14.4k stars · GPL-3.0 · v2.36.1, read from /releases/latest, shown as '16 Sep' with no year and therefore 16 September 2026 · Track this in Scout
A self-hosted server for audiobooks and podcasts, with apps and saved listening positions.
▶Repo detailsthe review · specs · pros & cons · install
What it is
A server written in JavaScript that scans folders of audio files, reads the chapter marks and cover art, and serves them over the web and to its own Android and iOS apps. It keeps one listening position per user per book and syncs it across devices.
What it is good for. Anyone with a collection of audiobooks bought outright rather than rented from a subscription. The problem it removes is specific: ordinary music players lose your place, and a twelve-hour book without a saved position is unusable. It also replaces a podcast app for people who would rather the episodes lived on a machine they control.
- Multiple users with separate progress, which matters in a household.
- It downloads podcast episodes on a schedule and keeps as many as you tell it to.
- Free official apps for both phone platforms, which is unusual for a self-hosted project.
- GPL-3.0. Fine for personal use, a condition to read if you plan to distribute a modified copy.
- It serves files; it does not make them. Ripped discs or loose MP3 chapters need merging first — m4b-tool, Edition 27 #6, does that job.
- Audio is large. This becomes the place your collection lives, so it needs a backup that is not the same disk.
sandreas/m4b-toolIt makes the files this one serves: merging loose chapters into a single audiobook with proper chapter marks, from the command line.
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navidrome/navidromeIt serves a personal collection the same way but for music, where a saved position and chapter marks do not matter.
Track this in Scout- SamTV12345/PodFetch
It covers only the podcast half, as a much smaller program, for people with no audiobook collection to serve.
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docker run -d --name audiobookshelf \ -p 13378:80 \ -v /path/to/audiobooks:/audiobooks \ -v /path/to/podcasts:/podcasts \ -v /path/to/config:/config \ -v /path/to/metadata:/metadata \ ghcr.io/advplyr/audiobookshelf:latest
