LMS (Lightweight Music Server)

LMS (Lightweight Music Server) is an open-source music streaming server that provides a browser-based interface to browse, search and stream audio collections. It exposes a Subsonic/OpenSubsonic-compatible API, supports rich metadata and includes a built-in recommendation engine.

Key Features

• Web-based user interface with a media player and keyboard shortcuts
• Subsonic/OpenSubsonic API compatibility for third-party clients
• Multi-valued tags and detailed artist/release metadata handling (MusicBrainz identifiers supported)
• Recommendation engine and "radio" mode that fills play queue with similar tracks
• Audio transcoding for compatibility and bandwidth optimization (uses ffmpeg)
• Multi-library support, playlists (m3u/m3u8), podcasts and lyrics (lrc/txt/embedded)
• ReplayGain support and tracking integration with ListenBrainz (scrobbling and loves)
• User management with multiple authentication backends and administrative settings
• Lightweight filesystem-based artist image and disc image discovery; configurable scanner

Use Cases

• Provide network-available playback for a home or small office music collection via browser or Subsonic clients
• Run a low-footprint music streaming service on modest hardware (Raspberry Pi or small server) with on-the-fly transcoding
• Power a small internet/local radio-style "autofill" stream using the radio/recommendation features

Limitations and Considerations

• The tag-based recommendation engine can noticeably slow the user interface on very large libraries or on low-end hardware; it can be disabled if performance is impacted
• Audio transcoding (for compatibility or bandwidth reduction) relies on ffmpeg and increases CPU usage during transcoding operations
• Some features depend on external services (MusicBrainz, ListenBrainz) for best metadata and scrobbling functionality; network access is required for those integrations

LMS is a feature-rich option for managing and streaming personal music collections with emphasis on tags, metadata fidelity and interoperability through Subsonic-compatible APIs. It is suited to users who want a compact, configurable server with transcoding and discovery features.