QMP is compatible with a wide array of audio and video formats. The following list is by no means comprehensive, and users are encouraged to add to it.
Many of these formats require plugins to be installed for playback in QMP, both native and external. See installing plugins for information on setting up external plugins.
| Format | Compression Type | Supported by QMP | Streamable in QMP | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAC | Lossy | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | MP4, M4A, M4P, and AAC+ are all essentially variants of AAC |
| AC-3 | Lossy | Unknown | Unknown | |
| AIFF (AIF) | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | |
| ALAC | Lossless | Unknown | Unknown | Apple Lossless Audio Codec |
| APE - See Monkey's Audio | ||||
| ATRAC | Lossy | Unknown | Unknown | |
| AU | Unknown | Yes | Unknown | |
| BWF | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Broadcast Wave Format |
| CD Audio | Uncompressed | Yes, built-in | No | QMP can also play other audio files that have been burned to a CD-R |
| CDA, CDDA - see CD Audio | ||||
| DTS | Lossy | Unknown | Unknown | |
| FLAC | Lossless | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | Also known as Ogg FLAC |
| LPAC | Lossless | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | Lossless Predictive Audio Compression |
| M4A - See AAC | ||||
| M4P - See AAC | ||||
| MAC - See Monkey's Audio | ||||
| Monkey's Audio | Lossless | Yes, built-in | Unknown | Can have the extensions .ape or .mac |
| MP1 | Lossy | Yes, built-in | Unknown | |
| MP2 | Lossy | Yes, built-in | Unknown | |
| MP3 | Lossy | Yes, built-in | Yes | |
| MP3 Pro | Lossy | Unknown | Unknown | |
| MP4 - See AAC | ||||
| MP+ - See Musepack | ||||
| MPC - See Musepack | ||||
| Musepack | Lossy | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | Also known as MPC or MP+ |
| OFR - See OptimFrog | ||||
| Ogg FLAC - See FLAC | ||||
| Ogg Speex - See Speex | ||||
| Ogg Vorbis - See Vorbis | ||||
| OptimFrog | Lossless | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | |
| SHN - See Shorten | ||||
| RA - See Real Audio | ||||
| RAM - See Real Audio | ||||
| Real Audio | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| Shorten | Lossless | Unknown | Unknown | |
| SMF | N/A | Unknown | Unknown | Standard MIDI file |
| SND | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| Speex | Lossy | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | Also known as Ogg Speex |
| SPX - See Speex | ||||
| True Audio Codec, The | Unknown | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | Normally abreviated TTC |
| TTA - See True Audio Codec | ||||
| Vorbis | Lossy | Yes, built-in | Yes | The term 'Ogg' by itself is sometimes used to refer to Ogg Vorbis |
| VQF | Lossy | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | |
| WAV | Uncompressed | Yes, built-in | Unknown | WAV is actually a container format, but is normally associated with uncompressed audio |
| WavPack | Lossless | Yes, with plugin | Unknown | |
| WMA | Lossy | Yes, built-in | Unknown | Must have WMA codecs installed in Windows |
| WMA Lossless | Lossless | Unknown | Unknown | |
| Format | Audio Type | Supported by QMP | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA | Audiobook | Unknown | Audible.com Audiobook |
| KAR | MIDI | Unknown | Karaoke MIDI file |
| Line-in | Uncompressed | Yes, with plugin | |
| NSF | Unknown | Yes, with plugin | NES Sound file |
| MIDI | MIDI | Yes, built-in | Requires configuration to use, see article |
| MOD | MIDI | Yes, with plugin | Amiga Module audio |
| MTM | MIDI | Unknown | MultiTracker Module |
| RMI | MIDI | Unknown | RIFF MIDI format |
| S3M (STM) | MIDI | Unknown | ScreamTracker Module |
| VOC | Unknown | Unknown | Creative voice file |
| XM (XMZ) | MIDI | Unknown | Fast Tracker eXtended Module (Not to be confused with XM satellite radio) |
| XMF | MIDI | Unknown | eXtensible Music File |
Note: Many of these are actually container formats. Support is added by installing the appropriate DirectShow filter into Windows, then adding the file's extension to QMP's list of video file types.
| Format | Supported by QMP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ASX | Yes, built-in | Microsoft Advanced Stream Redirector |
| B4S | Unknown | Winamp 3.0 playlist |
| CUE | Yes, with plug-in | |
| M3U | Yes, built-in | |
| M3U8 | Yes, built-in | M3U playlist with UTF-8 character encoding |
| PLS | Yes, built-in | |
| RAM | Unknown | Real Media playlist |
| WAX | Unknown | WMA-only version of ASX |
| WMX | Unknown | |
| WVX | Unknown | WMV-only version of ASX |
| XSPF | Unknown | Xiph.org XML Shareable Playlist Format |