# LRC (file format)

LRC (short for lyrics) is a computer file format that synchronizes song lyrics with an audio file, such as MP3, Vorbis, or MIDI. It allows for compatible players (such as modern digital audio players) to display song lyrics synchronously with a song. The lyrics file generally has the same name as the audio file, just with a different filename extension, and operates as a sidecar file. For example, if a song's main file is song.mp3, its LRC file would most commonly be song.lrc. The LRC format is text-based and similar in form to subtitle files.
It was first introduced by Taiwan-based Kuo (Djohan) Shiang-shiang's Lyrics Displayer in 1998, with an accompanying plug-in for Winamp.

## File format
### Core format

The original LRC format (sometimes called the Simple LRC format) is formed of two types of tags (time tags and optional ID tags), with one tag per line. Time tags have the format [mm:ss.xx]lyric , where mm is minutes, ss is seconds, xx is hundredths of a second, and lyric is the lyric to be played at that time. A basic example with just time tags is below.
ID tags may optionally appear before the lyrics, although some players may not recognize or simply ignore this. The format of an ID tag is [type:value], where type is the tag type and value its value (most often some text). The different possible tag types are tabulated below.
| Tag type | Tag purpose |
| ti | Title of the song |
| ar | Artist performing the song |
| al | Album the song is from |
| au | Author of the song |
| lr | Lyricist of the song |
| length | Length of the song (mm:ss) |
| by | Author of the LRC file (not the song) |
| offset | Specifies a global offset value for the lyric times, in milliseconds. The value is prefixed with either + or -, with + causing lyrics to appear sooner |
| re/tool | The player or editor that created the LRC file |
| ve | The version of the program |
| # | Comments |
A more comprehensive example with both ID and time tags is given below.

### Extensions

Several extensions to the format have been created to introduce new functionality.

#### Walaoke extension

The Walaoke extension, available only in Walaoke from Walasoft, allows the specification of parts for a male-female duet. This is done through the use of M: , F: , and D: at the start of a line for male, female, and duet lines respectively. This allows them to be displayed in different colours. This is illustrated with an example below.
Using blue for male, red for female, and pink for duet, the lines will have the following colours:
* Line 1 will use the default color (blue), as there is no gender specifier;
* Line 2 will use red;
* Line 3 will use blue;
* Line 4 will continue to use blue, as no change has been specified;
* Line 5 will use pink; and
* Line 6 will continue to use pink.

#### A2 extension (Enhanced LRC format)

The A2 extension to the LRC format (also called the Enhanced LRC format) was introduced by the A2 Media Player, and adds the ability to specify the time individual words are sung. These word time tags are identical to the standard line time tags, but use angle brackets instead of square ones (i.e. <mm:ss.xx>). This allows the player to highlight each word when it needs to be sung, for example. An example is given below.

## Support
### Hardware or OEM Software

* Huawei, Samsung, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and Xiaomi smartphones' built-in music player
* Meizu's M3 Music Card and M6 Mini Player
* Creative Labs' MuVo V100
* Archos 5, when LRC file found with the same name as the song
* Rockbox compatible devices. See Manual entry
* Nokia's Symbian devices: "Music Player with lyrics available for selected software versions of Nokia 5800XM, X6 and 5230"
* Sony NWZ-E350 Series/E450 Series/E460 Series/E470 Series/A15/A17 Walkman; Sony Tablet S (With an embedded music player based on Android)
* Caanoo, when LRC file found with the same name as the song
* GP2X Wiz, when LRC file found with the same name as the song
* TEAC MP-222, when LRC file found with the same name as the song
* Transcend's MP330, when LRC file found with the same name as the song
* Cocktail Audio X40, X50 when LRC file found with the same name as the song

### Software

| Software | Lyrics Display | LRC Editor | LRC Search and Download | LRC Database |
| Musicolet Music Player for Android (supports Creating and Viewing synchronized lyrics in LRC format) | Yes | Yes | | |
| LyricsX (open-source, macOS App Store approved application to view lyrics on screen and/or Touch Bar of MacBooks) (App Store link) (GitHub link) | Yes | | Yes | |
| LRC Maker (online simple and enhanced LRC maker/editor) | No | Yes | | |
| Akari's LRC Maker (open-source online simple LRC maker/editor) (GitHub link) | No | Yes | | |
| LrcGenerator (online simple LRC maker/editor with a lot of advertising) | No | Yes | | |
| KaraFun Player (a third-party application that can visualise both simple and enhanced lrc files) | Yes | | | |
| Tauon Music Box (for Linux, Windows and macOS) | Yes | | Yes | |
| KMPlayer | Yes | | | |
| lrcShow-X (free software for X Window System, uses D-Bus to communicate with audio player) | Yes | | | |
| MiniLyrics (for Windows, macOS, Android, own a large LRC database) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| StepMania | Yes | | | |
| OSD Lyrics (for Linux) | Yes | | Yes | |
| Kodi (up to v15) / Boxee | Yes | | Yes | |
| Plex (software) | Yes | | | |
| Foobar2000 (with OpenLyrics component) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| MusicBee (with plugin) | Yes | | Yes | |
| LineSpec displays lyrics in combination with a few media players | Yes | | | |
| YouTube Movie Maker (can make lyric videos) | Yes | | | |
| Lyrimer | Yes | | | |
| Neutron Player for Android Mobile Devices | Yes | | | |
| AutoLyric (plugin for some Windows media players) | Yes | | Yes | |
| AIMP | Yes | | | |
| Retro Music Player (offline music player for Android) | Yes | | | |
| Medoly (for Android, also supports Enhanced LRC formats and other lyric formats) | Yes | | | |
| LRCMakerPro for Android Devices | Yes | | Yes | |
| Vanilla Music (with Lyrics search plugin) | Yes | | Yes | |
| OneStagePlayer | Yes | | | |
| mpv | Yes | | | |
| Lyrics Jukebox | Yes | | | |
| SubtitleEdit | | | | |
| Poweramp (for Android) | Yes | | | |
| LRC-Lyricist | No | Yes | | |
| Karaoke Lyric Editor (free cross-platform lyrics editor and exporter for Karaoke formats) | Yes | Yes | | |
| LRCGET (Utility for mass-downloading LRC lyrics) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lyric Potato (AI tool for automatically generating timed text transcriptions) | No | Yes | | No |
| Jellyfin (since v10.9.0) | Yes | | Yes | |