Audiobooks have needs that an ordinary music player does not meet: they last for hours, are listened to in pieces on different days, are divided into chapters, and you need to remember the exact point where you stopped, perhaps while switching from the phone to a smart speaker or computer. The same goes for podcasts. Audiobookshelf is a free server designed precisely for this: it gathers audiobooks and podcasts, synchronises progress across devices and offers dedicated phone apps.
What Audiobookshelf does
The main features, in brief:
- Audiobook library with authors, series, narrators, covers and descriptions.
- Chapters read from the files or imported from external sources.
- Synchronised progress: stop on your phone and resume in the browser at the same second.
- Podcasts: subscribe to feeds and download new episodes automatically.
- Multiple users, each with their own progress and statistics.
- E-books: EPUB and PDF files can also be part of the library, with a built-in reader.
It installs from a container image and needs few resources; audio files are not modified unless you explicitly ask.
Organising the folders
As with other media servers, folder structure matters a great deal. Audiobookshelf recognises this layout well:
Audiobooks/
Author Name/
Series Name/
1 - Title of the First Book/
chapter01.mp3
chapter02.mp3
cover.jpg
Title of a Standalone Book/
book.m4b
Each leaf folder corresponds to one book, however many files it contains. The number in front of the title indicates its position in the series. A book can be a single M4B file, a format that includes chapters and cover art, or many MP3 files in order.
Metadata and chapters
Audiobookshelf can look up metadata from several online providers, matching title and author. This is handy for covers and descriptions, but it is worth checking every match: different editions of the same book can have different narrators and running times, and therefore chapters that do not line up.
For chapters there are three routes:
- M4B files that already contain chapters: the cleanest solution.
- One file per chapter: each file automatically becomes a chapter.
- The built-in chapter editor, to define them by hand or import them when the edition's length matches.
You can also merge many MP3 files into a single M4B from the interface, a one-off operation that makes the book easier to manage.
Podcasts
Audiobookshelf also works as a server-side podcast client. You add an RSS feed and the server downloads new episodes on a schedule. The advantages over an app on the phone:
- Episodes remain available even if the producer removes them from the feed.
- Progress is shared across all devices.
- The phone does not have to download anything in the background: the server does it.
It is worth setting how many episodes to keep for each podcast, so storage does not grow unchecked. For shows you want to archive in full, on the other hand, you can turn off the clean-up.
Listening on the phone
The Android and iOS apps connect to the server and offer what you need for long-form listening:
| Feature | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Downloads for offline listening | Travel, the underground, areas without coverage |
| Adjustable playback speed | Matching the pace to the narrator |
| Sleep timer | Listening before bed without losing your place |
| Skip forward and back | Replaying a sentence you missed |
| Bookmarks | Finding an important passage again |
Progress recorded offline is synchronised with the server as soon as the phone is back online.
Several people at home
Each user has their own position in every book, their own history and their own listening statistics. You can create accounts with limited permissions, for example for children, showing only certain libraries. This lets you keep children's audiobooks separate from adult ones, or work podcasts apart from leisure ones.
Backups
Audiobookshelf includes a scheduled backup feature that saves the database, settings and, optionally, cover images. The audio files, which are the heaviest part, should be included in the server's general backup. Losing the database means losing progress and statistics, which for heavy listeners can have real value.
In short
- Audiobookshelf manages audiobooks and podcasts with synchronised progress.
- One folder per book, organised by author and series, keeps the library tidy.
- M4B files with chapters are the cleanest solution.
- The server downloads and keeps podcast episodes in place of the phone.
- Separate users and scheduled backups complete the setup.
