How to Play MP3 or Audio Without Adding to iTunes Library on Mac

How to Play MP3 or Audio Without Adding to iTunes Library on Mac

Want to play an mp3, m4a, or audio file on a Mac, but you dont want to add that MP3 or audio file to your iTunes Library? There are a few different ways to accomplish this task; one approach allows you to play an audio file in an iTunes playlist without copying it to the , and that works in iTunes for both Mac and Windows, and two other approaches will allow you to play audio files and mp3s on a Mac without using iTunes at all, instead utilizing either Quick Time or Quick Look, thereby never adding those audio files into iTunes or any playlist. These tricks can be useful for one-off audio files that you just want to listen to but dont want to permanently store on the computer. Maybe its a shared , maybe its a podcast you dont want to store or listen to again, perhaps its a , or maybe its an audio file you need to hear but dont want to save. There are many practical applications for this, as surely you can imagine. In the examples below, well be listening to a podcast mp3 file without adding the file itself to iTunes, the first method uses iTunes, the second option uses QuickTime, and the third option uses Quick Look. You can create a playlist for audio files without adding those audio files to the iTunes library itself. This is done by holding down a key while adding audio files to the iTunes app. Heres how it works: In the example screenshot below, four podcast files were added to iTunes in the general playlist, but without adding those podcast files to the audio library of iTunes itself. This approach will add the audio file to the iTunes Library, but not copy the audio files to on the computer, essentially using an alias or soft link from iTunes to the files original location on the computer. You can later remove the audio file from iTunes playlist at any time if desired. You may find it useful to know you can also use a similar approach . But what if you want to play an audio file without even adding it to the iTunes playlist or library? What if you just want to listen to an audio file without iTunes at all, perhaps for hearing a podcast once, listening to , or hearing a shared audio file just once? The next options can be useful for that scenario. QuickTime also offers a simple way to play nearly any audio file on a Mac without having to use iTunes at all, thereby preventing the audio file from being added to either an iTunes Library or iTunes playlist. This is great for a one-off listening, and if you want to avoid iTunes in general for whatever reason. An advantage to using Quick Time is that you can background the app while the audio file is playing, and continue to perform other functions on the Mac, similar to how iTunes plays in the background. You an also play audio files directly in the Finder of the Mac by using Quick Look: The downside to Quick Look is that it Quick Look stops playing audio files when the Quick Look window is no longer in focus, or if another file is selected in the Finder. Of course there are other apps out there that can play audio files and media files on the Mac, without requiring iTunes, but for our purposes here were sticking to the default apps bundled in Mac OS, that way you wont need to download any additional apps or utilities. Another option not directly mentioned here is the tool afplay, , or . The command line approach is certainly valid and works great, but its a bit more advanced. Do you know of any other tricks that allow you to play an audio file, mp3, m4a, etc, without adding the original file to iTunes? Share them with us in the comments below!