Set up OpenList for WebDAV

If you already organize your music the way you think about it—folders sorted by artist, year, and edition—you often don’t need a heavy media server to reinterpret your collection. You just need a clean window that lets your player reach those folders over the network.

OpenList is a community-maintained file listing and WebDAV server (forked from the original AList project). It stays lightweight, leaves your folder hierarchy untouched, and exposes local or NAS storage through a standard WebDAV endpoint that OFPlayer can read directly.

[!NOTE] Reviewed in October 2026 against OpenList v4 and OFPlayer for Windows (26.0.6), OFPlayer for Android (26.0.2), and the web player. Check OpenList’s Docker installation docs for any host-specific image updates before deploying.

Why choose OpenList for WebDAV

In a self-hosted music setup, OpenList and Navidrome serve two distinct habits:

• OpenList (WebDAV) is like opening your own shelves: You browse the exact directory tree you curated on disk. Because OFPlayer only reads audio bytes when you press play, your lossless FLACs, booklet scans, and sidecar lyrics stay together without a separate indexing database.
• Navidrome (Subsonic) is like having a dedicated cataloger: It scans embedded tags up front so you can browse thousands of albums by artist, genre, and cover art.

If you want a straightforward WebDAV library running in under ten minutes, start with OpenList.

1. Deploy with Docker Compose

Running OpenList in Docker keeps configuration in a single folder and lets you mount your music collection read-only (:ro). Building a personal music library takes years; your file server and player only need to read those files, never alter or delete them.

Create a project directory with a writable data folder:

mkdir -p /opt/openlist/data
cd /opt/openlist

Create docker-compose.yml, replacing /path/to/music with your host music folder and 1000:1000 with a user and group ID that can write to ./data and read your music:

services:
  openlist:
    image: openlistteam/openlist:latest
    container_name: openlist
    user: '1000:1000'
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - '5244:5244'
    volumes:
      - ./data:/opt/openlist/data
      - /path/to/music:/opt/openlist/music:ro
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC
      - UMASK=022

Start the container and inspect the logs for the initial administrator credentials:

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs openlist

If you prefer to set the administrator password explicitly, run:

docker exec -it openlist ./openlist admin set YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD

2. Mount the music folder and grant WebDAV permission

Open http://SERVER_IP:5244 in your browser, sign in to the Manage dashboard, and change the default admin password under Users.

Next, attach your music directory:

1. Go to Storages → Add and choose Local as the driver.
2. Set Mount Path to /music (the virtual path that will appear under WebDAV).
3. Set Root Folder Path to /opt/openlist/music inside the container.
4. Save the storage and confirm that your album folders appear in the web view.

Before switching to OFPlayer, verify one crucial permission under Users: the account you use for playback must have WebDAV Read enabled. Creating a dedicated read-only user for your player is safer than reusing your administrator login across devices.

3. Understand the WebDAV URL and path rules

A common stumbling block is pasting the web dashboard URL into a WebDAV client. OpenList serves WebDAV under /dav/, followed by your storage mount path:

[!IMPORTANT] When adding the source in OFPlayer, if your Server URL already ends with /dav/music, leave the optional Root path field empty. Putting /music in both fields produces /dav/music/music and results in an HTTP 404 error.

4. Keep folders tidy and secure remote access

Because WebDAV browses directories directly, a predictable hierarchy (Artist / Year - Album / 01. Track.flac alongside cover.jpg and .lrc files) keeps navigation fast and clean. You can also use the browser-based OFPlayer Music Tools to inspect tags, normalize filenames, or adjust LRC timestamps before moving albums onto your server.

If you connect from outside your home network, put OpenList behind an HTTPS reverse proxy (or reach it over a personal VPN) so credentials and audio streams are never sent in plain text over the public internet. Ensure your proxy forwards WebDAV methods such as PROPFIND and preserves Range headers for seeking.

5. Connect OFPlayer and maintain your setup

With WebDAV ready, open OFPlayer for Windows (26.0.6), OFPlayer for Android (26.0.2), or the web player (/app), add a WebDAV source, test the connection, and press play. Note that the browser-based web player requires your server to allow cross-origin requests (CORS), whereas the native Windows and Android apps connect directly without browser CORS restrictions.

Back up ./data independently of your original audio files before pulling new container images. Next, read Connect OFPlayer to a remote library for platform-specific connection details, or check the AList migration reference if you are moving from an older AList deployment.