Guides

What it does

The five surfaces, where the words come from, and what Pro adds.

9xLyrics reads what your system says is playing, finds the words, and shows them in time. It can follow your existing music app or play local audio files itself from Songs, with albums, artists, folders and an editable Up next queue. Local playback is free; overlays and advanced lyric tools still require Pro.

Five ways to see the words

Surface	Best for
Floating Lyrics	One line, anywhere on screen, clicks falling through it
The Lyrics Window	Reading the whole song, and jumping to a line
The Mini Bar	A pill on a screen edge, with controls on hover
The Edge Strip	The lightest possible presence — one thin line
The Widget	A player card parked on the desktop

The standard Lyrics Window is free. Every desktop overlay requires Pro or an active trial; Pro can run them together.

The 9xLyrics Mini Bar, a small rounded pill docked under a window, showing the album cover and the current lyric line — The Mini Bar: cover, line, and a level meter, in a pill docked to a screen edge.

The 9xLyrics Edge Strip, a single thin band across the bottom of the screen showing the current line and the next one — The Edge Strip: one line along an edge, and nothing else on screen.

The 9xLyrics Widget, a card on the desktop showing NOW PLAYING, the song title and artist, the current lyric and transport controls beside a spinning record — The Widget: a player card you park somewhere and leave.

And a few things around them

Karaoke — the current line, full screen, filling word by word.
Identify Song (Pro) — what is playing in the room, not on this computer.
Library — songs you played, songs you identified, and lines you starred. Free.
Share cards — a few lines as a picture.

The 9xLyrics karaoke view: the current line very large in the middle of the window with the next line dimmed underneath, over a wash of album colours — Karaoke: the same lyrics, one line at a time, big enough to read across a room.

Where the words come from

Automatically, matched by title, artist and length. Your own .lrc files are checked first, so a file you have beats anything online. When the automatic match is wrong you can search the sources yourself, paste or load your own lyrics, or use a YouTube video's captions, then fix the words and time each line in the lyrics editor. What you save follows the song to any player — see the Lyrics Window.

Two timing controls: a global delay for a system that runs ahead, and a per-song offset for a recording that does not match the common lyrics. Both are free and both are remembered.

What Pro adds

All desktop overlays, Karaoke, Follow music player, choosing, editing and timing lyrics yourself, recognition, album artwork and gradient backgrounds, sharing and animated word fill. The full split is in Free and Pro.

Everything, by screen

Each card below is one screen of the app. Rows tagged Pro need an active trial or subscription; everything else works on a free account.

Floating Lyrics

The current line on top of every windowPro
Clicks fall through to the window behindPro
On every display and every workspacePro
Drag anywhere, or lock it in placePro
One line, or the next one underneathPro
Fade out while the pointer is over itPro

Floating Lyrics

Lyrics Window

The whole song, with the current line lit
Click a line to seek the player to it
Per-song offset, remembered
Search every source, including lyrics you savedPro
Paste lyrics, load a file, or use YouTube captionsPro
Edit the words and set each line's timePro
Auto-sync from a synced version of the songPro
Your saved lyrics follow the song to any playerPro

The Lyrics Window

Songs and Library

Play local music with albums, artists and folders
Shuffle, repeat and manage Up next
Songs you played, grouped by day
Songs identified with Shazam
Star lines and keep them in Saved lines
Open a song's lyrics again, even after a restart
Kept on this computer, with an off switch

Mini Bar, Edge Strip and Widget

A pill docked to a screen edgePro
Transport controls on hoverPro
One thin line along an edgePro
A player card on the desktop, in four stylesPro
Several overlays at oncePro

Karaoke and highlighting

Full-screen, one line at a timePro
Word-by-word highlighting
Highlight colour shared by every surface
Seven gradients, from Sunset to Rainbow
Smooth word fill as each word is sungPro

Karaoke and highlighting

Identify Song

Recognise what is playing in the roomPro
Show its lyrics in every surfacePro
Timing estimated from the matchPro
Built in on Windows and LinuxPro
Apple's Shazam integration on macOSPro

Share cards

Up to four lines as a picturePro
Square, Story and Wide formatsPro
Art, Dark and Light themesPro
Copy, save as PNG, or sharePro

Settings - General, Playback and Lyrics

Detect one music player, or whatever is active
Launch at login and start minimised
Global lyric delay for every song
Your own .lrc folder, checked first
Open and close with your music playerPro
Song title or lyric in the macOS menu barPro

Appearance

Accent colour and interface size
Nineteen languages
A solid colour behind the lyrics
Album colours or the cover itselfPro
Gradient presets, blur and dimPro

Shortcuts and the tray

Global shortcuts you can customise
Every surface toggled from the tray
Player picker and offset nudge in the menu
Play, pause and skip the followed player

Keyboard shortcuts

Lock Screen (macOS)

Track and lyric while your Mac is lockedPro
Card, Wide and Vinyl layoutsPro
Drag it where you want itPro
A sound on unlockPro

First run

Create your account number, answer three questions, and see the first lyric.

Floating Lyrics

The current line on a panel above every window, that clicks fall straight through.

On this page

Five ways to see the words And a few things around them Where the words come from What Pro adds Everything, by screen