mpd.conf

Description

mpd.conf is the configuration file for mpd(1).

Usually, that is /etc/mpd.conf, unless a different path is specified on the command line.

If you run MPD as a user daemon (and not as a system daemon), the configuration is read from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mpd/mpd.conf (usually ~/.config/mpd/mpd.conf). On Android, mpd.conf will be loaded from the top-level directory of the data partition.

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

Example:

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/

Global Settings

System Settings

Client Settings

File Settings

Player Settings

Other Settings

Required Audio Output Settings

Optional Audio Output Settings

Files

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