AIMP (Artem Izmaylov Media Player) is a freeware audio player for Windows, Android, originally developed by Russian developer Artem Izmaylov (). It supports a variety of audio codecs, and includes tools to convert audio files and edit their metadata, as well as the capability of installing user-made skins and plugins.
Development
The first version of AIMP was released on August 8, 2006. AIMP was initially based on the BASS audio library. Version 3 added a new audio engine and full support for ReplayGain, and revamped the music library interface transparency effects.
Features
The player supports audio codecs, including MP3, AAC, Dolby AC-3, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, Speex, Windows Media Audio, Apple Lossless, FLAC, WAV, Audio CDs, APE, True Audio; DTS audio, MP1, MP2, Musepack, OptimFROG, WavPack, MIDI, Impulse Tracker, MO3, MOD, MultiTracker Module, S3M, Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor (TAK), and FastTracker 2 Extended Module.
It supports the DirectSound, ASIO and WASAPI audio interfaces, and it uses 32-bit audio processing for its 18-band equalizer and built-in sound effects (Reverb, Flanger, Chorus, Pitch, Tempo, Echo, Speed, Bass, Enhancer, Voice Remover).
AIMP can store the currently played media file in RAM, up to 250 MB, ensuring smooth playback.
AIMP is also able to cache up to 60 seconds of internet radio streams into RAM. One drawback of this function is that channel switching is slowed as the buffer is first filled up to at least 25% before the playback starts (i.e. with 60 seconds of cache selected, the music will take up to 15 seconds to start playing).
Other features
LastFM scrobbler
Bookmark and playback queue creation
Multiple playlists, one per tab
CUE sheet support
Internet radio stream capturing
Cloud support
Native sound effects and 20-band equalizer
Multi-user mode support
Multi-language interface
Configurable local and global hotkeys
Playlist and tag editor
Searchable audio library with customizable track grouping
CD grabber with Audio Encoder
Alarm clock / Auto shutdown / Scheduler
Support for plug-ins and skins
Rating, auto-marks and listening statistics
Advanced Tag Editor for editing file metadata
Awards
On September 6, 2007, Softpedia editor Ionut Ilascu gave AIMP Classic 2.02 Beta a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. On November 6, 2009, CNET editors also gave AIMP2 a 4 out of 5 star rating. In 2023, TechRadar ranked AIMP as the 2nd best one of the best free music players of 2023.
Third-party scams
The developers of AIMP warn on their official website that there is an ongoing scam by the unknown fraudsters behind the website aimp2.us, which has no connection whatsoever to the AIMP development team, and call upon its users not to donate any money to this fake site. AIMP is a freeware program and as such brought to the users free of charge.