Playing MP3 files with java...

For a language as popular as Java, lack of standard ways of implementing mp3 playback is disappointing. This is understandable though, due to horde of patent and licensing issues relating to MP3 as a format. A bit of googling and I found two methods: using the Java Sound API along with the MP3 plugin and using the third party JLayer API from JavaZoom. Here I’m using JLayer as it seems to be the more popular alternative.

First we need to download the jlayer from here. Extract it and add the jl1.0.1.jar to the project. When using an IDE like eclipse adding the jar to the build path suffices otherwise jl1.0.1.jar should be added to the CLASSPATH.

JLayer provides two built in players that play mp3s using the library: javazoom.jl.player and javazoom.jl.player.advanced. I’m using the Player class.

Create an instance of the Player class while providing a FileInputStream object of the mp3 file. Then use the play() method of the class to start playback.

Below is a very basic implementation of the playback process:

import java.io.*;
import javazoom.jl.player.Player;

public class JavaPlayerTest {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		try {
			FileInputStream mp3file = new FileInputStream(args[0]);
			Player playmp3 = new Player(mp3file);
			playmp3.play();
		} catch (Exception e) {
			System.out.println(e);
		}
	}
}

Sayak Biswas

Graduate Student | Software Engineer | Music Lover

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