Karaoke Eternal is a free, self-hosted karaoke party system with browser song queueing. See features, setup, pros, cons and alternatives for 2026.
Karaoke Eternal is a free, open-source, self-hosted system for running karaoke parties, letting guests browse and queue songs from their own phone's browser while a dedicated fullscreen player handles audio, video, and on-screen lyrics for the room. It was previously named Karaoke Forever before being renamed, and is maintained by a developer using the GitHub handle bhj with no company or funding behind the project.
The system is built from three parts: a Server that hosts the web app and media library and can run on almost anything from a Raspberry Pi to a full desktop; a mobile-optimized App that guests use to join a room via QR code and queue songs without installing anything; and a Player that runs fullscreen on the system connected to the room's speakers and display.
With no ads, no telemetry, and no subscription fees, Karaoke Eternal is aimed squarely at the self-hosted, privacy-respecting home server community, and is commonly found in the same circles as tools like Jellyfin for media streaming.
Karaoke Eternal supports the classic MP3+G karaoke format (audio paired with CDG lyric graphics, including zipped files) as well as standard MP4 video karaoke tracks, and renders WebGL-powered visualizations with automatic lyrics background removal for a polished on-screen presentation.
Guests join sessions by scanning a QR code and creating a temporary guest account directly in their phone's browser, with no app installation required, and the system supports multiple simultaneous rooms, each with an independent queue and optional password protection, making it viable for venues running more than one karaoke session at a time.
Because the software handles only music and video playback rather than microphones, it integrates with whatever PA or speaker system a venue or home already has. Deployment is available via an official Docker image or an npm package, both offered as multi-platform, multi-architecture 64-bit builds.
Karaoke Eternal is completely free and open source with no paid tier, license fee, or feature restrictions. There is no commercial edition, and the only cost involved is whatever hardware you choose to run the server on, whether that is a spare Raspberry Pi, a NAS, or an existing desktop computer.
The project sustains itself entirely through voluntary GitHub Sponsors contributions rather than subscription revenue, meaning every feature, including multi-room support and visualizations, is available to all users regardless of whether they choose to donate.
Yes, Karaoke Eternal is completely free and open source with no paid tiers. The project is supported through optional GitHub Sponsors donations.
No. Guests scan a QR code and use the mobile web app directly in their phone's browser to browse and queue songs; no app installation is required.
It supports the classic MP3+G format (MP3 audio with CDG lyric graphics, including zipped files) as well as standard MP4 video karaoke tracks.
The server runs on nearly anything, including a Raspberry Pi, a NAS device, or a Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop, via Docker or an npm package.
No. The Player only outputs music, lyrics, and visualizations; microphone amplification is handled by the venue's own PA or speaker system.
Yes, Karaoke Eternal supports multiple simultaneous rooms, each with an independent queue and optional password protection.