Poweramp LRC Lyrics: How to Add Synced Lyrics on Android
Quick Answer
Poweramp LRC lyrics work from build 948 onward. Put a .lrc file in the same folder as the song with the same base name. Make sure that folder is in Settings > Library > Music Folders, then rescan.
Poweramp also reads lyrics embedded in ID3 tags and in mp4/m4a atoms. Synced lines scroll one at a time. There's no word by word karaoke mode, so a plain line level LRC is all you need.
What Poweramp Reads
Poweramp v3 has six ways to get lyrics on screen. They're spelled out in the official FAQ and the build 948 to 957 release notes.
| Source | Synced | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Embedded SYLT frame (MP3) | Yes | The proper synced lyrics tag. Supported since build 948. |
| Embedded USLT frame with LRC timestamps | Yes | Users on the forum report (build 957) that [mm:ss.nn] timestamps at the start of each line inside USLT sync too. |
| mp4/m4a lyrics atom | Listed in the FAQ | Lyrics stored inside mp4 and m4a containers. |
Sidecar .lrc file | Yes | Build 948 onward. Matched by name, tags and duration. |
| Lyrics plugin | Yes | A plugin API shipped with builds 948 to 957. Third party apps answer when a track has no lyrics. |
| Preferred Lyrics App | No | Hands the title and artist to MusiXmatch, Genius, QuickLyric or a browser. The words show up in that app and Poweramp doesn't display them. |
Embedded tags and sidecar files get priority. Plugin lyrics come after. A moderator confirmed one limit, which is that Poweramp uses only the first timestamp on a line and shows the rest as text. So a repeated chorus needs its own timestamped line for each repeat.
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Where to Put the .lrc File on Android
- Find the song's folder. Something like
/storage/emulated/0/Music/Album/on internal storage, or the same path on the SD card. - Copy the
.lrcinto that exact folder. ALyricssubfolder won't work and neither will a shared lyrics folder at the top of the card. - Give it the same base name as the audio file.
03 Song.flacgets03 Song.lrcand only the extension changes. - Check that Poweramp scans the folder. Settings > Library > Music Folders has to include it or a parent of it.
- Rescan. A normal rescan usually finds the file. If it doesn't, run Full Rescan under Settings > Library.
People skip the scan all the time and then end up posting about it on the forum.
Turn On Poweramp LRC Lyrics in Settings
The lyrics options live under Settings > Look and Feel > Lyrics.
- Make sure the LRC file option is enabled there. When sidecar files get ignored this is the first place a forum moderator sends people.
- Decide how you want to open lyrics. You can swipe up from the main player screen to open the lyrics area, or use the lyrics button if you've enabled it in Settings.
- Pinch inside the lyrics area to change the font size.
- Preferred Lyrics App is a separate thing. If you only want local files leave it alone. All it does is hand off to another app.
Tagging your files with embedded lyrics instead of sidecars? Use the Rescan Lyrics Tags option after tagging. It picks up tags the library scan missed earlier.
How Poweramp Matches an LRC to a Song
Poweramp doesn't just trust the file name. The release notes say companion LRC files are validated against the song and moderators on the forum have described the checks:
- If the file has a
[length:]header it should be within about 2 seconds of the track duration. - If the file has header tags (
[ti:],[ar:],[al:],[length:]) they have to match the song's tags, otherwise the file is ignored. - Otherwise it falls back to folder plus file name.
So a downloaded .lrc whose artist header doesn't line up with the MP3's tags gets skipped. And a file made from a radio edit fails the length check against the album version. The developer first set that check to plus or minus 1 second and said he'd loosen it, so 2 seconds is the rough number.
When a file refuses to load there's a quick test. Delete every header line at the top so only the timestamped lyric lines are left. If it loads now, add the headers back one at a time until you find the bad one.
Since build 956 Poweramp also accepts a plain text .lrc with no timestamps and shows it as a static block. Before that an untimed .lrc showed as No lyrics.
Poweramp Lyrics Not Showing
Nothing shows for a song with an .lrc next to it. Go through this in order. Folder is in Music Folders. File name matches to the character. LRC option is on under Look and Feel > Lyrics. Rescan done. Headers stripped.
Lyrics show but don't scroll. The text came from a plain USLT tag or a file without timestamps, so Poweramp shows it as a static block. Replace it with a timestamped .lrc.
Only the first chorus line highlights. The file has several timestamps on one line. Split them up so each repeat gets its own line.
Wrong lyrics on a song. A plugin with a broad search fallback can return the wrong track. Turn the fallback off or search by hand. But if the song itself has a bad title tag, Preferred Lyrics App and plugins will both search for that bad title.
Lyrics vanished after a Full Rescan. Poweramp caches plugin lyrics internally and a Full Rescan clears that cache. If you want them to survive save them as .lrc files or embed them in the tag.
Wrong characters. Save the .lrc as UTF-8. Legacy encodings mangle anything beyond ASCII.
Lyrics drift later and later through the song. Either the file was made from a different edit or the timestamps are stretched. See fixing lyrics time drift.
Songs With No Lyrics Online
For the common stuff let a plugin handle it. LyricsForPoweramp is a source-available plugin (the code is public to read, but it isn't under an open source licence) that pulls synced lyrics from LRCLIB. You don't need to change anything in Poweramp settings. When a track has no lyrics Poweramp sends out a request and the plugin answers it. Turn on Save Lyrics as Files and it writes a .lrc next to the track so you keep the file.
LRCGET does the same on a computer for a whole folder, with its export step writing the .lrc files. Then you copy the music and the .lrc files over to the phone together.
And then there's everything LRCLIB has never seen. A local band's EP, a live bootleg, a song you recorded yourself. There's nothing to download so you make the file from the audio. We built EasyLRC for that. It runs in the phone's browser, so you can do it on the same device Poweramp is on. Upload the track, wait about 10 to 20 seconds and download the .lrc. It covers 99+ languages. The free plan is 5 minutes of audio a month with no card and no watermark. Export plain LRC instead of Enhanced LRC, since Poweramp syncs by line and would just ignore the word tags.
Rename the file to match the song, move it into the album folder and rescan. Timing that's consistently early or late is an offset problem. Karaoke lyrics out of sync covers that fix.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Poweramp support .lrc files
Yes, from build 948 onward. Put the .lrc in the same folder as the song with the same base name. Keep the folder in Settings > Library > Music Folders and rescan.
Does Poweramp show synced lyrics from embedded tags
Yes. It reads the SYLT frame in MP3 files and also LRC style timestamps inside a USLT frame. Lyrics atoms in mp4 and m4a files work too. Use Rescan Lyrics Tags after tagging files.
Why are my Poweramp lyrics not synced
The lyrics have no timestamps. Plain USLT text or an .lrc saved without [mm:ss.xx] prefixes shows as a static block. Replace it with a timestamped .lrc file.
Why does Poweramp ignore my .lrc file
Usually it's a header mismatch. Poweramp rejects the file if the [ti:], [ar:] or [al:] headers don't match the audio tags or if [length:] is off by more than about 2 seconds. Delete the header lines and rescan.
Can Poweramp download lyrics
Not on its own. The Poweramp team has said Poweramp doesn't download lyrics itself. But it has a plugin API and third party plugins like LyricsForPoweramp fetch synced lyrics from LRCLIB when a track has none.
Does Poweramp support word by word karaoke lyrics
No. Poweramp syncs line by line and reads one timestamp per line. It doesn't use Enhanced LRC word tags so export plain LRC.
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