QBZ
QBZ is a free and open source high-fidelity streaming client for Linux with native playback. It is a real desktop application — not a web wrapper — with DAC passthrough, per-track sample rate switching, exclusive mode, and bit-perfect audio delivery.
No API keys needed. No telemetry. No tracking. Just music.
Legal / Branding
- This application uses the Qobuz API but is not certified by Qobuz.
- Qobuz is a trademark of Qobuz. QBZ is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or certified by Qobuz.
- Offline cache is a temporary playback store for listening without an internet connection while you have a valid subscription. If your subscription becomes invalid, QBZ will remove all cached content after 3 days.
- Local library is a "bring your own music" feature — play your own files with bit-perfect audio and the full QBZ interface, no streaming subscription required.
- Qobuz Terms of Service: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/legal/terms
Why QBZ
Browsers cap audio output at 48 kHz and resample everything through WebAudio. QBZ uses a native playback pipeline with direct device control so your DAC receives the original resolution — up to 24-bit / 192 kHz — with no forced resampling.
Installation
Arch Linux (AUR)
yay -S qbz-bin # or paru -S qbz-bin
Flatpak (Flathub)
flatpak install flathub com.blitzfc.qbz
Audiophiles: Flatpak sandboxing limits PipeWire bit-perfect. Use ALSA Direct backend for guaranteed bit-perfect in Flatpak, or install via native packages for full PipeWire support.
Snap
sudo snap install qbz-player
sudo snap connect qbz-player:alsa
sudo snap connect qbz-player:pipewire
APT Repository (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint)
curl -fsSL https://vicrodh.github.io/qbz-apt/qbz-archive-keyring.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/qbz-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/qbz-archive-keyring.gpg arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)] https://vicrodh.github.io/qbz-apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qbz.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install qbz
Requires glibc 2.38+ (Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 13+). For older releases use Flatpak, Snap, or AppImage.
RPM (Fedora/openSUSE)
Download from Releases: sudo dnf install ./qbz-*.rpm
Requires glibc 2.38+ (Fedora 39+, openSUSE Tumbleweed).
AppImage
Download from Releases: chmod +x QBZ.AppImage && ./QBZ.AppImage
Features
Audio and Playback
- Bit-perfect playback with DAC passthrough and per-track sample rate switching (44.1–192 kHz)
- Four audio backends: PipeWire, ALSA, ALSA Direct (hw: bypass), PulseAudio
- HiFi Wizard — guided bit-perfect configuration with real DAC capability detection
- Native decoding: FLAC, MP3, AAC, ALAC, WavPack, Ogg Vorbis, Opus (Symphonia)
- Gapless playback on all backends
- Loudness normalization (EBU R128) with ReplayGain support
- Two-level audio cache with next-track prefetching
- Streaming playback — start listening before download completes
Queue and Library
- Queue with shuffle, repeat (track/queue/off), and history
- Favorites and playlists from your Qobuz account
- Qobuz playlist follow/unfollow — subscribe natively, syncs across all Qobuz clients
- Local library — directory scanning, metadata extraction, CUE sheets, SQLite indexing
- Tag editor with sidecar storage (preserves original files)
- Virtualized lists for large libraries
Qobuz Connect
Multi-device playback control using Qobuz's real-time streaming protocol.
- Renderer mode — receive playback commands from your phone, tablet, or web player
- Controller mode — control remote devices from QBZ
- Server-authoritative queue sync across all devices
- Bidirectional transport: play, pause, skip, seek, shuffle, repeat, volume
Casting
- Chromecast, DLNA/UPnP, and AirPlay discovery and streaming
- Seamless playback handoff to network devices
Integrations
- MPRIS media controls and media keys
- Last.fm scrobbling and now-playing
- ListenBrainz scrobbling with offline queue
- MusicBrainz artist enrichment, musician credits, relationships (no telemetry — one-way pull)
- Discogs artwork for local library
- Playlist import from Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer
- Desktop notifications with artwork
Immersive Player
- Full-screen player with tabbed panel system
- 17+ visualization panels: spectrum, oscilloscope, spectrogram, Linebed (3D terrain), Laser, Tunnel, Comet, coverflow, and more
- Synchronized lyrics with line-by-line display
- Queue, track info, history, and suggestions panels
Discovery
- Scene Discovery — explore artists by location and musical scene (MusicBrainz-powered)
- 3-tab Home: customizable Home, Editor's Picks, personalized For You
- Genre filtering, artist similarity engine, radio stations
- Musician pages, label pages, album credits
Interface
- 26+ themes (Dark, OLED, Nord, Dracula, Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Breeze, Adwaita...)
