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LRC (file format)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Filename extension
.lrc
Magic numberNone, formally
Developed byNone
Type of formatTimed text
Container forSong lyrics (with their timings in the song)
Open format?Yes
Free format?Yes

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.[1]

File format

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Core format

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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. 

[00:12.00]Line 1 lyrics
[00:17.20]Line 2 lyrics

[00:21.10][00:45.10]Repeating lyrics (e.g. chorus)
...
[mm:ss.xx]Last lyrics line

ID tags may optionally appear before the lyrics,[2] although some players may not recognize or simply ignore this[citation needed]. 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
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. 

[ar:Chubby Checker oppure  Beatles, The]
[al:Hits Of The 60's - Vol. 2 – Oldies]
[ti:Let's Twist Again]
[au:Written by Kal Mann / Dave Appell, 1961]
[length: 2:23]

[00:12.00]Naku Penda Piya-Naku Taka Piya-Mpenziwe
[00:15.30]Some more lyrics ...
...

Extensions

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

Walaoke extension

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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. 

[00:12.00]Line 1 lyrics
[00:17.20]F: Line 2 lyrics
[00:21.10]M: Line 3 lyrics
[00:24.00]Line 4 lyrics
[00:28.25]D: Line 5 lyrics
[00:29.02]Line 6 lyrics

Using blue for male, red for female, and pink for duet, the lines will have the following colours:

  1. Line 1 will use the default color (blue), as there is no gender specifier;
  2. Line 2 will use red;
  3. Line 3 will use blue;
  4. Line 4 will continue to use blue, as no change has been specified;
  5. Line 5 will use pink; and
  6. Line 6 will continue to use pink.

A2 extension (Enhanced LRC format)

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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. 

[ti: Somebody to Love]
[ar: Jefferson Airplane]
[al: Surrealistic Pillow]
[lr: Lyricists of that song]
[length: 2:58]

[00:00.00] <00:00.04> When <00:00.16> the <00:00.82> truth <00:01.29> is <00:01.63> found <00:03.09> to <00:03.37> be <00:05.92> lies 
[00:06.47] <00:07.67> And <00:07.94> all <00:08.36> the <00:08.63> joy <00:10.28> within <00:10.53> you <00:13.09> dies 
[00:13.34] <00:14.32> Don't <00:14.73> you <00:15.14> want <00:15.57> somebody <00:16.09> to <00:16.46> love

Support

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Hardware or OEM Software

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Software

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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)[5] Yes Yes
Akari's LRC Maker (open-source online simple LRC maker/editor) (GitHub link) No 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
KaraFun Player (a third-party application that can visualise both simple and enhanced lrc files) Yes
Tauon Music Box (for Linux) Yes Yes
KMPlayer Yes
lrcShow-X (free software for X Window System, uses D-Bus to communicate with audio player)[6][1] Yes
MiniLyrics (for Windows, macOS, Android, own a large LRC database) Yes Yes Yes Yes
StepMania[7] Yes
OSD Lyrics (for Linux)[8] Yes Yes
Kodi (up to v15[9]) / Boxee Yes Yes
Plex (software)[10] Yes
Foobar2000 (with OpenLyrics component) Yes Yes Yes
MusicBee (with plugin) Yes Yes
LineSpec [11] displays lyrics in combination with a few media players Yes
YouTube Movie Maker[12] (can make lyric videos) Yes
Lyrimer[13] Yes
Neutron Player for Android Mobile Devices[14] Yes
AutoLyric[15] (plugin for some Windows media players) Yes Yes
AIMP Yes
Retro Music Player[16] (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)[17] Yes Yes
OneStagePlayer [18] Yes
mpv Yes
Lyrics Jukebox[19] Yes
SubtitleEdit [20]
Poweramp[21] (for Android) Yes
LRC-Lyricist[22] No Yes
Karaoke Lyric Editor (free cross-platform lyrics editor and exporter for Karaoke formats) Yes Yes
LRCGET[23] (Utility for mass-downloading LRC lyrics) No Yes Yes Yes
Lyric Potato[24] (AI tool for automatically generating timed text transcriptions) No Yes No

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Kuo's Lyrics Displayer for Winamp". www.fortunecity.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 1999. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. ^ "How to get or make LRC for your favorite songs". mobile-mir.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016.
  3. ^ Meizu: M3 Music Card
  4. ^ Lyrics Sync; Sleep Timer; Auto Power off; Date / Time Settings - Transcend MP330 User Manual, p. 26
  5. ^ Musicolet's Play Store page.
  6. ^ "lrcShow-X in Launchpad". launchpad.net. 27 September 2009.
  7. ^ "Song Lyrics - LRC Format". StepMania. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013.
  8. ^ Display Song Lyrics On Desktop In Ubuntu 14.04
  9. ^ "Karaoke support has been completely removed as it wasn't functional. 2016". Archived from the original on 2017-02-10. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  10. ^ "Adding Local Lyrics".
  11. ^ "LineSpec".
  12. ^ "YouTube Movie Maker". makeyoutubevideo.com.
  13. ^ "Lyrimer". Google Play Store.
  14. ^ "Neutron Music Player". www.neutronmp.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  15. ^ "AutoLyric". autolyric.com. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  16. ^ "Retro Music Player". Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  17. ^ "Vanilla Music". github.com. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  18. ^ "OnStagePlayer".
  19. ^ "Lyrics Jukebox".
  20. ^ "SubtitleEdit".
  21. ^ "Poweramp builds 948-957". forum.powerampapp.com. 2023-01-17. Build 948. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
  22. ^ "LRC-Lyricist".
  23. ^ "LRCGET".
  24. ^ "Lyric Potato".
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