Skip to content

Audiobookshelf

Audiobookshelf is an audiobook and podcast streaming server, with native Android / iOS (testflight) apps.

Get Elf Hosted Audiobookshelf from $0.1/day 🪄

Screenshot of Audiobookshelf

Features include:

  • Fully open-source, including the android & iOS app (in beta)
  • Stream all audio formats on the fly
  • Search and add podcasts to download episodes w/ auto-download
  • Multi-user support w/ custom permissions
  • Keeps progress per user and syncs across devices
  • Auto-detects library updates, no need to re-scan
  • Upload books and podcasts w/ bulk upload drag and drop folders
  • Backup your metadata + automated daily backups
  • Progressive Web App (PWA)
  • Chromecast support on the web app and android app
  • Fetch metadata and cover art from several sources
  • Chapter editor and chapter lookup (using Audnexus API)
  • Merge your audio files into a single m4b
  • Embed metadata and cover image into your audio files (using Tone)
  • Basic ebook support and e-reader (experimental)

How do I access Audiobookshelf?

Audiobookshelf will be available from your dashboard (https://<username>.elfhosted.com>), or directly, at https://<username>-audiobookshelf.elfhosted.com

How do I use it?

Upon launch, you'll be prompted to create a username/password. Once this is completed, you'll be able to access the app, and configure your users, libraries, etc.

By default, /storage/elfstorage/audiobooks is the intended location for audiobooks (note this is separate from /storage/elfstorage/books intentionally)

To connect to other apps, refer to this documentation

Integrating with Readarr

While Readarr is able to search for and download both ebooks and audio books, having both formats in one target folder (/storage/elfstorage/books) causes import errors due to Calibre integration, and results in a messy Audiobookshelf library.

A cleaner solution is to install our Readarr (Audio) app, which is simply another instance of Readarr, intended to be dedicated to audio books. Readarr (Audio) is pre-configured with the "Spoken" profile, and /storage/elfstorage/audiobooks as root media folder.

You can now manually add desired audiobooks to Readarr (Audio), or configure a list import to automatically sync your regular Readarr library, so that you effectively end up with 2 Readarr instances, one searching for ebooks, and the other searching for audio books.

How do I get support for Audiobookshelf?

  1. For general use of Audiobookshelf, refer to the official site or to one of the links below.
  2. For specific support re your ElfHosted configuration / account, see the ElfHosted support options!

You can contribute directly to the development of Audiobookshelf using the following:

Audiobookshelf resources