Getting your MTP devices working on Linux
Music Library

Just because the MTP protocol is promoted by Microsoft doesn't mean you can't get music onto your MTP devices.
If your day begins like mine, the first computing device you encounter is a music player. In the good old days, you could pick up any player with USB connectivity and mount it easily on Linux. Although some players still provide this instant Linux connectivity, increasingly, many of the most popular brands are moving towards the Microsoft-promoted Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).
MTP offers more controlled access to media files, presumably to minimize data corruption. MTP devices (including MP3 players as well as the latest generation of music-playing mobile phones) are not exposed as mass storage devices; getting your music onto these devices requires a little effort – and a little library called libmtp.
The libmtp library [1] is an open source project designed to bring MTP support to Linux and Unix-based systems. As you will learn later in this article, several open source music applications offer MTP support through plugins developed around the libmtp library. If you are using a music app that doesn't work with MTP, or if you would like to create your own custom tools for interfacing with MTP devices, just download and build the latest version of libmtp. The library also includes a collection of sample programs that serve as a simple command-line interface for interacting with MTP devices.
[...]
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.