[Enhancement]: Download audiobooks as a single archive in mobile clients #1318

New Issue

2026-04-24T23:57:12+02:00

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:57:12 +02:00

Originally created by @fabianjuelich on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025).

Describe the Feature/Enhancement

Add an option in mobile clients to download an audiobook as a single archived file, similar to how downloads work via the web UI, instead of downloading many individual audio files in parallel.

Why would this be helpful?

Downloading many files in parallel is fragile when accessing Audiobookshelf remotely (e.g. via reverse proxies or tunnels). A single archived download is significantly more reliable and avoids failed downloads or app crashes for multi-file audiobooks.

Future Implementation (Screenshot)

A global app setting to choose the preferred download behavior for audiobooks.

Audiobookshelf App Version

iOS App - 0.11.0

Current Implementation (Screenshot)

No response

Originally created by @fabianjuelich on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025). ### Describe the Feature/Enhancement Add an option in mobile clients to download an audiobook as a single archived file, similar to how downloads work via the web UI, instead of downloading many individual audio files in parallel. ### Why would this be helpful? Downloading many files in parallel is fragile when accessing Audiobookshelf remotely (e.g. via reverse proxies or tunnels). A single archived download is significantly more reliable and avoids failed downloads or app crashes for multi-file audiobooks. ### Future Implementation (Screenshot) A global app setting to choose the preferred download behavior for audiobooks. ### Audiobookshelf App Version iOS App - 0.11.0 ### Current Implementation (Screenshot) _No response_

adam added the enhancement label 2026-04-24 23:57:12 +02:00

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:57:13 +02:00

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025):

If you are wanting to download a single archive file, you can continue to download using the web client. The apps do not support playback from zip, so it doesn't really make sense to compress and download, since you would need to use a separate app anyway and this is already available in the web client.

Another option is to change your library to single track (one audio file per book) by either using the copy parameter to prevent encoding or encode to a new codec/container.

@nichwall commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025): If you are wanting to download a single archive file, you can continue to download using the web client. The apps do not support playback from zip, so it doesn't really make sense to compress and download, since you would need to use a separate app anyway and this is already available in the web client. Another option is to change your library to single track (one audio file per book) by either using the `copy` parameter to prevent encoding or encode to a new codec/container.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:57:15 +02:00

@sir-wilhelm commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025):

related: #1425

@sir-wilhelm commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025): related: #1425

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:57:16 +02:00

@fabianjuelich commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025):

If you are wanting to download a single archive file, you can continue to download using the web client. The apps do not support playback from zip, so it doesn't really make sense to compress and download, since you would need to use a separate app anyway and this is already available in the web client.

Another option is to change your library to single track (one audio file per book) by either using the copy parameter to prevent encoding or encode to a new codec/container.

Clarification: not playback from ZIP. ZIP would be transport-only: download one archive, extract locally, then use the extracted files as normal in-app offline downloads for playback within ABS. This could be optional due to tradeoffs (extra disk usage during extraction, CPU/time, security risks).

@fabianjuelich commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025): > If you are wanting to download a single archive file, you can continue to download using the web client. The apps do not support playback from zip, so it doesn't really make sense to compress and download, since you would need to use a separate app anyway and this is already available in the web client. > > Another option is to change your library to single track (one audio file per book) by either using the `copy` parameter to prevent encoding or encode to a new codec/container. Clarification: not playback from ZIP. ZIP would be transport-only: download one archive, extract locally, then use the extracted files as normal in-app offline downloads for playback within ABS. This could be optional due to tradeoffs (extra disk usage during extraction, CPU/time, security risks).

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:57:16 +02:00

@fabianjuelich commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025):

related: #1425

This matches my observations. Limiting concurrency would already be a big improvement; using a single-archive transport would be another way to address the same underlying problem.

@fabianjuelich commented on GitHub (Dec 16, 2025): > related: [#1425](https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf-app/issues/1425) This matches my observations. Limiting concurrency would already be a big improvement; using a single-archive transport would be another way to address the same underlying problem.

Sign in to join this conversation.

1 Participants

Notifications

Due Date

No due date set.

Dependencies

No dependencies set.

Reference: starred/audiobookshelf-app#1318