Some of the passages of song begin with a soft, mellow sound that rises clearer and louder, which has been likened to the howl of a dingo. The voice can create sounds at one moment deep and resonant, switch to high thin squeaks and trills, then change again to harsh noises. In comparison to the superb lyrebird, the Albert's lyrebird limits its mimicry to a smaller range of species, with the green catbird and satin bowerbird featuring strongly in its imitations, as well as whipbirds and rosellas. Voice īoth this species and the superb lyrebird have powerful, flexible voices and use a mixture of their own calls and mimicry of other species in long unbroken passages of song. They are similar to the adult female, but can be distinguished by: (1) the richer and more uniform rufous-brown colouring on the chin, throat and foreneck, and brighter red-brown wash on the forehead and forecrown (2) the slightly paler upperbody (3) the softer, downy texture of the rump, lower belly and vent feathers and, most importantly, (4) the tail feathers (excluding the central pair of medians) are distinctly narrower, more tapered and pointed. Juveniles are separable from adults at close range. When walking, the male carries its tail in an upward-curving train. The tail of the female is shorter, simpler, slightly drooping and appears more pointed when closed it is composed of a pair of long, narrow and tapered median plumes, and fully webbed, broad, brown feathers with rounded tips, but lacks filamentaries. The male has a spectacular tail composed of: (1) a central pair of long ribbon-like dark-brown median plumes (2) six pairs of long, filmy and luxuriant filamentary feathers, which are black-brown above and dark grey below and (3) a long broad fully webbed outermost pair of lyrates, which are black-brown above and dark grey below.

The sexes are alike except for the shape of the tail. The legs and feet are brownish grey to dark grey or black. The bill is black the iris dark brown or black, and it has a broad, blue-grey ring around the eye.

They are chestnut-brown in colour with a rufous undertail, rump, and throat. Females reach approximately 75 cm (30 in) in length and males reach about 90 cm (35 in). Albert's lyrebird is a ground-dwelling bird.

Soft ringtone for alarm