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zanzibarr v1.3 — subtitles that show up, errors that speak your language

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@envermeister envermeister released this 20 Aug 20:04
· 30 commits to main since this release
v1.3
92498bb

zanzibarr v1.3 — subtitles that show up, errors that speak your language

Stream anything from Usenet. Own nothing. Wait for nothing. zanzibarr plays NZB content without downloading it — instant start, frame-accurate seek, and nothing left behind on your disk.

Downloads

Platform File Notes
Windows (x64) zanzibarr-windows-x64.zip Extract anywhere, run zanzibarr.exe
macOS (Apple Silicon) zanzibarr-macos-arm64.zip Unzip, drag to Applications; first launch: right-click → Open
Android phone/tablet zanzibarr-android-arm64-v8a.apk armeabi-v7a for older devices, x86_64 for emulators
Android TV zanzibarr-android-arm64-v8a.apk Same APK — sideload it; leanback launcher & remote-friendly UI included

What's new in v1.3

  • Embedded subtitles now actually show up on Android. Text subtitles (SRT/ASS) were silently invisible on Android because libass couldn't resolve any font without fontconfig. zanzibarr now bundles a wide-coverage subtitle font (Noto Sans, OFL-1.1) and hands it to the playback engine — pick a track, read along. Image-based PGS/VobSub tracks were unaffected and still work.
  • Engine errors now speak your language. All Rust engine error messages were moved behind Flutter's localization, so playback/stream errors appear in the app's display language across all 14 supported languages — no more Turkish-only diagnostics on an English UI. (Community issue #1)
  • Ubuntu 24.04 build guide. Community-contributed notes for building zanzibarr from source on Linux now live in docs/BUILDING.linux.md, linked from the README. (Community issue #2 — thanks @sanderjo)

Already inside

  • Play instantly, never download — the Rust engine fetches only the segments you actually watch
  • Built-in indexer search — Newznab search with quality badges, tap-to-play inside the app
  • True seek — yEnc begin/end segment mapping, accurate even on 100+ GB releases
  • Archive-aware — multi-volume RAR5/RAR4 (incl. -hp encrypted) and 7z (STORE, LZMA/LZMA2 solid, AES-256) reassembled in memory as one virtual, seekable file
  • PAR2 repair — missing/corrupt segments rebuilt with Reed-Solomon, byte-exact against par2cmdline
  • Dolby Vision done right — P5 GPU reshape on macOS (Vulkan → Metal) and Android (custom mpv 0.41 + FFmpeg 8.1.2 + libplacebo engine, 8-bit path that survives Xclipse/Adreno drivers)
  • Full picture pipeline — SDR / HDR / HDR10 / Dolby Vision selector with BT.2390 tone mapping; TrueHD/Atmos, DTS-HD MA, AV1
  • Smart Canvas — draw your own crop with live aspect preview, applied on the GPU
  • Player essentials — PiP, frame stepping, speed, audio sync, external audio/subtitle loading, double-click ±10 s seek
  • 14 languages — EN, TR, ES, DE, FR, PT, IT, RU, ZH, JA, KO, HI, AR, FA (RTL included), dark & light themes
  • Private by design — NNTP credentials live only in the OS keychain; no accounts, no telemetry, no cloud

Getting started

  1. Install the build for your platform.
  2. Open the settings gear and enter your Usenet provider's NNTP details.
  3. Open any .nzb (or search with the built-in indexer) and press play.

Contributors

sanderjo
Assets 8
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