AF Media Bar: media controls parked on the Windows taskbar

What it does with the system media session

AF Media Bar is a taskbar media controller for Windows 10 and 11. It reads what is currently playing from the system media session and surfaces that in the desktop, so that track information, lyrics, playback controls and device switching are more directly usable than they are in the default shell.

The framing in the repository is media control and minor beautification, which is an honest description of the scope. This is not a media player. It does not decode or play anything itself; it reads the session that Windows already maintains and gives that session a better interface than the one the system ships with.

That distinction explains the design. The playback buttons work because the shell already knows what is playing, and the device switching works because the audio stack already exposes the output list. The application contributes the presentation layer, the lyrics and the visual treatment, which is why it can stay a thin layer on top of an operating system feature.

The project is written in C# with a WPF interface, MIT licensed, and released under version numbers that move quickly: v1.5.0 on 2026-10-17, v1.4.0 on 2026-10-12 and v1.3.2 on 2026-10-06, with the last push on 2026-10-20.

The layout: a bar on the taskbar and a popup above it

The hero diagram in the README shows the arrangement, and it is the clearest description of the interface. The media bar sits in the bottom left of the Windows taskbar, a full media popup opens directly above it, and the application icon with the project information sits on the right.

The bar is the persistent element, small enough to live in the taskbar without competing with the system tray, and the popup is the expanded state where the track, its artwork, the lyrics and the controls live. Splitting the two means the information you want constantly is always one glance away while the details stay out of the way until asked for.

The lyrics are the feature with the most engineering behind it. They are fetched online, which means a network request carrying the track title and artist, and the README says the lyric sources can be turned off in the settings. The credits list Lyricify-Lyrics-Helper as the source of the lyric library, providing parsing, generation, search and decryption, and TaskbarLyrics as the project that showed the taskbar lyric idea on Windows.

The visual layer borrows from FluentFlyout, a Windows volume flyout, and from WPF UI for the Fluent-style controls, and NAudio handles audio capture and processing on Windows.

Installing: an installer or a portable folder

Both distribution shapes come from the GitHub releases page, and the artefact names differ only in the extension and the wrapping:

AFMediaBar-Setup-vX.Y.Z-win-x64.exe
AFMediaBar-vX.Y.Z-win-x64.zip

The installer is the recommended route and runs a wizard. The portable build is a zip that you extract into a writable directory and run AFMediaBar.exe from, which is the option for anyone who does not want an application registered on the machine.

The system requirements are specific. Windows 10 version 1809 or newer on x64, and the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which the README tells you to install as the Evergreen Runtime if it is missing. The release packages bundle the .NET runtime, so there is no separate runtime prerequisite to satisfy.

The WebView2 requirement is the one that catches people out. It is a component many Windows installations already have and some do not, and on a stripped-down or older system the application will not start without it.

Updates, settings and how to remove it

The update model differs between the two builds, which the README spells out.

A new version is detected and the application prompts you, and the check can also be triggered from the app page. The installed version can download and install the update in place. The portable version needs the program files replaced manually, which is the usual trade-off for a build that does not touch the system.

Settings are written to a single JSON file in the local application data folder:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\AFMediaBar\settings.json

The app page can open that folder for you, so you can edit the configuration directly or delete it to fall back to defaults.

Uninstalling follows the same split. The installed version is removed through Windows installed apps or from the start menu, the portable version by deleting its directory. Either way, clearing the settings and cache is a separate manual step, which means deleting the application does not necessarily remove everything it wrote to disk.

Privacy: what actually leaves the machine

The README states plainly that the application contains no telemetry, no advertising and no account system, and that media control and volume operations are handled locally.

Two things do use the network, and it is worth separating them. Update checking contacts the release source to see whether a newer version exists. Online lyric retrieval queries a lyric service, and the README is specific about what that request carries: the track title and the artist. The lyric source can be disabled in the settings, which removes that path entirely.

The application runs with the permissions of the current user rather than as a system service, which is the right default for something that only needs to read media sessions and draw on the taskbar. Security issues are to be reported privately through the SECURITY.md policy, and the repository carries third-party notices for the borrowed components.

For a tool that sits on the taskbar and watches what you play, that combination of local-only media handling, no telemetry and a switch to turn lyric lookups off is a reasonable privacy posture.

Four interface languages and a documented architecture

The interface ships in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English and Vietnamese, and the language can be switched from the app page. The README exists in three of those, Chinese, English and Vietnamese, and the localisation guide describes how to contribute a new language or fix an existing translation, with a dedicated issue template for localisation feedback.

The repository structure is documented as well as described. Application source is under src/, tests under tests/ and development tooling under tools/, with an architecture document covering the directory layout and responsibilities, and a contributing guide covering how to build and verify. There is a global.json at the root, which pins the SDK the project expects, and an installer/ directory for the packaging, alongside CHANGELOG files in both Chinese and English, a RELEASE_NOTES.md, a CONTEXT.md and an AGENTS.md.

The contributing guide also lists what a useful bug report contains, namely the Windows version, the application version, the player involved and the steps to reproduce. For a tool that sits between the shell and whatever is playing, that is the right set of facts, since the same symptom can come from the session, the player or the shell.

Where it fits, and what to check

The obvious comparison is with the media controls Windows already provides, or with the small utilities that put lyrics on the taskbar. The difference is that AF Media Bar combines both in one surface, the session controls and the lyrics, and presents both with the same visual treatment.

The trade-offs are the ones a taskbar utility always has. It occupies screen space in a crowded area of the desktop, it depends on the media session being reported accurately, which varies by player, and it depends on WebView2 being present. The lyrics depend on a lookup service that matches on title and artist, so badly tagged files will show the wrong words or none.

The practical checks before you commit to it are quick. Install the Evergreen WebView2 runtime if the machine lacks it, confirm that your usual player populates the media session, and look at the lyric retrieval for a track whose metadata you know well, since that is the feature most likely to disappoint. If the track is mislabelled in your library, the lyric lookup will be too, and the setting to disable it exists for exactly that case.

Editorial conclusion

AF Media Bar suits someone who plays media on Windows and wants track information, lyrics and transport controls on the taskbar rather than inside each player, and who is happy with a small utility that reads the shell's media session. It is the wrong choice if your player does not report a media session, since the controls then have nothing to act on, and the wrong choice if you would rather not have any lyric lookups leaving the machine. Verify first that the WebView2 runtime is installed, that your usual player populates the media session, and that the lyrics are correct for a track you know, since badly tagged files will match the wrong song.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Fervent-Tempo/AF-Media-Bar on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: MIT
4. README
5. Releases