Word-synchronized lyrics
Displays lyrics in real time with word-by-word highlighting that follows the current playback position.
Lyrimuse
Lyrimuse is an open-source macOS desktop lyrics app that displays word-synchronized lyrics for supported music apps and browser players. It also provides translation, romanization, lyric management, and optional Last.fm listening statistics.
Overview
Lyrimuse is an open-source macOS desktop lyrics app for people who want synchronized lyrics outside a music service's main window. It follows playback from supported native players or paired browser tabs and displays the current words in an always-on-top overlay, capsule, lyrics window, or menu-bar view.
The app combines lyric retrieval, playback-aware presentation, translation, romanization, and listening history. It can automatically compare lyric candidates from multiple sources, cache lyrics for local use, and provide a Last.fm listening profile with local history and later scrobble backfill.
Key features
Multi-source lyric resolution
Checks nine documented lyric sources, scores candidate matches, and lets users inspect, edit, delete, or re-search lyrics in the Lyrics Manager. Per-track timing offsets are available when synchronization drifts.
Translation and romanization
Shows source translations or uses Apple's on-device Translation framework, with an online fallback, across 18 target languages. Romanization includes word-aware Jyutping for Cantonese songs and can be shown beside the original text.
Player and browser support
Supports Apple Music, QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou Music, Spotify, and browser-based YouTube Music or Spotify Web playback. Players can be selected individually or auto-detected.
Multiple display surfaces
Offers a floating overlay, Dynamic-Island-style capsule, full Lyrics Window, and menu-bar text mode. The Lyrics Window supports two columns, cover backdrop, automatic scrolling, and progress-bar seeking.
Listening profile and scrobbling
Connects to Last.fm for totals, recent plays, charts, and scrobbling controls while retaining local listening history and a yearly heatmap-style view.
Use cases
Desktop listening while multitasking
Keep synchronized lyrics visible while working in another macOS app by using the always-on-top overlay or menu-bar text mode instead of switching back to the music player.
Focused lyric reading
Use the Lyrics Window for a larger reading view with automatic scrolling, two-column presentation, cover backdrop, and a seekable progress bar.
Browser-based music playback
Play music through YouTube Music or Spotify Web and pair the browser so lyric timing follows the page's own progress bar.
Maintaining a personal lyric library
Manage difficult or incomplete matches by reviewing scored candidates, editing lyric text, retrying searches, removing entries in batches, or applying a timing offset.
Listening statistics and scrobbling
Build a listening history over time, review charts and recent plays, and connect Last.fm later so locally logged plays can be backfilled.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Supports several native macOS music players plus YouTube Music and Spotify Web in a browser.
- Word-level synchronization, translation, romanization, and separate duet or multi-singer lines are supported where source data permits.
- Provides several display modes, including a full lyrics window, floating overlay, Dynamic-Island-style capsule, and menu-bar text.
- Includes lyric management tools such as manual editing, candidate re-search, batch deletion, and per-track timing offsets.
- Local listening history can be retained before Last.fm connection and later submitted through a backfill queue.
Cons
- The application is designed for macOS rather than cross-platform use.
- Browser players require a one-time pairing step, and Apple Music playback access uses macOS Automation permission.
- Lyrics that are not already cached and some translation paths may depend on network access.
FAQ
What is Lyrimuse?
Lyrimuse is a macOS desktop lyrics application. It can display synchronized lyrics for Apple Music, QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music or Spotify Web playing in a browser.
How do I install Lyrimuse?
The README documents Homebrew installation with `brew tap yudaotor/lyrimuse && brew install --cask lyrimuse`, or installation from the latest GitHub release. It supports both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
How does Lyrimuse detect music playback?
You can choose supported players in Settings or leave player selection on auto-detect. Browser playback requires pairing the browser once; Lyrimuse includes a self-test to check whether the browser can be controlled.
Does Lyrimuse support Last.fm scrobbling?
Lyrimuse can connect to Last.fm from its Accounts section. It logs plays locally first, and a backfill queue can submit logged plays after Last.fm is connected. The app also documents ListenBrainz submissions separately.
Does Lyrimuse work offline?
Lyrimuse is scoped to macOS. Its README describes local caching and offline display for lyrics that are already cached, but network-based lyric retrieval and some translation workflows may require connectivity.
Quick Facts
- Category
- Music utility
- Platform
- macOS
- License and delivery
- Open-source project distributed through GitHub; Homebrew cask and GitHub releases are documented
- Supported playback
- Apple Music, QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Spotify Web
- Lyric sources
- Nine sources documented, including NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, Migu, Musixmatch, LRCLIB, LyricFind, and AMLL
- Primary workflow
- Choose players or use auto-detection, then display synchronized lyrics on the desktop
Lyrimuse Alternativen
MagicSlides
MagicSlides is an AI presentation generator that turns text, topics, documents, URLs, and videos into slide decks. It creates presentations in Google Slides by default and supports PowerPoint export, with multilingual output and AI-assisted editing.
Microsoft Translator
Microsoft Translator is a Bing translation web app for translating short text between English and more than 100 languages. It also supports image capture translation and basic output actions like listen and copy.
Rubriq
Rubriq 是一款面向科研写作的 AI 学术论文润色与翻译工具，支持个人订阅、机构方案和论文查重相关服务。它帮助研究人员在上传稿件后快速生成带修订痕迹的可审阅文档。
Globalize.now
Globalize.now is an AI localization tool that converts hardcoded app text into repo-owned locale files and keeps translations synced on every Git push. It is aimed at developers shipping multilingual web apps in tools like Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub, GitLab, Lovable, and common frontend stacks.
Glarity
Glarity is a browser extension for summarizing, translating, and chatting with web content such as YouTube videos, web pages, PDFs, search results, and Gmail. It supports major browsers and combines reading, writing, and translation workflows in one tool.
Caplo
Caplo is an iPhone app companion that turns audio from other apps into real-time translated captions in a floating Picture-in-Picture window. It helps users follow live streams, anime, sports, podcasts, courses, news, and other live audio when subtitles are missing or not usable.