- Auto-theme from DE, wallpaper, or custom image
- Focus mode, mini player, PDF booklet viewer
- Configurable keyboard shortcuts, UI zoom 80–200%
- 5 languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese
- Offline mode with automatic reconnection
Tech Stack
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Desktop shell | Rust + Tauri 2.0 |
| Frontend | SvelteKit + Svelte 5 (runes) + TypeScript + Vite |
| Audio decoding | Symphonia (all codecs) via rodio 0.22 |
| Audio backends | PipeWire, ALSA (alsa-rs), ALSA Direct (hw:), PulseAudio |
| Networking | reqwest (rustls-tls), axum (local API server) |
| Database | rusqlite (bundled SQLite, WAL mode) |
| MuPDF 0.6 (native rendering) | |
| Desktop | souvlaki (MPRIS), ashpd (XDG notifications), keyring |
| Casting | rust_cast (Chromecast), rupnp (DLNA/UPnP), mdns-sd (AirPlay) |
| i18n | svelte-i18n (5 locales) |
Multi-Crate Architecture
crates/
qbz-models/ Shared domain types
qbz-audio/ Audio backends, loudness, device management
qbz-player/ Playback engine, streaming, queue
qbz-qobuz/ Qobuz API client and auth
qbz-core/ Orchestrator (player + audio + API)
qbz-library/ Local library scanning and metadata
qbz-integrations/ Last.fm, ListenBrainz, MusicBrainz, Discogs
qbz-cache/ L1 memory + L2 disk audio caching
qbz-cast/ Chromecast, DLNA/UPnP, AirPlay
qconnect-protocol/ Qobuz Connect protobuf wire format
qconnect-core/ Queue and renderer domain models
qconnect-app/ Application logic and concurrency
qconnect-transport-ws/ WebSocket transport with qcloud framing
Building from Source
Prerequisites
- Rust (latest stable), Node.js 20+, Linux with audio support
System Dependencies
Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev libasound2-dev \
libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev libssl-dev pkg-config
Fedora:
sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel gtk3-devel alsa-lib-devel \
libappindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel openssl-devel pkg-config
Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1 gtk3 alsa-lib libappindicator-gtk3 \
librsvg openssl pkg-config
Build
git clone https://github.com/vicrodh/qbz.git && cd qbz
npm install
npm run tauri dev # development
npm run tauri build # production (DEB, RPM, AppImage)
API Proxy (for self-hosted builds)
Pre-built releases include a hosted API proxy for Last.fm, Discogs, Tidal, and Spotify integrations — no API keys needed.
If you build from source and want these integrations, you can either:
- Deploy your own proxy (recommended) — a Cloudflare Worker that securely holds API keys server-side:
git clone https://github.com/vicrodh/qbz-api-proxy.git
cd qbz-api-proxy
# Add your API keys to wrangler.toml or via `wrangler secret put`
wrangler deploy
Then set the proxy URL before building QBZ:
export QBZ_API_PROXY_URL="https://your-worker.your-account.workers.dev"
npm run tauri build
- Use direct API keys — set them in
.env(see.env.example). Keys are embedded at compile time.
MusicBrainz and Spotify playlist import work without any API keys or proxy.
Environment Variables
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
QBZ_HARDWARE_ACCEL=0 |
Disable GPU rendering (crash recovery) |
QBZ_FORCE_X11=1 |
Use XWayland (NVIDIA Wayland issues) |
QBZ_SOFTWARE_RENDER=1 |
Force Mesa llvmpipe (VMs) |
QBZ_DISABLE_DMABUF=1 |
Disable DMA-BUF (Intel Arc EGL crashes) |
If QBZ crashes on startup: qbz --reset-graphics
Known Issues
- Hi-Res seeking — seeking in tracks >96kHz can take 10-20s (decoder must scan from start). Use prev/next for instant navigation.
- ALSA Direct — exclusive access blocks other apps. Use DAC/amplifier physical volume control.
- PipeWire bit-perfect in Flatpak — limited by sandbox. Use ALSA Direct or native packages.
Documentation
User guides, audio configuration, integrations, and troubleshooting: QBZ Wiki (work in progress).
Open Source
QBZ is MIT-licensed. No telemetry, no tracking, no hidden services. Built for Linux audio enthusiasts.
Contributing
Contributions welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting issues or pull requests.
License
MIT