Help → Audiobookshelf → Upload audiobooks

Upload audiobooks

Upload M4B or MP3 audiobook files and Terrarium organizes them for Audiobookshelf automatically.

Audiobookshelf expects audiobooks organized into Author/Title/ folders. You don't need to do this yourself — Terrarium handles it.

How to upload

  1. Go to your Terrarium dashboard and find your Audiobookshelf card
  2. Click Files to open the file manager
  3. Click Choose files to upload and select your audiobooks — you can select several at once
  4. Wait for the upload to finish
  5. You'll see "Organizing files..." while the organizer runs

Audiobookshelf's own Upload page is turned off on Terrarium. Uploads go through the file manager so they count toward your storage and get organized.

The organizer reads each file's metadata (author, title) using ffprobe and moves it into the right folder structure. If the file doesn't have metadata tags, it falls back to parsing the filename.

Once organized, Terrarium tells Audiobookshelf to scan for them, and your books appear within a minute or two. This happens even if you close the page after uploading.

Supported formats

Audiobookshelf plays M4B (the standard audiobook format), MP3, M4A, and most other audio formats. M4B files are ideal because they contain chapter markers.

File size

Audiobooks are large — a single book is typically 200 MB to 1 GB. Each file can be up to 2 GB, and your audiobooks count toward your storage alongside your music. Settings → Storage shows how much you've used, and the file manager lists everything you've uploaded, so you can see what's taking up room.

Listening on your phone

On your Audiobookshelf card, open the ⋯ menu and choose Connect a phone. Scan the code with your phone's camera, and it opens the steps for your phone with your server address ready to copy.

  • Android: Lissen on Google Play
  • iPhone: Plappa on the App Store

Sign in with your Terrarium username and your Audiobookshelf password on Terrarium. That's the password for Audiobookshelf, which may differ from your Terrarium password.

Your listening progress, bookmarks, and playback speed sync across all devices.