Winamp returns from the grave with Windows 10 support

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. And for music aficionados, nothing may be more nostalgic than Winamp, the venerable music (and video) player that dominated the scene prior to the rise of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Now, after seeing a glimmer of hope with its 2013 acquisition by Radionomy, and subsequently languishing without an update for the following five years, Winamp is ready to make a return. Sort of.

After an in-development version of Winamp's first update in years recently leaked, the Winamp team today decided to release it themselves as version 5.8 (via MSPU). From Winamp:

A leaked version of Winamp 5.8 recently spread over the Internet. Consequently, we have decided to make this new version available to you, revised by us.We therefore recommend that you download this version rather than any other as we guarantee it is safe for you to use.This version is not an ongoing project but be sure that we are currently working hard on a future new Winamp.

While it's still very much in beta, the update does add compatibility with Windows 10 and Windows 8.1. However, don't let those nostalgia glasses fool you; this is still a very rough release. On high-resolution displays, the scaling is off upon installing Winamp 5.8, so you'll be squinting to see your player controls. And if you're used to interacting with more modern apps like Spotify, the interface will be jarring to say the least. Sluggish performance doesn't help things either.

Still, people love to love old stuff. If you want to take a quick trip down memory lane, the Winamp 5.8 beta is available for download now, complete with its signature "it really whips the llama's a**" sound effect upon its first run. For more on the update, you can view its full release notes at the Winamp forums.

See at Winamp{.cta .shop}

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl

27 Comments
  • The word you are looking for is 'ASS'. Is this site run by Quakers or something? It's 2018 and I'd expect that words you now hear on kid's TV shows would no longer be censored on the net. GROW UP.
    As for Winamp, I've been using it for ages on Windows 10 with no problems at all. Still the best music player ever made.
  • Ass ? I thought they had censored Anal
  • You get what it is, right? I think that's enough. They're being professional here.
  • Yeah. I still use Winamp 2.95.
  • Me too, since 2001, my favorite media player for PC. For fans and folks all skins, plugins, etc. still available on www.mywinamp.com
  • A new Media Monkey for me please.
  • Windows 10 support, and it's not on the Windows store, strange that.
  • I know right? Windows 10 + UWP is getting there, though. I'm seeing a lot of new apps in store recently.
    Edit: Why don't we get new app articles in WC? That needs to happen often.
  • Why should it be in the store? It's not an app, it's a PROGRAM. You remember those? They are made to run on COMPUTERS not phones. I'll take a proper program over a half assed app any day of the week. I'm so tired of everything being mobile centric these days.
  • Unfortunately, you are in a minority
  • 2003? More like 1999. Winamp is old, old school.
  • And yet, is still the best Audio player.
  • Winamp plug ins were the best!
  • Winamp + Plugins + Windows live messenger + Messenger plus was pretty much all you needed before the advent of streaming services and social media.
  • Winamp is my favorite and I still use it to this day. It just has a lot more features than other players (as far as I am aware). I mean, it doesn't play the most types of file formats but the customization options are amazing.
  • I don't know what they mean by Windows 10 compatibility, I've been using it since Windows 10 was released without any issue.
  • It doesn't save plugin configuration info in the right place for one.
    I use Enhancer DSP plugin, and I had to patch it, or it would reset the settings on every restart.
  • What makes Winamp special on windows 10? Is it a project centennial app, PWA or UWP?
  • Winamp is alright if you are jammin' your mp3 collection from back in the napster days, but I can name more than 6 players that are far more capable in terms of sound quality (and some are even free)
  • Go ahead and name them please?
  • Sound quality? Depends on what you are listening to your music through. I listen through my home audio surround system that has 250W RMS per channel with 18" woofers in my front speakers. Sound quality starts when the walls and windows start to shake.
  • Winamp is awesome. I've moved on to Foobar2000 last year. IMO it sounds better. Less audio distortions and artifacts. Has better EQ also. Good support for ultra high quality audio formats like FLAC, dsd, dsf, iso, etc. But sadly visualization support is lacking.
  • I still use this over Spotify. Spotify still feels like a "my first music player"
  • Will my 2.x skins work?
  • Winamp... The good days of my childhood / pre-teenage. It was THE best player back then. It even had skins.
  • My girl friend insisted on skins !
  • What does Windows 10 support mean BTW?