How to Make an LRC File from MP3: Three Ways, Ranked by Effort
Quick Answer
The fastest way to make an LRC file from an MP3 is to upload the MP3 to an AI LRC generator, check the timing on the waveform and download the .lrc. EasyLRC takes about 10 to 20 seconds for a normal song. The free plan covers 5 minutes of audio a month and you don't need a card.
If the song is well known you can skip generating and grab a finished file from LRCLIB. And if neither works you can type the timestamps yourself. All three are below, easiest first. After that comes the part people skip, which is naming the file so your player actually loads it.
What an LRC File Is
An .lrc file is plain text. Every lyric line starts with a timestamp in square brackets. The player reads the clock and highlights the line that matches.
The MP3 itself never changes. The lyrics live in a second file next to it (or inside its tags, more on that below). So "MP3 to LRC" really means "listen to the MP3 and write down when each line starts". A tool can do the listening for you. Or you do it with a stopwatch.
Full syntax, header tags and edge cases are in the LRC format guide.
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Way 1: MP3 to LRC With an AI Generator (Least Effort)
Try this one first. The model listens to the vocals, writes out the words and stamps each line. You fix whatever it got wrong and export.
- Open the EasyLRC upload page and sign in with Google.
- Drop in the MP3. WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG and Opus work too. So do MP4 and MOV if the song only exists as a video. FLAC needs a paid plan.
- Wait. A 3 to 5 minute song takes about 10 to 20 seconds.
- Play it through on the waveform. If a line fires early or late, drag its start. Fix any word the model misheard, usually names or slang.
- Export as .lrc and save it next to the MP3.
The free plan has no watermark and doesn't ask for a card. 5 minutes of audio a month works out to about one song. Paid plans start at $5 a month if you've got a whole library to get through.
It beats downloading for your own recordings and covers. Also demos, live versions, remixes and anything in a language the lyrics sites skip. EasyLRC handles 99+ languages. It needs more of your attention on heavy harmonies or two people singing over each other. The timing is usually still right but you'll want to read through the words.
There's a demo if you want to see the output before signing in.
Way 2: Download an Existing LRC (LRCLIB and LRCGET)
If it's a popular studio recording, someone has probably synced it already. LRCLIB is a free and open lyrics database. LRCGET is its official desktop client and runs on Windows, Linux and macOS.
- Install LRCGET.
- Point it at your music folder. It scans the files and looks each one up by tags.
- Let it download. Since LRCGET 2.0 the lyrics live in its own database, so run the export (whole library or per track) to write each one as an .lrc with the same name as the music file, in the same folder. Then the player picks it up and you don't rename anything.
- Play two or three of them before you trust the batch.
Don't skip that last step. A file in the database was synced to someone else's copy of the track. If your MP3 is a different master or a radio edit, or has a few seconds of silence trimmed, every line will be off by the same amount. The lyrics can also be from a different version of the song. If the gap is constant, add an [offset:] tag (see troubleshooting below). If the words are wrong go back to Way 1 and generate from your own audio.
Way 3: Time It by Hand (Most Effort)
This is how everyone did it before 2023. You can still do it. And knowing the format helps even if you never type one from scratch.
Each line is [mm:ss.xx] followed by the text. Minutes then seconds then hundredths of a second. Optional header tags go at the top.
[ti:Blue Hour]
[ar:Night Coast]
[offset:0]
[00:12.40]I left the porch light on for you
[00:16.85]Long after you were gone
[00:21.10]The moths came back, you never did
[00:25.70]I kept it on till dawn
There are two ways to get the numbers.
Text editor. Play the song, pause at each line, read the time off the player and type it in. A first pass takes around 3x the song length. Then you'll need another pass for the lines you paused late on.
Tap-to-sync editor. Paste the plain lyrics, press play and hit a key as each line starts. The editor writes the timestamp for you and one pass is close to real time. Your taps will land 100 to 300 ms late though, because you react to the vocal instead of anticipating it. So nudge everything earlier afterwards. The best LRC editors post covers which apps do this well.
For one song hand timing is fine. By the third you'll be sick of it.
