Now with support for upsampling and presets for maximum convenience.
Now also with support for arm64 thanks to Der-Henning

• linux/amd64
• linux/arm/v7
• linux/arm64/v8

First and foremost, the reference to the awesome project:

Man page of SqueezeLite
SqueezeLite binaries on SourceForge

This page will also be useful when tuning the parameters. In case you want to play with upsampling, this other page might be very helpful:

Archimago - MUSINGS: More fun with digital filters!

Source: GitHub
Images: DockerHub

I prepared this Dockerfile Because I wanted to be able to install squeezelite easily on any machine (provided the architecture is amd64 or arm). Also I wanted to be able to configure and govern the parameters easily, with particular reference to the configuration of the ALSA output. PulseAudio is also supported since 2022-09-15. Configuring the container is easy through a webapp like Portainer.

You need to have Docker up and running on a Linux machine, and the current user must be allowed to run containers (this usually means that the current user belongs to the "docker" group).

You can verify whether your user belongs to the "docker" group with the following command:

getent group | grep docker

This command will output one line if the current user does belong to the "docker" group, otherwise there will be no output.

The Dockerfile and the included scripts have been tested on the following setups:

As I test the Dockerfile on more platforms, I will update this list.

See here.

Here is the repository on DockerHub.

Getting the image from DockerHub is as simple as typing:

docker pull giof71/squeezelite:latest

You may want to pull the "stable" image as opposed to the "latest". See Docker Hub Tags for more information.

You can start squeezelite by typing:

docker run -d --rm --network host --device /dev/snd giof71/squeezelite:stable

Note that we need to allow the container to access the audio devices through /dev/snd.
We also need to use the host network mode so the squeezelite instance can be discovered on your network.
The host network mode is generally not necessary if you specify your server (and port) using the environment variable SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT.

The following tables reports all the currently supported environment variables.

It is possible to add and additional preset configuration file using the volume /app/assets/additional-presets.conf.

A preset file is a text file with a pair key=value on each line. You can specify .device, .upsampling, .rates, .codecs, .exclude-codecs for each preset. Just check /app/assets/builtin-presets.conf to understand how to create the other presets you might want to add. Blank lines are allowed, as well as commented lines.

For example, the following file defines a preset named fancy-usb-dac for a specific dac:

# my super-fancy-hi-end dac
super-amazing-dac.device="hw:CARD=super-amazing-dac,DEV=0"

See a docker-compose example using an additional preset file. The example assumes that the additional preset file is ./config/additional.conf. The additional preset file is used in combination with other presets for upsampling using the goldilocks settings: archimago-goldilocks and rates_up_to_384k:

---
version: "3"

services:
  squeezelite-super-amazing-dac:
    image: giof71/squeezelite:latest
    container_name: squeezelite-super-amazing-dac
    devices:
      - /dev/snd:/dev/snd
    environment:
      - PRESET=super-amazing-dac,archimago-goldilocks,rates_up_to_384k
      - SQUEEZELITE_NAME=super-amazing-dac
      - SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT=192.168.1.10
      - DISPLAY_PRESETS=Y
    volumes:
      - ./config/additional.conf:/app/assets/additional-presets.conf

See the Available presets table for reference.

In case you want to apply the Archimago's Goldilocks suggestion, the variables should be set as in the following table. Refer to the line which resembles the capabilities of your audio device.

The SQUEEZELITE_RATES displayed here are provided just as an example. You still should verify the capabilities of your particular audio device.

You can specify PulseAudio mode by setting the environment variable SQUEEZELITE_MODE to PULSE. For that configuration to work properly, /run/user/1000/pulse must be mapped correctly. It is not mandatory to use 1000: if you set PUID to 1002 for instance, the right part of the volume mount should be /run/user/1002/pulse.
The example below assumes that your current user id is 1000. You might want to set the PUID and PGID variables according to your user and groupid. Use the id command to see the uid for the currently logged in user.
Mapping the device /dev/snd is not needed in PulseAudio mode.
Also, most of the enviroment variables are not supported and, for the largest part, they would be irrelevant. I will add support for those that will appear to be relevant. Feel free to open issue(s).
A list of the variables that are configurable for PulseAudio mode:

• PUID
• PGID
• SQUEEZELITE_NAME
• SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT

---
version: "3"

services:
  sq-pulse:
    image: giof71/squeezelite:latest
    container_name: sq-pulse
    volumes:
      # change only on the left side according to your uid
      - /run/user/1000/pulse:/run/user/1000/pulse
    environment:
      - SQUEEZELITE_MODE=pulse
      - PUID=1000 #optional, default is 1000
      - PGID=1000 #optional, default is 1000
      - SQUEEZELITE_NAME=sq-pulse #optional
      - SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT=192.168.1.10 #optional

I would avoid to add a restart strategy to the compose file with PulseAudio. On my desktop setup, doing so led to all sort of issues on computer startup/reboot. Instead, I would use a user-level systemd service. An example is container in the pulse directory of this repository. Remember to use host networking if you need the player to be automatically discovered. Also, when using a docker run command and not using host mode, I'd suggest to create a dedicated network. This should be covered by the service in the pulse directory.

PulseAudio mode is NOT supported for images that use a SourceForge binary. You might use latest or stable images shown in the example compose file.

