Mac music visualisers
For most people the answer depends on where the music is coming from. If it's the Music app, Apple's own visualiser is already on your Mac and costs nothing. If it's Spotify, a browser or anything else, you need an app that listens to the Mac's system audio: Vibresia does that for free (we make it, so weigh that), and Phosphor does it for US$6.99 with an Apple TV option Vibresia doesn't have.
| App | Price | Runs on | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vibresia | Free | Mac | Mac users who want visuals for whatever the Mac is playing, free, and people who'd like to write or describe their own. |
| Apple Music Visualizer | Free | Mac | Apple Music listeners who want visuals without installing anything. |
| Phosphor | US$6.99, one-time | Mac, Apple TV | Mac users who want polished visuals on an Apple TV, as a desktop wallpaper, or recorded to video. |
| projectM | Open source (LGPL) | Windows, Mac, Linux | MilkDrop fans who want the classic presets on Mac, Windows or Linux. |
| MuVis | Free | Mac, iPhone and iPad, Vision Pro | Listeners who want to see the notes being played, on Apple devices. |
| Nyquist | US$4.99, one-time | Mac | Mac users who want a clean spectrum display in a window or the menu bar. |
| Synesthesia | US$199, one-time | Mac, Windows | DJs, VJs and streamers who perform live and need MIDI, OSC and video outputs. |
Try Vibresia with what's playing nowFree, no account, macOS 14.2+ on Apple silicon.
Who it's for: Mac users who want visuals for whatever the Mac is playing, free, and people who'd like to write or describe their own.
Good at: Listens to system audio, so it works with Spotify, Apple Music, a browser or a film, with no plug-in.
Falls short: Mac only, and only on Apple silicon with macOS 14.2 or later.
Pick it if you listen in more than one app, want something free, or want to make your own visuals by writing a shader or describing one to an AI assistant.
Who it's for: Apple Music listeners who want visuals without installing anything.
Good at: Already on every Mac, inside the Music app: Window > Visualizer.
Falls short: A song has to be playing in the Music app; it doesn't visualise Spotify, a browser or other apps.
Pick it if all your music is in the Music app and you don't want to install anything. Open the Music app, play a song, and choose Window, then Visualizer.
Who it's for: Mac users who want polished visuals on an Apple TV, as a desktop wallpaper, or recorded to video.
Good at: Mirrors to an Apple TV, synced to the beat, and can run as a desktop wallpaper or record to video.
Falls short: It costs US$6.99, and linking it to an Apple TV is a separate in-app purchase of US$9.99; it needs macOS 14.4 or later, Apple silicon.
Pick it if you want the visuals on the TV, or as a wallpaper behind your work, and don't mind paying for a polished app.
Who it's for: MilkDrop fans who want the classic presets on Mac, Windows or Linux.
Good at: Faithful reimplementation of MilkDrop, so it plays the huge library of community .milk presets.
Falls short: The Apple Music plug-in for macOS is an unsigned development preview.
Pick it if you miss MilkDrop. projectM plays the same presets, thousands of them, and nothing else on this list does that on a Mac.
Who it's for: Listeners who want to see the notes being played, on Apple devices.
Good at: 34 visualisations, each with 8 options.
Falls short: Visualises music files it plays or the device microphone.
Pick it if you want to see the notes rather than abstract shapes, or you'd like the same app on your iPhone and iPad.
Who it's for: Mac users who want a clean spectrum display in a window or the menu bar.
Good at: A clean spectrum analyser with 16 to 128 bands, in a window or the menu bar, from system audio or the microphone.
Falls short: It's a spectrum analyser and nothing else, it costs US$4.99, and it needs macOS 15.0 or later.
Pick it if you want a tidy frequency display in the menu bar more than a light show.
Who it's for: DJs, VJs and streamers who perform live and need MIDI, OSC and video outputs.
Good at: 80 built-in scenes, MIDI and OSC controls, and Syphon, Spout and NDI output for projectors and streams.
Falls short: It's built for live performance, and the free version puts a watermark on video output.
Pick it if you DJ, VJ or stream and need to control the visuals during a set. For watching at home it's more than you need (see Vibresia vs Synesthesia).
Three questions sort this list faster than any feature table.
Where does your music play? Apple's visualiser only reacts to songs playing in the Music app. It doesn't see Spotify, YouTube in a browser, or a DJ app. Vibresia, Phosphor and Nyquist listen to the Mac's system audio instead, so they react to whatever is playing. MuVis plays its own files or listens through the microphone.
Do you want to watch it or perform with it? Most people want something on a second screen while they work or have friends round. That's what Vibresia, Phosphor and the Apple visualiser are for. Synesthesia is a performance tool, with MIDI controllers and video outputs, and it's the right pick if you play live. The visualisers on this list don't try to do that.
Do you want to change it? projectM gives you thousands of community MilkDrop presets to choose from. Vibresia lets you write a scene from scratch, as a single GLSL function, or describe one to an AI assistant and have it written for you. Phosphor's site doesn't mention making your own scenes.
Four of the seven cost nothing. Apple's is part of the Music app. Vibresia and MuVis are free apps, and both are open source. projectM's library is open source under the LGPL; its Mac apps are early releases, which is worth knowing before you expect a polished install.
Phosphor and Nyquist are cheap one-off purchases on the Mac App Store. Phosphor's Apple TV link is an extra in-app purchase, so the full setup is US$6.99 plus US$9.99. Synesthesia has a free version with a watermark on video output, and a licence is US$199 (its pricing page).
Check this before anything else if your Mac is a few years old. Vibresia needs Apple silicon and macOS 14.2 or later, so it won't run on an Intel Mac. Phosphor needs Apple silicon and macOS 14.4. Nyquist needs macOS 15. MuVis needs macOS 14. Apple's visualiser is already on every Mac, in the Music app.
We read each app's own website, Mac App Store listing or source code on the date shown at the top, and every price, platform and feature here comes from there. We didn't buy the paid apps for this page, so we haven't written about how they feel to use, only what their makers say they do. The strengths are the ones we think each maker would agree with. We make Vibresia and put it first because it's ours; the "pick it if" lines are there so you can skip it when something else fits better.
Yes. Play a song in the Music app and choose Window, then Visualizer. It only reacts to music playing in the Music app.
Vibresia is free and listens to the Mac's system audio, so it reacts to Spotify without a plug-in. Phosphor and Nyquist also capture system audio, for US$6.99 and US$4.99.
Not MilkDrop itself, which is a Winamp plug-in for Windows. projectM plays MilkDrop's presets on a Mac. See MilkDrop alternatives for Mac.
Vibresia and Phosphor need Apple silicon, so no. Check the other apps' requirements on their own pages before you download.
Try Vibresia with what's playing nowFree, no account, macOS 14.2+ on Apple silicon.
Every fact about another app on this page comes from the source listed for it, on the date shown. We make Vibresia, so we've tried to say where each of the others is the better choice. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.