Spotube 5.0 adds plugin-powered metadata, playback & performance upgrades, and much more

Spotube version 5.0 has been released, marking a return for the cross-platform and open source music streaming client, after an extended period of inactivity due to legal and other complications. This major update introduces plugin-based support for music metadata services, allowing users to connect Spotube with a range of third-party sources.

Building on this new architecture, official plugins for MusicBrainz and ListenBrainz are now available, enabling richer metadata and community-driven features. ListenBrainz scrobbling integration is also provided through a dedicated plugin, offering music tracking for listeners who rely on open data platforms. To facilitate broader plugin development, detailed documentation on installing and creating plugins has now been included.

Alongside metadata improvements, the new release addresses playback reliability by reducing skipping issues and adding HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) support. These enhancements are complemented by performance gains achieved through optimized image handling, user interface refactoring, and the offloading of resource-intensive tasks like track source searches to secondary threads.

In addition to these highlights, Spotube 5.0 delivers a variety of other new features, further enhancements, and bug fixes throughout the application.