Overview
Wikipedia: LRC (a name referring to the English word “lyrics,” which is used to refer to the words of a song) is a file format containing song lyrics that can be read by compatible MP3 players. The lyrics are in a text file with the extension .lrc and are formatted to allow MP3 players to display them at the precise moment they are sung in the song, as in karaoke.
It is a tagging system, like HTML.
The LRC format
Without going into detail, these are simple text files with tags, the one we are most interested in being the one that allows you to define a text to be displayed and the moment at which it should be displayed:
[mm:ss.xx] The lyrics to be displayed
mm represents the minutes, ss the seconds, and xx the hundredths of a second at which the lyrics should be displayed.
The time tag is enclosed in square brackets [].
Example:
[Ti:Auprès de mon arbre]
[Ar:Georges Brassens]
[00:01.94]
[00:01.94]J’ai plaqué mon chêne
[00:03.87]Comme un saligaud
[00:05.78]Mon copain le chêne
[00:07.73]Mon alter ego
[00:09.68]On était du même bois
[00:11.63]Un peu rustique un peu brute
[00:13.55]Dont on fait n’importe quoi
[00:15.45]Sauf naturell’ment les flutes
[00:17.42]J’ai maint’nant des frênes
[00:19.32]Des arbres de judée
[00:21.28]Tous de bonne graine
[00:23.23]De haute futaie
[00:25.17]Mais toi tu manques à l’appel
[00:27.10]Ma vieille branche de campagne
[00:29.04]Mon seul arbre de Noel
[00:30.97]Mon mât de cocagne.
In this example, we see two additional, optional tags (there are others):
- The “Ti” tag, which indicates the song title.
- The “Ar” tag, which indicates the artist.
We can also see that the display accuracy is limited to the line and that you have to figure out how to sing the syllables at the right time…
Extension of the LRC format
Wikipedia: An extension of the LRC format has recently been developed, allowing for more precise specification of time tags.
It is now possible to divide by words or syllables. This is the extended LRC format, or “Enhanced LRC.”
The format becomes a little more complicated:
The line consists of the following elements:
- As before, a time tag surrounded by square brackets [mm:ss.xx] followed by the first syllable: [mm:ss.xx]syllable1
- The following syllables consist of a time tag surrounded by “less than” and “greater than” signs followed by the syllable: <mm:ss:xx>syllable2
Example:
Ti:Auprès de mon arbre]
[Ar:Georges Brassens]
[00:01.94]J’ai <00:02.18>plaqué <00:02.66>mon <00:02.92>chêne
[00:03.87] Like <00:04.10>a <00:04.33>bastard
[00:05.78]My <00:06.03>friend <00:06.50>the <00:06.76>oak tree
[00:07.73]My <00:07.96>alter <00:08.55>ego
In this example, we can clearly see that creating these files manually is beyond human capabilities.
Creation/editing
Wikipedia: You can type all the lyrics and tags into your favorite plain text editor, such as vi or emacs on Linux, or Notepad on Windows. However, there are specialized graphical tools for editing and synchronizing lyrics in this file format.
Another useful site is https://www.lrcgenerator.com, which allows you to copy and paste song lyrics, then synchronize them with the music to automatically generate an LRC or Enhanced LRC file for download.
Karaboss also allows you to generate LRC files:
- Exporting LRC and Enhanced LRC files from the MIDI lyrics editor
Karaboss exports lyrics from MIDI and KAR files in LRC format and also offers character processing (upper/lower case conversion, removal of accents and non-alphabetic characters, truncation of lines to a configurable number of characters, etc.). - Creating an LRC file from song lyrics using the MP3 editor.
Karaboss allows you to load song lyrics and synchronize them line by line with the music by simply pressing the “ENTER” key to obtain an LRC file in line-by-line mode. - Incorporation of synchronized lyrics into the mp3 file to obtain a standalone mp3 karaoke file.
Using LRC files
LRC files are used by many applications, such as MP3 players for karaoke or video players for displaying subtitles.
To do this, the LRC file must be placed in the same folder as the mp3 or video file and given exactly the same name, including the extension.
Example:
Georges Brassens – Auprès de mon arbre.mp3
Georges Brassens – Auprès de mon arbre.lrc
This is what Karaboss does for MP3 playback.
More specifically, Karaboss favors the following order for displaying lyrics:
- Time-stamped lyrics embedded in the MP3
- Time-stamped lyrics from an LRC file located in the same directory and with the same name as the MP3 (except for the extension)