Carbon is a free, open-source Spotify client for Windows 10 and 11. Built in Rust, it plays your library itself, fills lyrics word by word and keeps your sign-in on your PC.
Press and hold any panel for the details.
Spotify’s official Web Playback SDK runs inside Carbon, so no Spotify app has to stay open.
Play, pause, seek, shuffle, repeat, your queue and volume sit in one glass bar, and playback carries on from the tray when you close the window. Requires Spotify Premium.
Time-synced lyrics fill word by word as they’re sung.
Click any line to jump to that moment in the song. Lyrics come from LRCLIB, an open, community-maintained lyrics library.
No ads, no analytics, no tracking. Your Spotify sign-in stays in Windows Credential Manager.
You sign in on Spotify’s own page, so Carbon never sees your Spotify password. A Carbon account stores only your email and a salted password hash.
Media keys, the Windows media overlay, a tray icon with controls, and launch at startup.
Close the window and the music keeps going from the tray. Launching Carbon again brings back the window you already have instead of opening a second copy.
Show what’s playing on your Discord profile, with album art and a live progress bar. Scrobble to Last.fm by its rules.
Discord presence appears only while the Discord desktop app is running. Nothing reaches Last.fm until you connect your account in Settings.
Every line is on GitHub under the MIT license. Updates are signed and verified before they install.
Read the code, build it yourself with Node.js and Rust, or check each release’s notes before you update.
Free and open source. On first launch you’ll create your own Spotify Client ID; the setup guide walks you through it in about two minutes.
$4.99once
Coming soon
A one-time upgrade that adds extra features and funds Carbon’s development. No subscription, and the core app stays free.
Something else? Ask on GitHub or email support@getcarbon.cc.
Yes. Carbon plays music through Spotify’s official Web Playback SDK, which works only with Premium accounts. Spotify also requires Premium to create the developer app used during setup.
Yes. Once Carbon accounts launch, a free Carbon account will be required to use the app. It’s separate from Spotify: an email address and a password, with a code emailed to you each time you sign in.
Spotify’s 2026 developer rules limit each developer app to five users, so a shared ID would fill up almost immediately. You create your own instead. It’s free and takes about two minutes with the setup guide.
You sign in on Spotify’s own page, so your Spotify password never reaches Carbon. The token Carbon receives stays on your PC in Windows Credential Manager, and Carbon never needs your Client secret. The privacy policy has the details.
Yes, and open source under the MIT license. Carbon+ will be an optional one-time $4.99 upgrade for extra features. The core app stays free.
The installer isn’t signed with a paid code-signing certificate yet, so Windows may warn you the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway. App updates are signed separately and verified before they install.
Not yet. Carbon is built for Windows 10 and 11 today, and Carbon for mobile is in development. Follow progress on GitHub.