I am using the same host and I am connecting two dacs. I (generally) do not play music on multiple DACs at the same time, but I like to have multiple configurations a click away from the Logitech Media Server web interface. If you are interested, have a look at the following sample docker-compose.yaml files:

Remember to always specify the SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT for these compose files, otherwise the player discovery on Logitech Media Server with not be able to find all the configured players.

A few environment variables have been deprecated, see the following table.

For the new variables introduced over time, see the following table.

As contributed by vespadj in Issue #6, have a look at this simple docker-compose service for the Raspberry Pi using its onboard headphone jack as the output device (I only added host network mode so the player is discoverable):

---
version: "3.3"

services:
  squeezelite:
    image: giof71/squeezelite:stable
    container_name: squeezelite
    network_mode: host
    devices: 
      - /dev/snd:/dev/snd
    environment:
      - SQUEEZELITE_NAME=home-pi
      - STARTUP_DELAY_SEC=1
      - SQUEEZELITE_AUDIO_DEVICE=hw:CARD=Headphones,DEV=0
    restart: unless-stopped

Please note that STARTUP_DELAY_SEC is optional. The equivalent docker run command should be the following:

docker run \
    -it \
    --rm \
    --name squeezelite \ 
    --network host \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_NAME="home-pi" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_AUDIO_DEVICE="hw:CARD=Headphones,DEV=0" \
    --device /dev/snd \
    giof71/squeezelite:stable

As another example, here you can find the docker run command I use for a Fiio E18, which supports sampling rates up to 96kHz (but notably not 88.2kHz) enabling upsampling to 96kHz:

docker run \
    -it \
    --rm \
    --name squeezelite \ 
    -e SQUEEZELITE_NAME="FiioE18" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_SERVER="192.168.1.10:3483" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_AUDIO_DEVICE="hw:CARD=DACE18,DEV=0" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_RATES="96000" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_UPSAMPLING="v::4:28:95:105:45" \
    --device /dev/snd \
    giof71/squeezelite

Another example, with a Topping D10 USB DAC, which supports every sample rate including DSD, you might want to use the following:

docker run \
    -it \
    --rm \
    --name squeezelite \ 
    -e SQUEEZELITE_NAME="ToppingD10" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_SERVER="192.168.1.10:3483" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_AUDIO_DEVICE="hw:CARD=D10,DEV=0" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_DELAY=500 \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_RATES="44100-384000" \
    -e SQUEEZELITE_UPSAMPLING="v::4:28:95:105:45" \
    --device /dev/snd \
    giof71/squeezelite

Note that the previous commands are interactive (-it) and that the container is automatically removed (--rm) when you kill squeezelite for example by using CTRL-C. You might want to use daemon flag (-d) and optionally a restart strategy (you might want to use --restart unless-stopped if you want your container to restart automatically, unless you explicitly stop it).

Here is my docker-compose.yaml file for my office-pi, using tailscale networking, equipped with an hifiberry-pro hat (the one with the headphone amp). Full upsampling up to 176.4/192 kHz thanks to ArchImago.

---
version: "3.3"

services:
  squeezelite-hifiberry:
    image: giof71/squeezelite:stable
    container_name: squeezelite-hifiberry
    devices:
      - /dev/snd:/dev/snd
    environment:
      - SQUEEZELITE_NAME=office-pi
      - SQUEEZELITE_AUDIO_DEVICE=hw:CARD=sndrpihifiberry,DEV=0
      - SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT=100.100.100.100:3483
      - SQUEEZELITE_RATES="44100-192000"
      - SQUEEZELITE_UPSAMPLING="v::4:28:95:105:45"
      - STARTUP_DELAY_SEC=0
    restart: unless-stopped

Note that network_mode is not specified because we are specifying the server we want to connect to.
When using SQUEEZELITE_RATES and SQUEEZELITE_UPSAMPLING, please be sure to use sampling rates that are effectively supported by your DAC.

Another docker-compose.yaml, this time leveraging presets. This one is for my Gustard X12, setting upsampling again. The file looks more concise and readable, at least IMO.

--
version: "3"

services:
  squeezelite-gustard-x12:
    image: giof71/squeezelite:bullseye
    container_name: squeezelite-gustard-x12
    devices:
      - /dev/snd:/dev/snd
    environment:
      - PRESET=gustard-x12,goldilocks,rates_up_to_384k
      - SQUEEZELITE_NAME=gustard-x12-usb
      - SQUEEZELITE_SERVER_PORT="192.168.1.10"

See build instructions here.

From this repository I create all the versions of the image. Each of them feature different base images and different way to obtain the squeezelite binary. See the following table for the details.

The jammy images are currently not very interesting compared to the debian based images especially with SourceForge binaries, and I am not willing to use non-lts versions of ubuntu, which change way too frequently. So I might drop some less interesting builds in the near future.

A few images built around SourceForge binaries report wrong and/or misleading tag names: some buster tags would appear to contain SqueezeLite version 1.8 and some bullseye tags would appear to contain SqueezeLite version 1.9.8. In both cases, the included SqueezeLite version is instead 1.9.9. Sorry for the inconvenience, this is now fixed.

The change log is available here.