Zinf
Open source audio player
title: "Zinf" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["audio-player-software-that-uses-gtk", "free-software-programmed-in-c++", "cross-platform-software", "free-audio-software", "free-media-players", "linux-media-players", "windows-media-players", "2002-software", "software-using-the-gnu-general-public-license"] description: "Open source audio player" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinf" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Open source audio player ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Zinf |
| screenshot | Zinf.png |
| caption | Zinf playing an audio file |
| developer | Robert Hart, Tim Lesher, David Hough |
| released | |
| repo | |
| programming language | C++, GTK+ |
| genre | Audio player |
| license | GPL |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Zinf | logo = | screenshot = Zinf.png | caption = Zinf playing an audio file | developer = Robert Hart, Tim Lesher, David Hough | released = | repo = | programming language = C++, GTK+ | genre = Audio player | license = GPL | website = Zinf is a free audio player for Unix-like and Windows operating systems. Zinf is released under the GNU General Public License.
Zinf is a continuation of the FreeAmp project and uses the same source code.
Technical features
Zinf can play sound files in MP3, Vorbis, and WAV formats, among others. It supports skins and is part of the MusicBrainz network. The player features an optimized version of the Xing MPEG decoder, a powerful music browser and playlist editor, and a built in download manager which supports downloading files from sites using the RMP (RealJukebox) download process. Zinf was also notable for handling all audio files based on their metadata (Author, Album, Song Title), and hiding more-technical details like actual locations and file names (but these features are now standard in many players).
Naming
Zinf is a recursive acronym that stands for "Zinf Is Not FreeAmp!" Use of the name FreeAmp had to be discontinued due to trademark issues, as "AMP" is a trademark of PlayMedia Systems, Inc.
History/Funding
The FreeAmp project was originally funded by EMusic, who paid the salaries of 3 developers working on the player. Later, Relatable joined EMusic to help support continued development.
In January 2001, after 2 years of funding the project EMusic pulled their support, and subsequently fired the developers. The Zinf project was unable to find another sponsor, and development slowed greatly. The most recent release was made in early 2004. As of 2008, nearly all development of Zinf has ceased.
Adoption
Zinf was once among the better-known open-source audio players, but development has been largely inactive since the early 2000s,{{cite web |title=Zinf downloads and release history |url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/zinf/ |website=SourceForge |access-date=2025-10-09 |quote=Lists latest stable release (2004) and no newer official versions. |title=Zinf Audio Player Review |url=https://zinf-audio-player.en.softonic.com/ |website=Softonic |access-date=2025-10-09 |quote=Describes Zinf as a simple player that lacks features found in newer apps.
In 2010 the zinf.com website was bought by a domain squatter for the purpose of capitalizing on the site's traffic for monetary gains. A new link called "QnA" and "Ads" are now visible on the zinf.com website that is a redirect to the squatter's site.
References
References
- "Members".
- "FreeAmp Zinf Audio Player for Linux & Windows".
- Paul Rowlingson. (January 19, 2004). "Zinf 2.2.1: A free audio player with streaming audio support". v3.co.uk.
- Lasse Penttinen. (July 1, 2002). "No more FreeAmp - Meet the Zinf". Afterdawn.
- (July 29, 2004). "Zinf Audio Player 2.2.1".
- (October 16, 2003). "Winamp-Alternativen: Zinf". [[Tonspion]].
- [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.audio.freeamp.devel/6 FreeAmp becomes Zinf!]
- Sergei Yaremchuk. (February 27, 2003). "Аудиопроигрыватель ZINF". [[Computerra]].
- "EMusic and Relatable Team to Offer Open Source Audio".
- [http://lists.musicbrainz.org/pipermail/musicbrainz-users/2001-January/000139.html Important project update] {{webarchive. link. (July 21, 2011)
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::