Navidrome, the open-source, self-hosted music server and streaming platform, has released version 0.63 with full support for synchronized sidecar lyrics in formats such as TTML, ELRC, SRT, YAML, and LRC.
The app now supports word-by-word timing for a karaoke-style experience and multiple vocal or “agent” layers for songs with more than one singer. These features are available to compatible applications via the new OpenSubsonic v2 lyrics extensions.
Search functionality has been improved as exact matches are now ranked above results that only begin with the same characters. Additionally, the update resolves a regression introduced by the transition to SQLite FTS5 full-text search, which previously made artists with very short or non-ASCII names difficult to find.
However, the largest changes in this release are under the hood, concerning performance, especially for installations containing hundreds of thousands or even millions of tracks.
Previously, response times slowed as clients accessed deeper parts of the library. In Navidrome 0.63, pagination performance remains consistent regardless of offset. Developers report that requests at deep offsets are now 30 to 50 times faster, and synchronizing a library of about one million tracks is approximately 20 times faster overall.
Smart playlists also benefit from extensive database improvements. Playlists filtered by play count, ratings, or loved status now complete up to 14 times faster, and the underlying database query may be over 300 times faster.
According to devs, a smart playlist query with 120 negated artist and tag rules across 323,000 tracks was approximately 160 times faster.
At the same time, sorting songs by album and artist is about 19 times faster in large libraries with a cold database cache. Item-count queries can be up to nine times faster, and song counts for users with access to all libraries are roughly 19 times faster on a database with 920,000 tracks.
For classical music listeners, the OpenSubsonic API now provides work and movement metadata, enabling compatible clients to present classical compositions more accurately.
On the visual side, Navidrome 0.63 introduces new Rose Pine themes. The release also resolves several web interface problems, including a momentary jump to the wrong song when switching tracks, incorrect mobile sizing in the Nautiline theme, and cases where the configured default language was not applied during startup.
Importantly, administrators should note that sharing is now enabled by default. To restore the previous disabled-by-default behavior, use the EnableSharing=false configuration option.
Navidrome 0.63 also includes a critical security fix for installations with multiple libraries and varying user permissions.
Finally, the release introduces a new navidrome plugin command-line interface for inspecting and managing plugins, improves artwork resizing and WebP processing performance, preserves source metadata in transcoded downloads, and correctly applies player bitrate and forced-transcoding settings across more streaming paths.
For additional details, see the changelog. Navidrome 0.63 is now available, with installation packages and container images offered through the project’s standard distribution channels. If you’re unsure how to install Navidrome, follow our simple step-by-step guide to make the process quick and easy.
