diff --git a/model/lyrics_lyricsfile.go b/model/lyrics_lyricsfile.go
index 91e24947e..49d416f3f 100644
--- a/model/lyrics_lyricsfile.go
+++ b/model/lyrics_lyricsfile.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import (
 // overlapping lines are attributed to synthetic voice agents via lowest-free
 // voice ID assignment so the OpenSubsonic v2 enhanced response can split
 // parallel vocals.
-func parseLyricsfile(_ string, contents []byte) (LyricList, error) {
+func parseLyricsfile(lang string, contents []byte) (LyricList, error) {
 	var doc lyricsfileDocument
 	dec := yaml.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(contents))
 	dec.KnownFields(false)
@@ -32,10 +32,16 @@ func parseLyricsfile(_ string, contents []byte) (LyricList, error) {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 
+	// Fall back to the caller's language when the document omits its own, matching
+	// the SRT/TTML parsers; normalizeLyricLang yields "xxx" only if both are empty.
+	docLang := doc.Metadata.Language
+	if strings.TrimSpace(docLang) == "" {
+		docLang = lang
+	}
 	lyrics := Lyrics{
 		DisplayArtist: str.SanitizeText(doc.Metadata.Artist),
 		DisplayTitle:  str.SanitizeText(doc.Metadata.Title),
-		Lang:          normalizeLyricLang(doc.Metadata.Language),
+		Lang:          normalizeLyricLang(docLang),
 		Kind:          LyricKindMain,
 	}
 	if doc.Metadata.OffsetMs != 0 {
diff --git a/model/lyrics_lyricsfile_test.go b/model/lyrics_lyricsfile_test.go
index 83751aace..45899cda7 100644
--- a/model/lyrics_lyricsfile_test.go
+++ b/model/lyrics_lyricsfile_test.go
@@ -66,6 +66,24 @@ lines:
 		Expect(l.Line[1].Cue).To(BeNil())
 	})
 
+	DescribeTable("resolves the lyric language",
+		func(metaLanguage, callerLang, want string) {
+			input := "version: '1.0'\nmetadata:\n  title: 'T'\n"
+			if metaLanguage != "" {
+				input += "  language: '" + metaLanguage + "'\n"
+			}
+			input += "lines:\n  - text: \"line\"\n    start_ms: 0\n"
+
+			lyrics, err := parseLyricsfile(callerLang, []byte(input))
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(lyrics).To(HaveLen(1))
+			Expect(lyrics[0].Lang).To(Equal(want))
+		},
+		Entry("prefers the document's own language", "eng", "deu", "eng"),
+		Entry("falls back to the caller language when metadata omits it", "", "deu", "deu"),
+		Entry("uses xxx when neither is provided", "", "", "xxx"),
+	)
+
 	It("parses plain-only Lyricsfile lyrics as unsynced lines", func() {
 		input := `version: '1.0'
 metadata:
diff --git a/model/lyrics_ttml.go b/model/lyrics_ttml.go
index c82887f6f..45e1d5725 100644
--- a/model/lyrics_ttml.go
+++ b/model/lyrics_ttml.go
@@ -118,7 +118,8 @@ func isTTMLDocument(contents []byte) bool {
 func parseTTMLWithDefaultLang(defaultLang string, contents []byte) (LyricList, error) {
 	contents = xmlEncodingRegex.ReplaceAll(contents, []byte(`<?xml$1encoding="UTF-8"$2?>`))
 
-	// Skip non-TTML content so sniffing doesn't run the XML decoder on plain text.
+	// Skip non-TTML content so sniffing doesn't run the full TTML parse on plain
+	// text — isTTMLDocument does a cheap decode that stops at the first element.
 	// Checked after the encoding fixup so UTF-16-declared documents are recognized.
 	if !isTTMLDocument(contents) {
 		return nil, nil