original library is not maintained anymore and doesn't accept pull requests. This library is a major rewrite of its original.

Feel free to create an issue or contribute to playsound3!

Metadata

Release files for playsound3 3.3.2

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for playsound3 3.3.2
File	Size	Uploaded
playsound3-3.3.2.tar.gz	608.8 kB	Jul 18, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for playsound3 3.3.2
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
playsound3-3.3.2-py3-none-any.whl 9.8 kB Jul 18, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 618.6 kB

Release files / playsound3-3.3.2.tar.gz

Download URL	playsound3-3.3.2.tar.gz
Size	608.8 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`a19d9f542beb3ce5ecb4ca780b47092c785725263e339bed8e7d340b322c4f9d`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`f8dacad7906fffd15c13db1ee02054e0d59d86711e366947f05bc9a2e9da0e8a`
Upload date	Jul 18, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.13.14`

Release files / playsound3-3.3.2-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	playsound3-3.3.2-py3-none-any.whl
Size	9.8 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`fde2ca4378ae7a34d125a5965799fb1eee2af9907dbec29d394e29d28ee4137b`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`8b3993f689120673873a1328fbf94b6906a16b5ada41f33af0699f2eddc73cff`
Upload date	Jul 18, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.13.14`