Library and Local Files

What is Local Files?

Local files basically means your music - your own MP3 collection. Importing all your music files into Spotify means you’ll never again need to switch between media players.Read more

Not all of my tracks were imported. Why’s that?

The most likely reason is that some of your tracks are in a format not supported by Spotify. Find out more

What does the file icon to the right of the track mean?

This icon tells you that the track is a local music file from your computer, not a streaming track from Spotify.

Why can't I import the music I’ve ripped with Windows Media Player?

Windows Media Player rips from CD to the WMA format. Unfortunately, we don’t support the WMA format at present.

How do I delete a local file in Spotify?

If you want to remove a local music file from Spotify, select the track and press the Delete key (or Backspace on Mac).

Once deleted, the local music file won’t be displayed in the Local files list, and won’t be playable when it’s featured in a playlist.

The file itself will not be deleted from your computer.

Which file types are supported by Spotify?
  • .mp3, .mp4, .m4a and .m4r files are supported.
  • .m4p is supported, but these files are usually protected by iTunes. Spotify can’t play them, but will try to match them against the corresponding Spotify track.
  • .m4v, .3gp, .3g2 and .mov files will be imported, but will only be playable if they were originally exported as audio files.
Will Spotify play ads when listening to local files?

We do not play audio advertisements while you are listening to your own files. If you listen to a playlist with a mix of local and streamed tracks you will hear audio ads but the ad timer will stop during the playback of your own files.

Does Spotify upload my local files to its servers ?

No. Local files that you have imported into Spotify are not uploaded from your computer.

You can share local music in the same way that you can with streaming music. However, the music will only be played if it can be matched with music that can be played by the other users that you shared with. That is, if the music is available as impoprted local music on their computer, or if it can be found in the Spotify streaming catalogue.

How do I transfer local files from my computer to my mobile?

You can use Spotify to sync your own local files to the Spotify app on your Android or iOS device.

  1. Make a playlist on your computer containing music from your Local music files
  2. Connect your computer and phone to the same WiFi network
  3. Open Spotify in your phone and mark the newly created playlist as an ”Offline playlist”
  4. Now watch and marvel as your tracks fly over to your phone
Can I share playlists that feature local music files from my computer?

Yes. If Spotify can find the track in the streaming catalogue then it will be playable by all Spotify users. If the track cannot be found in the catalogue, it will still be playable by anyone who has that track on their computer, and has imported it into their own Local files in Spotify.

How much information does Spotify store about my local files?

We collect data on the files that you import and play for top list purposes, statistics and to link tracks to our database for better sharing. As we state in our privacy policy, we won’t share your information regarding imported files to any third party.

What is Gracenote?

Simply put, Gracenote is music fingerprinting. Thanks to our partnership with the good people at Gracenote, you have the chance to clean up your MP3 collection.

If you have incorrect or missing track information in your music files, Gracenote will identify the tracks and add the correct tagging information, including title, artist, album etc. The days of “Track 01” are over.

Want to clean up your MP3s?

We’ve partnered with Gracenote to give you the option to sync your music files with their enormous database. This process will help to replace any missing track and artist information from your music files. No more “Track 02″ for you. (Read more about Gracenote)

I used Gracenote to change the information in my local file. Can I undo this?

Of course. Right-click the track and choose “Undo Gracenote changes”. To undo several files:

  1. Go to “Local files”
  2. Click on a track
  3. Selected multiple tracks or select all (ctrl + a in Windows, cmd + a in Mac)
  4. Right click on the selection and select “Undo Gracenote changes”
How do I update my local music files with correct information through Gracenote?

Gracenote helps you cleaning up track, artist and album information of your local files.

You can do this by:

  1. Selecting one or multiple tracks in your local files.
  2. Right-click (Cmd + click on Mac) on it/them and select to “Update Info from Gracenote”.
  3. Wait for your track information to be updated, it could take a while depending on the number of tracks you’ve selected.
Spotify can't play a local file after Gracenote updated its metadata

If you let Spotify update your local files with information from Gracenote it is possible that iTunes moved your files due to their new - updated - song information. This can occur in rare cases if:

  1. You have enabled “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” in iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced
  2. iTunes deem the new metadata as such a major update that it would no longer fit in it’s current place in the “Artist » Album » Song” folder hierarchy that iTunes uses.
Read more
I let Gracenote update my local files and now I can’t play them in Spotify and iTunes looks weird

This articles covers how to revert all changes Gracenote has made in order to recover from problems with iTunes.

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How Spotify updates metadata and how this correlates to iTunes

Spotify uses Gracenote to try to find additional metadata and correct wrong information. With a combination of ID3 tags (or the metadata if it’s a AAC files), song analysis and track length it does its best to determinate which artist and album a track belongs too and if there are wrong track information.

This data is saved in the files ID3 tag (or the metadata if it’s a AAC files) along with the original data for undo purposes. Since we store the original information you can still restore even if you have re-install Spotify or cleared cache. Even if you’ve moved the file between your computers - you can restore it.

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I can't undo the changes Gracenote did on my tracks

If you can still play the file you wishes to undo, please read undoing gracenote. If you can’t play the file anymore, please follow the instructions below.

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