Quick Lofi is a GNOME Shell extension designed to embed a lofi radio player directly in the top bar of your GNOME desktop environment. For those who frequently search for “lofi beats to study to” on platforms like YouTube, this tool unifies the experience, allowing for seamless access to mellow, lyric-free sounds that are reputed to enhance focus while working or studying.
Research supports the benefits of playing background music or ambient noise during study sessions. A 2022 study indicated that students who listened to classical music performed better in terms of working memory compared to those who studied in silence. In another study from 2023, both classical music and lofi beats proved to be more beneficial than silence, with lofi being nearly as effective as classical music.
While it’s easy to keep a browser tab open for these lofi streams, using Quick Lofi simplifies the process and reduces memory usage on your device. The extension allows you to install it, open the panel menu, and start listening with just a click. However, an internet connection is required to access the provided streams.
Users can also customize their listening experience by adding their own internet radio stations via URLs, broadening the scope beyond just lofi beats to include ambient sounds, weather backgrounds, or even foreign language news stations. With the extension’s preferences, you can reorder your favorite stations and control the volume individually, ensuring that the lofi music stays at a comfortable level beneath other audios such as study videos or recorded lectures.
Although it currently doesn’t integrate with MPRIS, users have the ability to set custom playback keys. Quick Lofi utilizes MPV for streaming, which is not included by default in Ubuntu, so users need to run sudo apt install mpv in the terminal to install it. This extension is compatible with GNOME versions 46 through 49, meaning it’s suitable for use on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and later.
For more details and to download Quick Lofi, visit the GNOME Extensions page.