Foobar2000: Show lyrics - how it works

In foobar2000 you can easily display and even play the lyrics of your favorite songs. We show you where to find the function and how to activate it.

Required plug-ins for the lyrics display

To display simple lyrics and "Timestamped Lyrics" - also known as "synchronized lyrics" - you need foobar2000 and two plug-ins:

1. Of course you need foobar2000 as host software.
2. To display the lyrics you also need the plugin lyrics show panel.
3. The easiest way to set this up is in the Columns UI graphical user interface.
4. Install foobar 2000.
5. Unzip the plug-ins and install them. To do this, open foobar2000 and navigate to »File« -> »Preferences«.
6. Under the "Components" tab, click "Install" and select the extracted files.

Set up the lyric show screen

With just a few clicks you can now define an area in Foobar in which your lyrics will be displayed in the future.

1. Navigate to "View" -> "Layout" and check "Live editing".
2. Click the left mouse button in the Foobar window where you want the lyrics to be displayed.
3. Select »Add panel« -> »Panels« -> »Lyric Show«.
4. A lyric show area appears, the size of which you can adjust manually.
5. If the window has the correct position and size, open »View« -> »Layout« again and remove the check mark from »Live editing«.

Optimize the display of Foobar2000

With some settings, you can help the Lyric Show Panel to recognize the lyrics of your MP3s, save new lyrics and display them in a legible manner.

1. Navigate to "File" -> "Preferences" -> "Lyric Show Panel".
2. Go to the "Settings" tab and then to "Read lyric from field".
3. Enter the following here: "LYRICS; SYNCED LYRICS; UNSYNCED LYRICS;" (without quotation marks).
4. With "Search path" you can also enter a path in which you would like to store lyric files in the future.
5. Under the "Display" tab you can set the background color, font, color, size and orientation.
6. Under the "Internet" tab, you can specify whether you want to automatically download lyrics when playing an MP3 and save them as a single file or as a tag in the MP3.
7. Of course you can also insert manual lyrics into the ID3 tag of your MP3 files. We explain how this works in this practical tip.

More Foobar tips

Many other small tricks make Foobar2000 the ideal MP3 player. We have put together a small collection of links for Foobar optimization:

• We'll show you how to set up Foobar fundamentally, use skins in Foobar 2000, and manage your music collection.
• You can save lyrics in the ID3 tag of your MP3 files, for example in a "LYRICS" field.
• If you now install Foobar as a portable version on a USB stick, you can take your lyrics display with you wherever you go.
• With the command "% LYRICS% PRESENT", as described in our practical tip, you create an intelligent playlist that automatically records every song whose lyrics you have saved.
• If you like, you can also rate your songs and use the rating as the basis for playlists.
• We will show you how to export Foobar playlists.
• As a nice feature, you can include album art in the MP3 tag or save it locally and display it in Foobar.
• The current versions of the Foobar apps for iOS and Android - 1.0.20 - from 11.05.2016 and (05.11.2014) - unfortunately do not yet show any lyrics.

With the Lyrics PlugIns for Winamp and Windows Media Player, these players can also display the lyrics that you have saved in the MP3 tag. MiniLyrics is compatible with almost all players. All tools are available free of charge from CHIP.