jmtpfs

Mount an MTP device to a directory

$ jmtpfs [path/to/directory]

$ jmtpfs -o [allow_other,auto_unmount] [path/to/directory]

$ jmtpfs [[-l|--listDevices]]

$ jmtpfs -device=[bus_id],[device_id] [path/to/directory]

$ fusermount -u [path/to/directory]

jmtpfs [OPTION...] MOUNTPOINT

-h, --help
    Display help message and exit

-V, --version
    Print version information

-l, --list-devices
    List all detected MTP devices with indices

-n NUM, --device-number=NUM
    Mount specific device by index from --list-devices

--debug
    Enable verbose debug output

-o OPTS
    Pass FUSE options like allow_other, uid=1000, nonempty

jmtpfs is a userspace filesystem client based on FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) that enables mounting Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices, such as Android phones and digital cameras, as regular directories on Linux systems. It uses the libmtp library to handle MTP communication over USB, providing read/write access to the device's storage without needing root privileges or kernel modules.

Once mounted, files and directories appear in the mountpoint, allowing standard tools like cp, ls, or file managers to interact with the device. This bridges the gap for Linux users lacking native MTP support in the kernel. It's ideal for scripting, backups, or headless servers.

However, MTP is not a true filesystem protocol, so operations like large file copies or metadata changes may be slower or less reliable than USB mass storage. Device compatibility varies, with best support for Android devices in MTP mode.

MTP operations are inherently slow; write support is limited (no hard links, symlinks, or renames in some cases). May fail on locked devices or non-MTP modes. Requires libmtp and fuse packages. Unmount before disconnecting device to avoid corruption.

jmtpfs -l
List devices.

mkdir /mnt/mtp && jmtpfs /mnt/mtp
Mount first device.

fusermount -u /mnt/mtp
Unmount safely.

Requires libmtp-dev, libfuse-dev for compilation; runtime needs mtpfs package on most distros (e.g., apt install mtpfs).

Developed by Mark Hills as part of the libmtp project around 2010 to address Linux's lack of MTP filesystem support. Integrated with libmtp (v1.1+), actively maintained with updates for new devices and FUSE improvements.

mtp-detect(1), fusermount(1), simple-mtpfs(1), mount.fuse(8)