How to Fix Spotify Local Files Not Syncing/Showing/Playing

One of the important features from Spotify is that it allows users to upload their music to its app and play them along with the music online. But many users have reported issues with this feature: Local Files not syncing, Local Files not showing and Spotify even can't play Local Files...

In the following parts, We'd like to introduce serveral methods to fix this Spotify Local Files not working issue and ensure a smooth listening experience with the files across desktop and mobile devices.

Part 1. Spotify 'Local Files' Feature: Unexpected Issues

Local Files:

Local Files is a desktop feature that lets Spotify users to upload their own files to Spotify. Before uploading your own files to Spotify, there're some precautions to avoid issue like Local Files feature not working.

Once the local files are uploaded to the Spotify app for desktop, users need make sure both the computer and mobile devices are in the same Wi-Fi connection then download the synced local files on mobile, which is a short process.

If the Local Files issue is NOT with the above problems, please also make sure that proper process to sync your local files with the mobile device.

To Sync Local Files on Spotify:

1. On mobile, open the Spotify app using the same Wi-Fi network as the desktop app.

2. On mobile, use Home > Settings > Local Files > Local audio files. If "Local audio files" is switched off, switch it on.

3. On desktop, go into the created playlist based on the local files. Click the Download button or switch the Downloading button on.

4. On mobile, go to the created playlist > Download. You can also follow one additional step to switch off the "Hide Unplayable Songs" option on mobile: Home > Settings > Playback > Crossfade > Hide Unplayable Songs.

Part 2. Fix: Spotify Local Files Not Syncing

For those find Spotify local files not syncing with mobile, please follow these steps to use offline mode on both desktop and mobile to make this work.

To Switch on Offline Mode:

1. For starters, switch from the online mode to the offline mode.

For Windows, use the More button (horizontal 3 dots) to open the Windows menu > File > Offline Mode. Once you're on offline mode, you will see the offline mode icon next to the Profile icon.

For Mac, click Spotify in the Apple menu > Offline.

For Android or iOS, go to Home > Settings > Playback. If Offline is off, switch it on.

2. From here to make sure the offline mode is switched on for a good 5 to 10 minutes, then switch back to online mode.

For Windows, use the Windows menu > More > File > Offline Mode. If the Offline Mode option is checked, click it to disable it and switch to online mode.

For Mac, use the Apple menu > Spotify > Offline. If Offline mode is switched on, switch if off.

Now please repeat the steps to sync your own files with mobile, and the syncing should work fine.

Part 3. Fix: Spotify Local Files Not Showing

When it comes to settings changes (for example, use Local Files > Show songs froms > add a source to upload local files to Spotify), sometimes Spotify won't update these preferences. In this case, the local files might not show in the desktop app, you need to refresh your local files settings.

To Refresh Local Files Settings:

On desktop, you need to switch off and back on "Local Files" option to make this work.

1. On desktop, use the Profile icon > Settings.

2. Scroll to Local Files. If this "Local Files" option is switched on, switch it off.

3. After a few seconds, switch "Local Files" back on.

If you have done the processes above and still can't play local files on Spotify. Here're some fixes.

To Access Local Audio Files:

On mobile, please make sure this option has been switched on to access the local audio files. If "Local audio files" is switched off, Spotify local files won't show on the mobile device.

1. On mobile, go to Home > Settings.

2. Scroll to Local Files > Local audio files. If "Local audio files" is switched off, switch it on.

To Show Unavailable songs in Playlists:

On mobile, there's a simple method to check the not showing songs from the created playlists based on the synced files.

1. On mobile, go to Home > Settings > Display Options > Show unavailable songs in playlists. You can see these local songs are unavailable at this point.

2. Please open both apps on the devices and upload these unavailable files again.

To Disable Hide Unplayable Songs:

You can also disable another option that hides all unplayable songs on Spotify.

