Py Now Playing

Py Now Playing lets you read and control media sessions from Windows apps via the Global System Media Transport Controls (GSMTC) API.

Features

• Fetch track details (artist, title, album, artwork)
• Control playback (play, pause, seek, next/previous)
• Access timeline info (position, duration)
• Register callbacks for status changes

Originally developed to feed currently playing audio into Discord Rich Presence, Py Now Playing provides an easy Python interface for controlling media apps on Windows.

Note: Windows-only. Uses asyncio; all functions are asynchronous and must be awaited.

---

Installation

pip install py-now-playing

---

Importing

You can import everything:

from py_now_playing import *

Or selectively import only what you need:

from py_now_playing import (
    MediaPlaybackStatus,
    MediaPlaybackType,
    MediaPlaybackAutoRepeatMode,
    PlaybackInfo,
    MediaTimeline,
    PyNowPlaying,
    MediaInfo
)

---

Finding App User Model IDs (AUMID)

Every Windows media app has a unique App User Model ID (AUMID). Py Now Playing uses this ID to connect and control the app.

Using Static Functions

# Get currently active media apps and their IDs
ids = await PyNowPlaying.get_active_app_user_model_ids()
# -> [{"Name": "Spotify", "AppID": "Spotify_AUMID"}, ...]

# Find all apps matching a name
matches = await PyNowPlaying.get_all_aumids_by_name("Spotify")

Command Line / PowerShell

• Run Py Now Playing from the command line to list apps:

python -m py-now-playing

• Or in PowerShell:

Get-StartApps | Select-String "App Name"

---

Quick Start

import asyncio
from py_now_playing import PyNowPlaying

async def main():
    pnp = await PyNowPlaying.create(aumid="Spotify_AUMID")
    media = await pnp.get_media_info()
    print(media.artist, media.title)

asyncio.run(main())

---

Usage Examples

Get Media Info

media_info = await pnp.get_media_info()
print(media_info.artist, media_info.title)

Control Playback

await pnp.play()
await pnp.pause()
await pnp.next_track()
await pnp.seek(60)  # Seek to 1 minute

Access Timeline Properties

timeline = await pnp.get_timeline_properties()
# timeline contains position, start/end time, and seek times (see MediaTimeline dataclass)
print(timeline.position, timeline.end_time)

Register a Playback Callback

def on_playback_info_changed(info):
    print("Playback status changed:", info.playback_status)

pnp.register_playback_info_changed_callback(on_playback_info_changed)

---

Dataclasses Overview

Class	Description
MediaInfo	Artist, title, album, genres, artwork, etc.
PlaybackInfo	Playback status, type, rate, repeat/shuffle state, available controls
MediaTimeline	Position, start/end time, seek times
EnabledControls	Which controls are available for the current app

---

Advanced Example: Discord RPC

Note

None of these examples are guaranteed to work on your system because I hardcoded file paths for logs and paths. They are shown as examples only.

• `examples/discordRPC_v4.pyw` – full Discord Rich Presence integration
• `examples/controlpanel.py` – basic control panel using Flet

---

Troubleshooting

• Ensure the target media app is open and actively playing.
• Works only on Windows 10/11 (uses WinRT APIs).
• All calls are async; use await inside an async event loop.
• If no media info is returned, verify that the app is playing media and the AUMID is correct.

---

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
See the LICENSE file for details.