Ampache is a free software web-based audio file manager and media server. The name is a blend of the words "amplifier" and "Apache". Originally written to take advantage of Apache's mod_mp3 module, it has since been adapted to use its own streaming method.
Ampache's Mascot is a squirrel called Fraz, originally drawn by Kirsten Petersen, later digitized by Ben Shields, and redesigned by Agnès Champavier in 2008.
History Ampache was first released in 2001. Its original author, Scott Kveton went on to create the Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSUOSL) and passed the developmental lead to Karl Vollmer, who was responsible for it from early 2003 to early 2011. Since then, lead development of Ampache has changed hands several times. To date, Ampache has support from over 100 different contributors. The project is currently hosted on GitHub and continues to be developed by a volunteer community.
Development goals Ampache is aimed at private and small group deployments, though it supports public registration at an administrator’s discretion. It is compatible with large music libraries and can run on a wide range of hardware configurations. Key goals include maintaining a lightweight, cross-platform web interface and prioritizing ease of access, speed, and security.
Extensions and APIs Ampache also provides an application programming interface (API) for extracting meta data in the form of XML documents. Ampache data can be accessed via the many methods supported in the API, originally created for use with Amarok2, but which can also be used to create other front-ends to Ampache. Access to the API is controlled by internal Access Control Lists; for performance reasons, all requests currently have a 5000 result limit. The following applications are known to have plug-ins that use Ampache's XML API:
Amarok (2.x) Coherence (UPNP A/V MediaServer) Rhythmbox Plugin Terratec Noxon iRadio Ampache Mobile (WebOS Client) AmpachPre (WebOS Client) AmpacheX (iPod Touch/iPhone Application) iAmpache (iPod Touch/iPhone application) Ampacheberry (Ampache client for the BlackBerry) Ampache HTML5 Player (Google Chrome App)
Since version 3.7.0, Ampache is compatible with Subsonic clients and Plex clients.
In education Ampache's features make it a powerful instructional and assistive technology for students with language-based learning differences. At the Chelsea School, a group of advanced technology students recognized Ampache's potential for providing important accommodations and modifications that serve their learning styles; they built and configured an Ampache server that was put to work to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom.
Ampache's video-streaming features have also been used to enhance teaching and learning at the Chelsea School. Rather than having students watch instructional videos as a group, the assigned material was streamed to their individual workstations. Independent viewing reduces distractions, and allows students to progress at their own pace, pausing to take notes or repeating segments for clarification.
Publications Ampache has been featured in numerous online blogs and technical articles. The O'Reilly book Spidering Hacks details security testing of online applications. Ampache was found to be immune to standard spidering hacks, and by focusing on security during its development, has continued to be. The code philosophy listed on Ampache's wiki specifies security as one of the most important considerations during application development.
Version history Version Release date Important changes1.01April 29, 2001First public release1.07May 4, 2001Improved interface1.10May 8, 2001First PHP only version of Ampache1.20July 22, 2001ID3v1.1 support added along with Genre support2.0February 5, 2002Many feature enhancements per-user statistics added, restarting Apache no longer necessary when new songs are added3.0April 5, 2002Randall Ehren joined development team, XML-RPC functionality added, allowing multiple Ampache instances to be linked, mod_mp3 no longer used3.1December 23, 2003Complete re-write of Ampache code by Karl Vollmer and Robert Hopson, modifications to individual Apache config no longer necessary for Ampache to run3.2August 11, 2004Downsampling, RSS Feeds and Now Playing added, along with numerous improvements to album art and meta-data gathering3.3May 17, 2005Added GetText support, batch downloading, user registration and WMA/M4A/FLAC support, first version with native PHP installer3.3.1June 21, 2005First themable version of Ampache, abandoned non-standard installation method (/docs), implemented URL method for MPD plug-in3.3.2October 1, 2006Optional bandwidth-based bit rates for downsampling, Keyword Quick search on all pages, adopted new authentication system (Vauth) and new IP based ACL system3.3.3January 26, 2007AJAX actions introduced in various places, democratic play, integrated Last-FM player, integrated Flash player and added HttpQ support3.4May 10, 2008Complete re-write in PHP5, AJAX'd interface, active playlist, XML API, dynamic playlists added, vastly-improved browsing system introduced3.5May 5, 2009Added support for Web 2.0 Style object tagging, video streaming, IPv6, additional dynamic playlist options and improved mobile device support3.5.1June 24, 2009Corrected issues with API and ‘tags’, as well as certain endless loops in audio tag reading code3.5.2November 19, 2009Fixed multiple bugs in API, plus tag reading issues, added album "Unknown (Broken)" for any files malformed or damaged by Ampache3.5.3December 20, 2009Security release—highly recommended upgrade3.5.4February 2, 2010Fixed bugs introduced in last release, plus significant improvements and fixes for localplay methods, also corrected size calculation for up to 4TB catalogs, new installations will include additional two default ACLs for API use3.6-alpha6May 30, 2013Completed tagging support, improved dynamic playlists3.7.0May 26, 2014New theme, Subsonic API, Plex API, favorites and wanted features, iframed player (jPlayer), plus many user experience improvements3.8.0June 12, 2015Ajax page loading, UPnP, DAAP, WebDAV3.8.1December 8, 2015AGPL re-licensing, Composer dependency management3.8.2February 4, 2016Added Podcast support, video playlists3.8.3June 22, 2017Sort by disc number, edit song comments, LDAP class rewrite3.8.4December 17, 2017Added seafile catalog module, added IPv6 addresses to user history,3.8.5January 23, 2018Subsonic API improvements, playlist fixes3.8.6March 1, 2018Subsonic remote catalog module version 2, download release packages from update alert3.8.7May 16, 2018Added .ogv encoding for more efficient streaming of MKV files3.8.8Jun 18, 2018Subsonic API improvements, guest accounts can stream songs and playlists3.8.9September 10, 2018Bug fixes, artist info displays properly3.9.0October 21, 2018Bug fixes and minor improvements4.0.0November 24, 2019First release of the 4.x series GitHub 4.0.0 Changelog4.4.3June 5, 2021Last release of the 4.x series GitHub 4.4.3 Changelog5.0.0September 1, 2021First release of the 5.x series GitHub 5.0.0 Changelog5.6.4November 28, 2023Last release of the 5.x series GitHub 5.6.4 Changelog6.0.0August 28, 2023First release of the 6.x series GitHub 6.0.0 Changelog6.6.7February 18, 2025Last release of the 6.x series GitHub 6.6.7 Changelog7.0.0October 23, 2024First release of the 7.x series GitHub 7.0.0 Changelog7.10.1August 6, 2026Last release of the 7.x series GitHub 7.10.1 Changelog8.0.0August 12, 2026First release of the 8.x series; requires PHP 8.5 or later GitHub 8.0.0 Changelog
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