The Brown-throated Barbet has a brown head and throat with green upperparts. It is usually solitary in Java's mountain forests, but may feed with other birds at fruiting trees.
It is about 27 cm long. Adults of both sexes have an unmarked brown head, neck and upper breast, with golden markings on the nape. The upperparts are green and may have a blue tinge. Immatures are duller with a paler bill.
It is found almost exclusively in humid mountain forest at 800–2,000 m. It is usually solitary, sometimes in small groups, and may feed alongside other fruit-eating birds at fruiting trees.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.