How to add a mp3 handler to sox?

ubuntu bash mp3 sox

107,655

Solution 1

Pipe?

lame --decode music.mp3 - | play -

Won't leave any trace.

Solution 2

Install libsox-fmt-mp3:

sudo apt-get install libsox-fmt-mp3

107,655

kev

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

kev almost 2 years
I want to play music in the terminal with sox.
```
# install sox/lame
sudo apt-get install sox
sudo apt-get install lame

# play music
play music.mp3
# play FAIL formats: no handler for file extension `mp3'

# mp3 -> wav
lame --decode music.mp3 music.wav

# play music
play music.wav
```
```
~ $ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04 LTS"

~ $ sox --version
sox: SoX v14.3.2
```
The size of music.wav is +10 times larger than music.mp3.
I don't want to convert all *.mp3 to *.wav.
Is it possible to add mp3-handler to sox?
- user1055604 about 12 years
  
  what linux distro are you on... and what version of the distro and sox are you running... also running sox -h reports codecs supported by the program... please check if mp3 is supported therein...
- michael about 8 years
  
  instead of the present accepted answer (lame/pipe), the correct/simplest answer is install libsox-fmt-all superuser.com/a/421168/73961
jcomeau_ictx almost 12 years

I found I also needed to upgrade sox after that; so it doesn't hurt to add "sox" to the above command.
zrajm over 10 years

This does not work for me. Even after aptitude reinstall sox I still get a SoX was compiled without MP3 encoding support when I try to run sox afterwards. (Though admittedly I'm still running Lucid, this might work better on a more modern Ubuntu.)
naught101 over 10 years

@kev, you should select this as the accepted answer. Also, there is a libsox-fmt-all package that installs the mp3 format, as well as all other available formats.
pascalhein almost 10 years

+1, this should be the accepted answer because it allows for other things beyond playing as well, for example conversion (e.g. sox input.wav output.mp3 won't work without this package)
kroe almost 9 years

after installing libsox-fmt-mp3 and running it i get a : sox WARN mp3-util: MAD lost sync
gilbertohasnofb over 7 years

@zrajm indeed I had no problems here on Linux Mint, this answer did the trick for me
Elektordi almost 7 years

The question was about a sox handler. This is definitely not sox :)
bchurchill about 6 years

on Debian there's the libsox-fmt-all package which gives you more too! I also did an apt-get purge sox and apt-get install sox afterward just in case, but I don't know if it was actually necessary. Worked fine.
Scott over 5 years

you can also pipe into sox
EyesBear about 5 years

This works great in ubuntu 18.04
eepp almost 4 years

@Elektordi The play command is SoX. It's basically sox -d. Like ffmpeg vs. ffplay.
Elektordi almost 4 years

Sorry, I didn't know that... My bad... :/
xorinzor about 2 years

Works perfectly for me on Ubuntu 22.10