Now Playing Widget for OBS

A real-time "Now Playing" widget for OBS that displays currently playing music with album artwork and animated transitions. Built in C++ with Qt 6 — single codebase, runs natively on both Windows and Linux.

Features

• Real-time updates — Detects currently playing music every second
• Album artwork — Displays full-resolution album covers
• Dynamic color — Widget background matches the album cover palette
• Audio visualizer — Animated bars in OBS (beta)
• Discord Rich Presence — Shows what you're listening to on Discord
• Background operation — Minimize to system tray
• Multi-app support — Spotify, Apple Music, Firefox, Chrome, VLC, and more

Repository Structure

OSMV/
├── src/                 ← C++ source (cross-platform)
│   ├── main.cpp
│   ├── app.cpp / app.h
│   ├── mainwindow.cpp / mainwindow.h   ← Qt 6 UI (same on Win & Linux)
│   ├── mediaprovider.h                 ← Abstract interface
│   ├── mediaprovider_win.cpp           ← Windows: WinRT SMTC
│   ├── mediaprovider_linux.cpp         ← Linux: playerctl / MPRIS2
│   ├── discordrpc.cpp / discordrpc.h
│   └── utils.cpp / utils.h
├── shared/              ← OBS browser source widget
│   ├── index.html
│   └── style.css
├── windows/             ← Windows-specific files
│   ├── OSMV_logo.ico
│   ├── OSMV.rc
│   └── compile.bat
├── linux/               ← Linux-specific files
│   └── compile.sh
└── CMakeLists.txt       ← Cross-platform CMake build

How It Works

Music Player (Spotify, Apple Music, VLC, browser…)
    ↓
Windows: GlobalSystemMediaTransportControlsSessionManager (WinRT)
Linux:   playerctl + MPRIS2 D-Bus
    ↓
OSMV Qt app (writes current_song.json every ~1s)
    ↓
shared/index.html  (OBS Browser Source, polls the JSON)
    ↓
OBS overlay

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Quick Start

Windows

1. Go to the Releases page and download the latest .zip.
2. Extract and place osmv.exe, index.html, and style.css in a folder.
3. Double-click osmv.exe.
4. Configure OBS (see below).

Linux

Install dependencies:

sudo pacman -S qt6-base playerctl   # Arch / Manjaro
# or
sudo apt install qt6-base-dev playerctl   # Ubuntu 24.04+

1. Go to the Releases page and download the latest Linux binary.
2. Place osmv, index.html, and style.css in the same folder.
3. chmod +x osmv && ./osmv — an icon appears in your system tray.
4. Configure OBS (see below).

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Configure OBS

1. In OBS, add a new Browser source.
2. Check "Local file".
3. Browse and select index.html from the folder containing the app.
4. Set dimensions: Width: 500, Height: 140.
5. Click OK.

As long as the application is running, your OBS widget updates automatically.

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Compiling from Source

Requirements (both platforms): Qt 6.5+, CMake 3.21+

Linux

# Arch/Manjaro
sudo pacman -S qt6-base cmake playerctl

# Ubuntu 24.04+
sudo apt install qt6-base-dev cmake playerctl

# Build
./linux/compile.sh
# → binary at build/osmv

Windows

Requirements: Qt 6 (MSVC or MinGW), CMake, Visual Studio 2022 or MinGW

windows\compile.bat

The script auto-detects Qt 6 at C:\Qt\. Set QTDIR manually if needed:

set QTDIR=C:\Qt\6.7.0\msvc2019_64
windows\compile.bat

Deploy by placing osmv.exe (or osmv), shared/index.html, and shared/style.css in the same folder.

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Customization

Edit shared/style.css to change the OBS widget appearance:

• Colors and transparency
• Album artwork size
• Animation effects

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Troubleshooting

See TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

License

MIT License — free for personal and commercial use.