Open the Lyrics transcriber (also at lyrics.aden.space), drop the song, and it writes the lyrics from the vocals with the time each line starts. If you already have the lyrics, paste them before you drop the song: your words stay as they are and each line gets its time. Press Download LRC and you have an LRC file, a plain text file with a time in front of every line, which music players and lyrics services read to show synced lyrics.

It is free, needs no account, and reads up to five songs a day.

How do I get the lyrics from a song?

There are three ways, from most to least reliable.

1. Ask whoever wrote them. The writer's lyric sheet is the only version that is right by definition. If you wrote the song, start from your own notes.
2. Transcribe them automatically. Speech recognition built for sung words listens to the vocal and writes down what it hears. This is what the Lyrics transcriber does when you drop a song without pasting anything.
3. Write them down by ear. Loop each line until you are sure. It works, but a three-minute song can easily have 40 lines or more.

Automatic transcription gets most words right on a clear vocal, but singing is harder to read than speech. Vowels stretch over several notes, reverb smears the consonants, doubles and harmonies sing the same line twice, and ad-libs talk over the lead. Expect to fix some words, especially names, slang and anything sung under a loud beat.

For the cleanest result, transcribe the acapella. If you have the stems, export the lead vocal from the very start of the song, not from where the singing comes in, so every time in the file also matches the full mix. No acapella yet? You can record one over the beat in your browser.

How do I time lyrics to a song?

Timing means writing down when each line starts. By hand, you play the song, pause at the start of each line and note the minute and second. It takes several passes through the song to get right.

The faster way is forced alignment: you give it the words, and it finds where each one is sung in the audio. In the Lyrics transcriber, press Have the lyrics? and paste your lyrics before you drop the song. Your words are kept exactly as you wrote them, line breaks included, and each line is timed to where it is sung. Use this whenever you have the real lyrics: the words are right by definition, so the only thing left to check is the timing.

What is an LRC file?

An LRC file is a plain text file of lyrics in which each line starts with the time it is sung, in square brackets. The extension is .lrc. Here is a short one:

[ti:Afterglow]
[ar:Your artist name]
[00:12.40]I left the light on in the hall
[00:16.85]In case you found your way back home
[00:21.30]
[00:24.05]Afterglow, afterglow
[00:27.60]Burning slow

Each time is [mm:ss.xx]: minutes, seconds and hundredths of a second. [00:16.85] means 16.85 seconds in, and [03:05.00] means 3 minutes and 5 seconds. Many players also accept [mm:ss] without the hundredths. A timed line with no words, like [00:21.30] above, is a common way to clear the screen during an instrumental break.

The lines at the top are optional tags about the song:

Three things worth knowing before you use one:

• Name it like the audio. Players that read LRC files usually look for one with the same name in the same folder: Afterglow.mp3 and Afterglow.lrc.
• Save it as UTF-8. Accents and non-Latin scripts then show correctly.
• Standard LRC times lines, not words. An "enhanced" variant adds a <mm:ss.xx> time before each word for karaoke-style highlighting, but player support for it varies. The Lyrics transcriber times each line.

Where are synced lyrics used?

• Music players and media servers. Many desktop and phone players, and self-hosted servers such as Jellyfin, show synced lyrics from an LRC file that sits beside the audio file.
• Streaming services. You usually do not upload lyrics to Spotify or Apple Music yourself. Their lyrics generally come through lyrics providers such as Musixmatch and LyricFind, and through distributors that offer a lyrics field when you upload a release. Musixmatch, for example, runs a programme where verified artists can edit and sync the lyrics it holds. These routes change, so check your distributor and the provider when you release.
• Videos and screens. A lyric video, a karaoke version or the words on the screen behind you at a show all need each line and the time it starts. An LRC file is that cue sheet.
• Your team and listeners in Aden. A version's lyrics can be synced so the line being sung lights up as it plays, for your team and for anyone you send a share link. Save to Aden in the transcriber puts the song in Aden with its lyrics on the version.

Lyrics belong to the song, the composition, not to the recording, so the writers and their publisher control them. If that split is new to you, read master rights vs publishing rights.

How to use the Lyrics transcriber

1. Open the Lyrics transcriber, at tools.aden.space/lyrics or lyrics.aden.space, or search "lyrics" in ⌘K. You do not need an account.
2. If you have the lyrics, press Have the lyrics? and paste them. Skip this step to transcribe from scratch.
3. Drop the song, or press Upload a song. It takes MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC or AIFF files, up to 100 MB and 10 minutes long.
4. Wait while it listens to the vocals. The lyrics appear in the language they are sung, each line with the time it starts.
5. Press play. The line being sung lights up, and clicking a line plays from it. Read along to catch wrong words and lines that light up late.
6. To fix something, open the … menu and choose Edit lyrics, then change a word or a time. Time to the vocals times your edited lyrics again; Done keeps them exactly as you typed.
7. Press Download LRC. In the … menu, Download as text and Copy lyrics give you the words without the times.
8. To keep the song and its lyrics together, press Save to Aden. Without an account, it waits in your browser while you sign up.

Your song is uploaded so the vocals can be read, and it is deleted within a day. Nothing is kept unless you save it to Aden.

You can also use it in ChatGPT or Claude as Lyrics transcriber by Aden (mcp.aden.space/lyrics-transcriber).

What automatic transcription gets wrong

Check the result before you publish it anywhere. A lyrics provider or a lyric video shows your mistakes to every listener.

• Unclear vocals. Mumbled lines, heavy effects and vocals buried in the mix give more wrong words. A clear vocal works best, and an acapella best of all.
• Backing vocals and ad-libs. Words sung under or around the lead can be missed or mixed into the lead's line.
• Line breaks. When it transcribes from scratch, the tool decides where one line ends and the next begins, which may not match how the writer split them. Paste your own lyrics to keep your lines.
• Word timing. Each line gets one time, where it starts. Word-by-word karaoke timing needs another tool.

Once the lyrics are final, they are worth keeping safe like the rest of the song: you can timestamp your lyric sheet the same way you would a demo. For the other free tools, see free music tools for producers.

FAQ

Can I get the lyrics from any song?

You can transcribe any recording with an audible vocal, but the result depends on how clearly the words are sung and mixed. A clear lead vocal or an acapella works best, while heavy effects, dense backing vocals and vocals buried under the beat lead to more wrong words. Lyrics are protected as part of the song, so publishing someone else's lyrics needs permission from whoever controls the song.

What is the difference between an LRC file and a text file of lyrics?

A plain text file only holds the words. An LRC file puts the time each line starts, written as minutes, seconds and hundredths in square brackets, in front of the line, so a player can light up the right line while the song plays. Both are plain text that you can open and edit in any text editor.

How accurate is automatic lyrics transcription?

On a clear vocal most words come out right, but sung words are harder to recognise than speech, so expect to correct some lines, especially names, slang, ad-libs and backing vocals. If you have the real lyrics, paste them and let the Lyrics transcriber time them instead, because your words then stay exactly as you wrote them.

How do I get synced lyrics on Spotify or Apple Music?

You usually cannot upload an LRC file to them directly. Their lyrics generally come from lyrics providers such as Musixmatch and LyricFind, or through your distributor if it offers a lyrics field when you upload a release. Check your distributor first, then the lyrics provider's artist programme, and expect these routes to change over time.

Is the Lyrics transcriber free?

Yes. It is free without an account, for up to five songs a day. The song is uploaded to read the vocals and deleted within a day, and nothing is kept unless you save the song to Aden.