How to Use spotDL for Downloading Spotify Songs

Part 1. What Is spotDL?

spotDL is a command-line utility written in Python that allows listeners to download albums, playlists, and individual tracks from Spotify. It is a cross-platform, meaning it can be used on different operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. spotDL is an open-source project released under the MIT License, allowing users to view, modify, and distribute the code.

For Spotify users, one of the notable features of spotDL is its ability to download various types of Spotify music, such as songs, playlists, and albums. At the same time, it applies metadata gathered from Spotify to the downloaded music. This metadata includes information such as the track name and number, album name, album covert, artist name, genre, music label, and release date.

By using spotDL, you can download music from Spotify for offline listening and personal use.

Part 2. How to Use spotDL for Downloading Spotify Music

SpotDL recommend you installing spotDL to your Windows via Python. If you are on Windows, for starters you should install Visual C++ Redistributible and proceed to install Python and FFmpeg, both of which are prerequisites to spotDL. If you haven't downloaded the Python to PATH, you're highly recommended to install the latest version of Python and ensure to select "Add to PATH" when installing Python.

If you don't know anything about Python, you can download and install spotDL from its release page on Github. Here we show how you can download and install spotDL for Windows 10 or 11. If you are using other operating systems such as Windows 7 or macOS, you can install Python correctly via python -V on 3.7 or greater, and install spotDL via it.

Installing spotDL for Windows:

Step 1. Firstly, open a web browser and visit the release page of spotDL on Gitbub.

Step 2. Download and install the spotDL correctly.

Step 3. Configure spotDL, and wait until spotDL directs you to the downloader window on your web browser.

Step 4. Now you should type the title of the Spotify song, album, artist, playlist in the Search filed.

Step 5. Click on the Search button next to the Search field.

Step 6. spotDL will display a list of related results. Choose what you want to download and click on the Download button on it.

Step 7. Wait until spotDL add the selected items to the download list, and click on the Cloud icon at the top right. This will open the download queue.

Step 8. On the download queue view, click the Download button to download and spotDL will download the .mp3 file.

Part 3. Best Alternatives to spotDL for Downloading Spotify

If you are using other operating system such as Mac, or you're expericing any frustration when trying using spotDL, you're highly recommended using ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, which is designed for both Premium and free users to download music directly from the Spotify desktop client.

ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is the best Spotify music downloader for both Windows and macOS operating systems to download the 100% original music files of your favorite contents, including songs, playlists, albums, artists, podcasts, and even audiobooks in batch. You can make them compatible with your devices as MP3, M4A, M4B, WAV, AAC, and FLAC. Your positive listening experience is ensured by keeping the lossless audio and full ID3 tags with the downloaded music files. By embedding this metadata into the downloaded files, ViWizard helps ensure that your downloaded music is properly tagged and organized on your device.

Using ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, you can conveniently download your favorite music from Spotify for personal use. Meanwhile, you gain the ability to transfer and play your downloads offline on your device effortlessly.

Key Features of ViWizard Spotify Music Converter

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• Download Spotify songs, albums, playlists, podcasts, audiobooks
• Convert Spotify music to lossless MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, M4A, M4B
• Support playing offline Spotify music on any device at any time
• Compatible with Windows and macOS, as well as, the latest Spotify

Step 1Select Spotify music

Firstly, download and install the correct version of the ViWizard app depending on your operating system, and configure it on your computer. The Spotify desktop app will be opened automatically for you to access your music library and Spotify's music catalog. From there you can head over to what you want to download from Spotify, and drag and drop the music tracks to the ViWizard app. ViWizard will display a list of added music tracks.

Step 2Adjust output format

Then, you should adjust the output format. Click the menu icon in the upper-right corner of the ViWizard app, and select Preferences from the context menu. Go to the Convert tab, and open the drop-down menu on the current format, and select MP3 or another desired format from it. You can choose to adjust bit rate, sample rate, and channel there. Once done, click OK to save the changes.

Step 3Download Spotify music

Back to the main interface of the ViWizard desktop app, and click on the Convert button in the upper-right corner to start converting and downloaded the added music tracks. Wait for the conversion to complete, and click on the file icon next to the download location at the bottom of the screen. This will open the music folder that contains all the downloaded music files.