Which Way to Pick
| AI generator | Download (LRCLIB) | By hand | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time per song | 10 to 20 s plus a quick review | Seconds, if it exists | 5 to 15 min |
| Works on your own recordings | Yes | No | Yes |
| Works on obscure or non-English tracks | Yes | Hit and miss | Yes |
| Timing matches your exact file | Yes | Only if same master | Yes |
| Cost | Free for 5 min/month | Free | Free |
| Word-level timing possible | Yes (paid) | Rarely, though LRCLIB does accept word-synced files now | Possible with LRCGET's word editor, but slow |
What I'd actually do is run LRCGET across the library once. Then generate whatever it missed plus anything that drifts.
Name It Like the MP3 and Put It Beside It (or Embed It)
Almost every player follows the same rule. Same folder, same base name, different extension.
Music/Night Coast/03 Blue Hour.mp3
Music/Night Coast/03 Blue Hour.lrc
Every character has to match, spaces and brackets included. Blue Hour.lrc won't load for Blue Hour (Remastered).mp3. On a phone, copy the .lrc into the same folder as the song. Streaming the MP3 from a server works the same way as long as the .lrc sits next to it.
You can also embed the lyrics. Some players read them from inside the audio file's tags, so the lyrics travel with the song. Poweramp on Android reads synced lyrics from embedded tags as well as from .lrc files (Poweramp forum, since build 948). MusicBee on Windows reads a .lrc beside the track and can insert timestamps while a track plays, from the tag editor. Tagging tools like Mp3tag can write the LRC text into a lyrics tag. I'd still keep the sidecar .lrc as the default. Every LRC-capable player reads it and you can regenerate it without touching the MP3.
Troubleshooting
Lyrics show up but don't scroll. Either the file has no timestamps or the player treats it as plain text. Open it in a text editor. If the lines start with words instead of [00:12.40] then it's an unsynced lyrics file with an .lrc extension, and you'll need to regenerate or time it. Also check that synced lyrics are turned on in the player. Poweramp has a separate toggle for LRC files in its lyrics settings.
Timing drifts, every line is early or late by the same amount. Add an [offset:] tag at the top of the file. The value is in milliseconds. Try [offset:-400] to move everything by 0.4 s. Players disagree on which way the sign goes, so if it got worse flip it to [offset:400]. If the gap grows over the song instead of staying constant, the file was synced to a different edit. Generate a new one from your audio. There's a full write-up in fixing lyrics time drift.
Wrong language detected. An AI generator guesses the language from the first seconds of audio. A long instrumental intro can throw it off, and so can a sample in another language. Check the detected language before you accept the result and set it manually if you can. If a song switches languages mid-verse, expect to fix a few lines in whichever language gets less airtime.
Garbled characters. Accented letters, Japanese, Korean or Cyrillic come out as question marks or symbols. Save the .lrc as UTF-8. Most editors default to it now but older ones might not. If the file came from a download, open it and re-save as UTF-8. Lines full of é and ’ give it away.
Player says no lyrics found. Nine times out of ten the name doesn't match. Compare the two filenames character by character. Usually it's a trailing space or a different number of leading zeros in the track number.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I make an LRC file from an MP3 for free
Upload the MP3 to EasyLRC, check the timing and export the .lrc. The free plan gives you 5 minutes of audio a month with no card and no watermark. For popular songs you can also download a finished file from LRCLIB with the LRCGET desktop app and export it as .lrc.
How long does MP3 to LRC take
With an AI generator a 3 to 5 minute song takes about 10 to 20 seconds to process. Then a minute or two to check the lines. By hand with a tap-to-sync editor it's roughly the length of the song plus corrections. In a plain text editor plan on 3x the song length.
Does the LRC file need the same name as the MP3
Yes, for almost every player. Same folder and base name with a .lrc extension. The match has to be exact so one different bracket or a trailing space will stop the lyrics loading.
Can I embed the LRC inside the MP3 instead
Some players read lyrics from the file's tags. Poweramp reads synced lyrics from embedded tags and from .lrc files. A tagging tool like Mp3tag can write the LRC text into a lyrics tag. But a sidecar .lrc file is still the safer default since every LRC-capable player reads it.
Why do my lyrics display but not scroll
The file has no timestamps. Open it in a text editor. Each line should start with something like [00:12.40]. If it doesn't, it's unsynced lyrics saved with an .lrc extension. Regenerate it from the audio or time it yourself.
What format does an LRC generator need
EasyLRC takes MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG and Opus on the free plan plus MP4 or MOV video. FLAC needs a paid plan. It pulls the audio out of a video on its own, so a music video or a phone recording works fine as a source.
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