These are the options within the Winamp Plug-ins preferences:

• Plug-ins (top-level)
• Input
• Output
• Visualization
• DSP/Effect
• General Purpose
• Media Library
• Portables

Plug-ins (top-level):

• Visualization plug-in directory: Click this to choose a new plug-in visualization folder.
• DSP/Effect plug-in directory: Click this to choose a new DSP/Effect folder DSP/Effect plug-in directory.
• Visualization plug-in priority: Use the slider to choose how much priority should be given to visualizations.
• Auto execute visualization plug-in on playback: Automatically start visualizations when a track is played.
• Disable built-in visualization when visualization plug-in active: Don't display the main window visualization if a visualization plug-in is active.
• Disable SEH for vis/dsp/general plugins: Disables Structured Exception Handling. Useful for plugin developers, not recommended for everyday users.
• Flush plug-in name cache: Clears the plug-in name cache.

Input: Input Plugins, also known as Decoders, determine what file types are supported by Winamp. For example, Nullosft MPEG Audio Decoder (in_mp3.dll) is required for Winamp to support mp3 files, Nullsoft Vorbis Decoder (in_vorbis.dll) is required for Ogg Vorbis support, etc. If in_vorbis.dll is not present in the Winamp\Plugins folder, then Winamp will not be able to play files with the .ogg extension. Each individual Input plugin has its own respective configuration. This could include options such as priority class, streaming buffer sizes, file extensions handled by the plugin, and other options specific to the filetypes handled by each respective Input plugin.

• Input plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp input plug-ins.
• Configure: Configure the selected plug-in.
• About: List information about the author(s) of the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.

Ouput: Output Plugins determine the method of playback used by Winamp. Only one Output plugin can be active at once, and the highlighted Output Plugin is the active one. The recommended Output Plugin for normal playback is 'DirectSound Output' (out_ds.dll). 'DirectSound Output' provides extra features such as multi-speaker output, gapless playback, and crossfading. The old Win9x 'WaveOut Output' method is outdated and not recommended for usage under Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, although Windows 2000 users will need to make sure DirectX v8 or higher is installed first. Other Output plugins can be used for converting file formats. For example, when Diskwriter is active (highlighted) then Winamp will convert the played files into WAV files. Diskwriter config contains options for the quality of WAV to produce and what folder to save the created WAV files in. When Diskwriter is active, playback will be much faster and you will hear no sound. Note that the Diskwriter method is now considered to be outdated, and newer versions of Winamp now come with a built-in Transcoding Tool (Format Converter) which can be accessed via the "Send To" menu when you right-click items in the Playlist and Media Library windows. Therefore, in most cases, you should never need to change the active Output plugin from the default 'DirectSound Output' selection.

• Output plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp output plug-ins.
• Configure: Configure the selected plug-in.
• About: List information about the author(s) of the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.

Visualization: The highlighted Visualization plugin is the active one.

• Visualization plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp visualization plug-ins.
• Plug-in module: Select a module included with this plug-in.
• Start: Start the selected plug-in and module.
• Stop: Stop the selected plug-in and module.
• Configure: Configure the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.

DSP/Effect: The highlighted DSP/Effect plugin is the active one. Select 'None' to disable.

• DSP plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp DSP/Effect plug-ins.
• Plug-in module: Select a module included with this plug-in.
• Configure active plug-in: Configure the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.

General Purpose: General Purpose plugins add extra functionality and features to Winamp.

• General Purpose plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp General Purpose plug-ins.
• Configure selected plug-in: Configure the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall selected plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.

Media Library: Media Library plugins enhance and add extra features to the Media Library

• Media Library plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp Media Library plug-ins.
• Configure selected plug-in: Configure the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall selected plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.

Portables: Portable plugins generally have little or no configuration. Most options for connected Devices can be found via the Portables section of the Media Library Preferences.

• Portables plug-ins: Lists the currently installed Winamp Portables plug-ins.
• Configure selected plug-in: Configure the selected plug-in.
• Uninstall selected plug-in: Uninstall the selected plug-in.
• Get plug-ins: Click this to get more plug-ins online.