I hope the video helps you with QuakeSpasm Music as I know many people have run into many problems with getting the ripped music to work, including myself.
The QuakeSpasm_Music.txt File that comes with the QuakeSpasm Engine states as follows.
QuakeSpasm supports ogg, mp3 and wav external music files to be played
instead of cd music. What you should do is simple:
1. Use your favorite cd-ripper application and rip your quake cdrom
audio tracks, convert them to ogg or mp3 so they occupy less space,
like track02.ogg, track03.ogg, etc.
Note #1: There is no such thing as track01: the first tracks of
original Quake and the mission pack cdroms are always data
tracks.
Note #2: Since the Quake cdrom audio tracks are pre-emphasized, you
should de-emphasize them during or after ripping to make
them sound right. (thanks to Sander van Dijk for this note)
2. Go into your quake installation directory and create a new directory
id1/music (for windows users id1\music).
3. If you have the Scourge of Armagon mission pack, then create another
directory hipnotic/music . If you have the Dissolution of Eternity
then create another directory rogue/music .
4. Take the ripped music files from step1, place them under id1/music.
If you have the mission packs, repeat step1 for the mission packs,
too, and place the ripped music files under hipnotic/music for the
first mission pack or under rogue/music for the second mission pack.
5. All are ready to go: When a level starts, the engine will first try
playing the necessary cdaudio track and if it doesn't find the cdrom
it will use the ripped music files instead.
Troubleshooting Music Files in Quakespasm
Now I just want to say even I was a bit confused reading all the text in the file, but I eventually did figure it out.
The first thing I want to point out is the filename of the tracks that most rips come in the form of.
- track02.ogg
For the most part if you are getting Music Files for your mods for Quake, they come in all sorts of different filenames. Most notable I’ve found that the majority of them are ripped for the Darkplaces engine and not Quakespasm.
The Rips I had problems with were whenever the filenames were like track002.ogg.
Quakespasm will not play these automatically, but whenever I typed the music command in the console using the ~
Example
music track002
The music would start playing letting me know it was in the correct folder and Quakespasm was reading the file.
Sometimes, whenever a map loads it was saying it couldn’t find “track 2”.
Confused as clearly track002.ogg is listed in the correct folder! Why wasn’t it playing?
After renaming the file to track02.ogg the music automatically played.
Quakespasm won’t read the files automatically unless you name it in the correct format.
This is the correct format for the file name for the Quakespasm engine.
- track02.ogg
Where do I put my Quake Mod Music Files for Quakespasm
The Quakespasm_Music.txt file assumes you already know how to install mods. But, it also jumps straight from installing the Music for the original game to the mission packs.

Here we have a simple Quake folder structure.
- C:\Quake\
For example if you want to download the original Quake Music for ONLY the original game. You would make a new folder in id1 called music. You would then place your ripped music files into this folder with the correct filename structure above in this article.

Original Quake Music going to this folder for Quakespasm
- C:\Quake\id1\music
Now how do you add music for mods and mission packs? It can be a little bit confusing you might think you just put everything into id1\music according to how the text reads. Or, you might even think you create another id1\music folder in your mod or mission folder.
You simply must people a music folder, into your mod or mission pack folder like so.

- C:\Quake\xmen\music
Combined with the video and the following tips you should be able to get the music working in Quakespasm!
Quakespasm Music Conclusion
I hope this little guide and video helps many Quakefans out there as it took me a bit of tinkering to completely understand why in the world my music wasn’t working at all.
Below I’ll link directly to the music files used in most of the mods, original, and mission packs!
These are hosted by https://quaddicted.com and they are safe to use!
- Original Quake Music – (Goes into id1\music\ )
- Quake Mission Pack 1 – (Goes into hipontic\music\ )
- Quake Mission Pack 2 – (Goes into rogue\music\ )
- X-Men Quake Mod – (Goes into (mod)\music\ )
I might update these some other day but I hope this helps you out!
I’ll do a Darkplaces Engine Music help soon but if you stumbled upon this having Quake music problems you might find it useful. Darkplaces for mods need to be structured like this – put the .ogg files into (mod)/sound/cdtracks/