better-lyrics

Better Lyrics

Better Lyrics upgrades your YouTube Music™ experience by providing beautiful time-synced lyrics for your favorite songs.

Stats

Table of Contents

• Features
• Download
• Usage
• Options
• Styling
• Theme Marketplace
• Extension Permissions
• Manual Installation
• FAQ
• Funding
• Discord Community
• Contributing
• License
• Privacy
• Trademarks
• Star History
• Contributors ✨

[!TIP]

Dive deeper: Explore the story behind Better Lyrics

Features

Displays beautiful time-synced lyrics on YouTube Music™
Requires no external dependencies or configurations
⏩ Lets you seek by clicking on any line
Translations and romanization for foreign-language tracks
UI available in multiple languages
Runs lightweight and fast
️ Includes full-screen mode
Theme Marketplace with community themes
Customizable lyrics providers from multiple sources
✨ And much more!

Download

Usage

1. Open YouTube Music™ and start playing a song.
2. Click on the lyrics tab to view time-synced lyrics. (This might take a few seconds to load)
3. Click on a specific line to seek to that part of the song.

Options

Settings are organized into tabs in the extension popup:

General

Option	Default
Show logs	Enabled
Auto switch to Lyrics tab	Disabled
Cache Details	-

Display

Option	Default
Blurred album art background	Enabled
Full screen mode	Enabled
Auto-hide cursor in full screen mode	Enabled
Stylized animations (Background/Wobble/Glow)	Enabled
Passive scroll for unsynced lyrics	Enabled
Unison Actions (pinned dock position, etc.)	Manage

Language

Option	Default
Display Language	Auto-detect
Romanization	Disabled
Translations	Disabled
Translation Language	English

Sources

Option	Default
Provider priority	Drag to reorder, toggle on/off

Themes

Option	Description
Theme selector	Choose from installed themes
CSS Editor	Customize styling with live preview
Marketplace	Browse and install community themes

Identity

Option	Description
Display name	The handle attached to themes you publish
Export / Import	Back up or transfer your identity key between devices

[!TIP]

To change settings, click the Better Lyrics icon in your extensions toolbar. Changes apply immediately without needing to refresh the page. However, in some cases, for example, after updating the extension, you might need to refresh for settings or CSS updates to take effect.

Styling

Custom styling for lyrics is available from Better Lyrics v1.7.0 onwards. This allows you to personalize the appearance of both lyrics and the entire YouTube Music interface. For detailed instructions on customizing styles, importing/exporting themes, and using pre-made themes, please consult our Styling Guide.

For AI agents creating themes, see the Theme Creation Guide for AI Agents.

Theme Marketplace

Browse and install community-created themes directly from the extension. Access the Marketplace via the Themes tab in extension settings. You can search, filter by ratings or downloads, and install themes with one click. Installed themes auto-update when creators publish new versions. You can also install themes from GitHub repositories by entering a repo URL.

Extension Permissions

Permission	Reason	Data Usage
Access to music.youtube.com	Required to inject the lyrics UI into YouTube Music™ pages.	No data is read or sent from any other site.
Storage	Saves your settings, installed themes, identity key, and the local lyrics cache.	All stored locally in your browser; settings are synced across devices via your browser's built-in sync.
Alarms	Schedules background tasks such as periodic theme update checks and cache cleanup.	Does not collect or transmit any data.
Downloads (optional)	Required when exporting themes or your identity key as a file.	Only used at the moment you click an export button. Browser download history is not read or modified.

Better Lyrics does not collect any personal data or track your browsing activity. The extension is open-source and thoroughly reviewed by the community to ensure that your privacy is protected.

Manual Installation

The simplest path is to grab a pre-built ZIP from the releases page. It contains both Chrome and Firefox builds, ready to load. If you'd rather build from source, clone the repo and run npm install && npm run build. The build outputs are written to dist/chrome/ and dist/firefox/.

Chrome

1. Download a release ZIP and unzip it (or build from source, see above).
2. Open Google Chrome™ and go to chrome://extensions.
3. Enable "Developer mode" with the toggle in the top-right corner.
4. Click "Load unpacked" and select the unzipped folder (or dist/chrome/ if building from source).
5. Better Lyrics should now be installed and ready to use!

Firefox

1. Download a release ZIP and unzip it (or build from source, see above).
2. Open Firefox and go to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
3. Click "Load Temporary Add-on" and select the manifest.json inside the unzipped folder (or dist/firefox/manifest.json if building from source).
4. Better Lyrics should now be installed and ready to use!

[!NOTE]

Firefox unloads temporary add-ons when the browser is closed. For a permanent install, use the signed Firefox Add-on listing.

FAQ

Why can't I see the lyrics?

Make sure the extension is enabled and you're on . The extension won't work on .

How do I change settings?

Click the Better Lyrics icon in your extensions toolbar to access settings. Changes apply immediately without needing to refresh the page. However, in some cases, for example, after updating the extension, you might need to refresh for settings or CSS updates to take effect.

My CSS changes aren't showing up. What should I do?

Try refreshing the page, especially if you recently updated the extension. Your CSS changes are saved either way. If that doesn't work, try disabling and re-enabling the extension.

How do I install custom themes?

Open the extension settings, go to the Themes tab, and click "Marketplace" to browse community themes. You can also install themes directly from GitHub by clicking "Install from URL" and entering a repo URL. Alternatively, you can import/export CSS from any editor view and save it as a custom theme.

How do I enable full-screen mode?

Press F on your keyboard (with the window in focus) or hover over the player bar and click the full-screen icon (⛶). Make sure "Disable fullscreen mode" option isn't checked in extension settings.

How do I translate lyrics?

Enable the "Translations" option in extension settings and select your desired language from the dropdown.

Can I contribute to Better Lyrics?

Yes you can! Please follow the contributing guidelines below.

Some lyrics are out of sync, missing, or incorrect. What can I do?

Better Lyrics fetches from many providers, so the first thing to try is switching to a different one in extension settings (Sources tab); a better version may already exist elsewhere.

If you want to fix the lyrics for everyone, use Unison, our built-in community lyrics platform. Unison is the recommended contribution path going forward (it replaces LRCLIBup, which we no longer use).

You can:

1. Vote or report directly from the lyrics panel. When Unison is the active provider, an Unison card appears below the lyrics with upvote, downvote, and report buttons. Reports include reasons (wrong lyrics, bad timing, offensive content, etc.) so curators know how to act.
2. Submit corrected lyrics. Click the "Submit to Unison" button at the bottom of any song's lyrics view, or open Unison directly from the Unison card. The submit form is pre-filled with the current song's metadata; just paste your corrected lyrics in your preferred format (LRC, plain text, or rich-sync).
3. Browse, search, and manage your submissions. The Unison page has a feed of recent contributions, a search view, and a "My submissions" tab so you can track and edit your own entries.

Please be mindful of quality when contributing, since these lyrics are served to everyone using the extension.

Other providers (Musixmatch, BiniLyrics, etc.) have their own external catalogs and contribution channels; corrections submitted there will flow back into Better Lyrics automatically once those upstream databases update.

How do I report a bug?

Open an issue here with as much detail as possible. Alternatively, join our Discord community and report it under #bug-reports.

I don't like the new update. Can I revert to an old version?

Yes! Follow the manual installation instructions above to install an older version of the extension. Keep in mind that older versions probably won't be maintained or get new features.

How do I support the project?

Better Lyrics is free and open-source. The easiest way to support it is by leaving positive feedback on the Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons, or Microsoft Edge Add-ons so more people can discover it.

If you want to support the project further, consider making a donation to help cover hosting and development costs. You can donate via