You, too, can build this cool ESP32-S3 portable media player

Credit: Nilbed Published Oct 11, 2026, 11:26 PM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary I miss dedicated players, but this ESP32-S3 DIY revives pocket MP3 charm. It plays media from a microSD card or streams via DLNA/UPnP and comes with a 1.8" TFT. It's a work in progress with build files and instructions on the ESP32-S3 Audio Player GitHub repository. If you're like me, you miss the days of portable MP3 players. Sure, phones can do the same job and more, but there's something about a dedicated media player that I still miss. Well, this excellent DIY portable player brings me back to those good old days, and it looks a lot classier than lugging a phone around. Yes, that's a volume dial on the case Over on the ESP32 subreddit, user Nilbed posted their portable media player that plays music from microSD cards or a DLNA/UPnP media server. It looks like someone shrunk down a radio into a pocket-sized case you can carry around with you, and I'm all for it. Here's how Nilbed describes the shell of this media player: It has a 1.8" colour TFT with four screen modes, a small OLED status display, a rotary encoder with a 16-LED ring and four buttons, and an output compressor and limiter that keep the DAC from being overdriven. The TFT's aforementioned four screen modes let you tweak what you want to see. You can pick between a track card with a small album cover, segmented VU bars, an analogue-style needle VU meter, and a full-screen album cover. It's still a work-in-progress, so if you do decide to make your own, expect some of the files to change and update between build sessions. However, if you do want to make your own, head over to the ESP32-S3 Audio Player GitHub repository for all the details.