Mineify - Server-Wide Music Player for Minecraft

A Minecraft Fabric mod that enables server-wide music playback. Players can search YouTube, add songs to a shared playlist, and listen together in real time all inside Minecraft.

Usage

1. Join a server running Mineify
2. Press N+M to open the GUI
3. Type a song name in the search bar and press Enter
4. Click a result to add it to the playlist
5. The song downloads and plays automatically for all connected players

How It Works

Everything runs inside the Minecraft server process — no companion service or extra open ports required.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         MINECRAFT SERVER                            │
│  ┌─────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐                        │
│  │  Mineify Mod    │◄──►│ Playlist Manager │                        │
│  │  (Server-side)  │    │ (Track Queue)    │                        │
│  └────────┬────────┘    └──────────────────┘                        │
│           │                                                         │
│           │  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────────────────┐  │
│           ├─►│ YouTubeService  │  │   AudioDownloadService       │  │
│           │  │ (InnerTube API) │  │   yt-dlp subprocess          │  │
│           │  └─────────────────┘  └──────────────────────────────┘  │
│           │                                                         │
│           │  Minecraft packets (chunked audio data)                 │
│           ▼                                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐                        │
│  │  Mineify Mod    │───►│  AudioPlayer     │                        │
│  │  (Client-side)  │    │  (javax.sound)   │                        │
│  └─────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

1. YouTubeService calls YouTube's internal InnerTube API directly from Java — no API key needed.
2. AudioDownloadService invokes yt-dlp as a subprocess to download and convert audio to WAV.
3. The server splits the WAV file into chunks and delivers them to every client over the existing Minecraft connection — no extra port needs to be open.
4. Clients reassemble the chunks in memory and play the audio locally using javax.sound.sampled.

Features

• N+M keybind — open the Mineify GUI from anywhere in-game
• YouTube search — search for songs directly inside Minecraft
• Shared playlist — all players see and contribute to the same queue
• Automatic playback — songs play automatically when added and advance through the queue
• Late-join sync — players who join mid-song automatically seek to the correct position
• Stop on remove — removing the current song stops playback for everyone immediately
• Session cache — downloaded files are reused for the duration of the server session
• No extra ports — audio is delivered over the Minecraft connection; no firewall changes needed
• Self-contained — everything is inside the single mod JAR, no companion service required

Requirements

Clients only need the mod JAR — no extra tools required.

Installation

Server

1. Install Fabric Loader for Minecraft 1.21.11.
2. Install yt-dlp and ffmpeg on the server machine (see guide below).
3. Place Fabric API and mineify-1.3.0.jar in the server's mods/ folder.
4. Start the server. Mineify initialises automatically.

Optional — create config/mineify.json to customise behaviour:

{
  "downloadDir": "./mineify-downloads",
  "maxPlaylistSize": 50
}

Client

1. Install Fabric Loader for Minecraft 1.21.11.
2. Place Fabric API and mineify-1.3.0.jar in .minecraft/mods/.
3. Launch Minecraft with the Fabric profile. No further setup needed.

Installing yt-dlp and ffmpeg

Both tools are required on the server only.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg
sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

Linux (Fedora/RHEL)

sudo dnf install ffmpeg
sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp
sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

macOS

brew install ffmpeg yt-dlp

Windows (choose one package manager)

scoop install yt-dlp ffmpeg

choco install yt-dlp ffmpeg

winget install yt-dlp ffmpeg

Windows — manual install

yt-dlp:

1. Download yt-dlp.exe from the releases page
2. Place it in a folder such as C:\yt-dlp
3. Add that folder to your system PATH

ffmpeg:

1. Download from gyan.dev
2. Extract to a folder such as C:\ffmpeg
3. Add C:\ffmpeg\bin to your system PATH

Adding to PATH (Windows):

1. Press Win + R, type sysdm.cpl, press Enter
2. Go to Advanced → Environment Variables
3. Under System variables, select Path → Edit → New
4. Add the folder path and click OK on all dialogs
5. Restart your terminal/server

Verify installation

yt-dlp --version
ffmpeg -version

Both commands should print version information without errors.

Project Structure

mine-ify/
├── fabric-mod/
│   └── src/
│       ├── main/java/com/mineify/
│       │   ├── Mineify.java                  # Server entry point & lifecycle
│       │   ├── MineifyConfig.java            # Config loader (mineify.json)
│       │   ├── server/
│       │   │   ├── PlaylistManager.java      # Playlist state & audio dispatch
│       │   │   ├── YouTubeService.java       # YouTube search via InnerTube API
│       │   │   └── AudioDownloadService.java # yt-dlp download wrapper
│       │   └── network/
│       │       ├── MineifyPackets.java       # Packet registration
│       │       └── packets/
│       │           ├── SearchRequestPacket.java
│       │           ├── AddToPlaylistPacket.java
│       │           ├── SearchResultsPacket.java
│       │           ├── PlaylistSyncPacket.java
│       │           ├── AudioChunkPacket.java  # Chunked audio delivery
│       │           └── NowPlayingPacket.java
│       └── client/java/com/mineify/
│           ├── MineifyClient.java            # Client entry point & packet handlers
│           └── client/
│               ├── MineifyScreen.java        # In-game GUI
│               ├── MineifyKeybinds.java      # N keybind registration
│               └── audio/
│                   └── AudioPlayer.java      # Chunk buffering & playback
└── README.md

Development

Requires Java 21.

cd fabric-mod
./gradlew build          # Build the mod JAR
./gradlew runClient      # Launch a test Minecraft client
./gradlew runServer      # Launch a headless test server

Legal

This mod is intended for personal and educational use. Users are responsible for complying with YouTube's Terms of Service and applicable copyright laws.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.