Bazarr

If you’ve ever wanted a smoother subtitle management experience for your media library, then Bazarr is the perfect solution that fits right into your self-hosted media stack. Bazarr is a companion tool to Sonarr and Radarr that automatically downloads subtitles for your movies and series. It’s a terrific tool to ensure your media is fully accessible and enjoyable for everyone in your household—especially when available subtitles in your native language are limited or just missing!

What is Bazarr?

Bazarr is a subtitle management tool that supports multiple subtitle providers and integrates seamlessly with Sonarr for TV shows and Radarr for movies. It runs alongside them and automatically searches for and downloads subtitles as soon as new content appears in your library.

Why Self-Host Bazarr with Docker?

Using Docker to self-host Bazarr offers numerous benefits: ease of installation, simplified updates, and clean containerized deployment. You can isolate the application and its dependencies from your system, making maintenance significantly easier. Plus, it fits beautifully alongside other services in your self-hosted media environment.

Setting up Bazarr with Docker

The LinuxServer.io team maintains a well-supported Docker image for Bazarr. You can find the official documentation and example compose files on their website: https://docs.linuxserver.io/images/docker-bazarr.

Here’s a quick overview of how to get started with Bazarr using Docker Compose:

version: '3.3'

services:
  bazarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/bazarr:latest
    container_name: bazarr
    environment:
      - PUID=1000  # Update this to match your user ID
      - PGID=1000  # Update this to match your group ID
      - TZ=Europe/London  # Set your timezone
    volumes:
      - /path/to/config:/config
      - /path/to/movies:/movies
      - /path/to/tv:/tv
    ports:
      - 6767:6767
    restart: unless-stopped

Make sure to:

Replace /path/to/config, /path/to/movies, and /path/to/tv with appropriate paths on your server where Bazarr should store its settings and access your media.
Update the PUID and PGID to match the user running the container for proper permissions.

How to Use Bazarr

Once you’ve got Bazarr running, access the web interface by navigating to http://your-server-ip:6767. The first time setup wizard will walk you through connecting Bazarr to Sonarr and Radarr. You can configure your preferred subtitle languages and providers such as OpenSubtitles, Addic7ed, and many others.

You can also customize download rules, set priorities, and view logs for every subtitle that Bazarr fetches. It is a set-it-and-forget-it type of service—once configured properly, it works silently in the background, enhancing your viewing experience.

Conclusion

Bazarr is a must-have tool for any self-hosted media server enthusiast. Easy deployment with Docker, deep integration with Sonarr and Radarr, and extensive subtitle support make it a powerful part of your selfhosting toolkit.

Happy selfhosting, and I will see you in the next post!

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bazarr