1. On mobile, go to Home > Settings.

2. Scroll to Playback > Crossfade > Hide Unplayable Songs. If "Hide Unplayable Songs" is switched off, switched it on.

To Fix the Internet Connection:

If Spotify local files still won't show on mobile, please also fix the internet connection.

1. On desktop and mobile, delete the Spotify playlist based on the local files.

On desktop, right-click the created playlist > Delete.

On mobile, go to Your Library > the created playlist > More > Delete Playlist.

3. Once the playlist is deleted, restart the apps on both the devices.

4. After that, create a mobile Hotspot and connect both devices to it (Have Wi-Fi switched off at this point), then open both apps and upload the files.

Part 4. Fix: Spotify Can't Play Local Files

I'm receiving this error message exactly: "Totally can't play my local files on Spotify! I have around 16k songs on my PC. Spotify won't load my local files anymore, at all. It used to sit and take forever, now it won't even try.I have NO WAY to add local files to playlists now, because I can't view them under Local Files. This is totally breaking Spotify for me. I can't use it as a music player if I can't add my own music. Any ideas? " - Spotify user from Reddit

To Show Unavailable songs in Playlists:

If Spotify won’t play some local files, please use the "Show unavailable songs in playlists" option to check if they are unavailable.

1. On mobile, go to Home > Settings > Display Options > Show unavailable songs in playlists. You can see these local songs are unavailable at this point.

2. Please open both apps and try upload and download these unavailable songs again.

To Clear Spotify Cache:

If you've streamed these songs from the local files for a long time and never clear the cache before, the mobile device might become sluggish and can't play these local files on the Spotify app for mobile.

1. On mobile, go to Settings > Storage > Delete cache. This will clear the offline cache.

2. Go back into the created playlist based on the local files > Download. Once you redownload the playlist, the songs included should be accessible and available on Spotify.

Part 5. How to Combine Spotify Streaming Files with Your Own Files

If all the methods above can't fix the Local Files issue as expected, there's one more method that lets you combine the exclusives to Spotify (Spotify Music catalog) with your own files, that is, to make Spotify streaming files into the same formats - such as MP3.

While Spotify streaming files are all encoded into DRM and limited to Spotify's platform, a music converter can make them yours. Added with the DRM-removal function, ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is the best 3rd-party tool that can convert Spotify contents into 6 formats - MP3, M4A, M4B, WAV, AAC and FLAC.

The best part of it is that the whole process requires only a Spotify free account. Once you make Spotify offline in MP3s, it's simple to transfer them to the mobile device or combine and manage them in a safer place - like iTunes.

ViWizard Music Converter works fine on its Windows or Mac version. Click the Download button from the box above to download and install it to the desktop.

Step 1Select Spotify Contents

Launch ViWizard, wait until it launches or relaunches Spotify app for desktop connected with your Spotify account. You can use drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste to add the selected Spotify contents to ViWizard.

Step 2Adjust Format Settings

Once the contents are added to ViWizard, you'll also need to adjust some format settings. In the menu bar, click the menu icon > Preferences to go into the preferences settings. Click Convert, then click Output format's drop-down to choose MP3. After that, click OK to save this change with the file format.

Step 3Convert Spotify Contents into MP3

In ViWizard, click the Convert button can start the whole conversion in a 5x super faster speed. You can browse to the converted files in MP3 either in the pop-up after the conversion or in ViWizard's Converted menu anytime you want.

Step 4Combine with Your Own Files

Once the Spotify streaming files are converted into MP3, you can transfer them to your mobile device with a USB table or combine them with your own files in iTunes, where MP3s are compatible.

To Combine Converted Spotify Music Files with Your Own Files in iTunes:

1. On desktop, open iTunes or Music app.

2. From here to upload the converted Spotify music files to iTunes or Music app.

For Windows: use File > Add File to Library or Add Folder to Library. In the Windows Explorer pop-up, naviagate to the folder where all the converetd music files are stored with ViWizard > Open.

For Mac: use File > Import. In the Finder pop-up, locate the music files or folder that you want to add to your Apple Music collection > Open.