- Part 1. Can You Download Spotify Music on Your Computer?
- Part 2. How to Download Spotify Music on Your Computer With Premium
- Part 3. How to Download Spotify Music Directly to Your Computer Without Premium
- Part 4. How to Download Spotify Music on Your Computer for Free
- Part 5. Where to Find and Manage Downloaded Spotify Music on Your Computer
- Part 6. How to Transfer Downloaded Spotify Music from Computer to Smartphone
- Part 7. FAQs
For many Spotify users, having their favorite music downloaded on a computer means a lot. Imagine you're about to take a long flight, find yourself somewhere without internet access or just prefer not to rely on streaming services. In those moments, having your music ready and waiting offline can be a real lifesaver.
Before 2021, downloading music was only possible on the mobile app. Now, Premium users can also download albums and playlists using the desktop app. You still can't download individual songs one by one, but you can save up to 10,000 songs on each of 5 devices—that's about 200 playlists with 50 songs each. The desktop app also gives you more space and better tools to organize your music. You can even combine your Spotify downloads with your own local music files for a smooth listening experience. No matter your reason, downloading on desktop makes offline listening easy and reliable.
In this post, we'll show you how both Premium and free users can download Spotify music to a computer—and how to take those offline songs almost anywhere using ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, which lets you save them as MP3 files.
Part 1. Can You Download Spotify Music on Your Computer?
-
Yes
If you're a Premium user and want to save music for offline listening inside the Spotify app. You can download up to 10,000 songs on each of 5 devices, as long as you go online at least once every 30 days to keep your downloads active.
-
No
If you're using the free plan and hoping to download songs like you do with podcasts. Spotify doesn't allow that. But there's a useful workaround: you can still download songs as MP3 files you can move, play, or back up freely—and ViWizard makes that possible even for free users.
Now here's where things get a little tricky.
Why?
Spotify's downloaded songs aren't normal audio files. They're saved as encrypted cache files protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management). You can't find them, move them, or play them outside the Spotify app. And sometimes, even inside the app, problems happen. Spotify may ignore your saved songs and start streaming again—or delete downloads mid-flight and try to redownload them, even with no internet connection.
These issues are well-known, and some users try to fix them by turning off Wi‑Fi Assist or adjusting data settings.
Still, that's not always enough. Naturally, you want actual audio files—like MP3s. For full access to your music—downloads you can save, move, and play anywhere—ViWizard Spotify Music Downloader offers a solution. It removes DRM and converts Spotify tracks into usable MP3 files, so your offline library stays truly offline on your PC or Mac, free from limits and unexpected surprises.
Download Spotify music, podcasts and audiobooks as MP3 and more. Keep full sound and listen offline anytime.
Part 2. How to Download Spotify Music on Your Computer With Premium
Whether you already have a Premium subscription or not, it's easy to get started on desktop. You can subscribe directly by visiting your account page or open the desktop app, go to the Your Profile tab, and click Upgrade to Premium in the top right corner. You might find special deals like free trials or discounted rates.
No matter if you choose Individual, Family, or Duo plans, they all work the same for downloading music, podcasts, or free audiobooks on your desktop app. When you find something you want to listen to offline, just click the Download button. If you want to save a list of songs, create a playlist by clicking the plus sign (+) and adding your favorite tracks. Once your playlist is ready, hit Download. You'll see a little green arrow next to each track, showing it's saved to your computer.
Wondering where to find your downloads? Head to the Your Library section in the app. At the top, you'll see tabs like Playlists, Artists, and Downloads. Click Downloads, and there you go — all your saved music is ready to listen offline anytime, even without internet.
How to Download Spotify Music on Your Computer with Premium
- Open the Spotify app on your computer (find it in your apps or start menu, or if you haven't installed it yet, download it from the official website for Mac or Windows.).
- Before downloading, you can set the sound quality in Settings. Higher quality uses more data:
Per minute Per hour How long until you reach 1GB Normal (96kbps) 0.72MB 43.2MB 23.1 hours High (160kbps) 1.2MB 72MB 13.8 hours Very high (320kbps) 2.4MB 144MB 6.9 hours
- Search for the playlist or album you want. Alternatively, build your playlist by clicking a song, then selecting Add to Playlist. Choose an existing playlist or pick New Playlist to start fresh.
- Open it and click Download (for playlists, hover over the name to see the option).
- Wait for the download to finish—it depends on your internet speed and the size of the music.
- Find your downloads in Your Library under the Downloads tab.
- To make offline listening even easier, you can enable Offline Mode by selecting it within the options menu:
- For Windows:
- Go to "File" in the top-left corner of the Spotify window.
- Select "Offline Mode" from the dropdown menu to enable it.
- For Mac:
- Go to "Spotify" in the top-left corner of the screen.
- Select "Offline Mode" from the dropdown menu to enable it.
- For Windows:
Part 3. How to Download Spotify Music Directly to Your Computer Without Premium
This method is desktop-exclusive and works for anyone who wants offline listening on a PC or Mac—even without a Premium subscription. If you want to download music from Spotify as real audio files, you don't have to rely on the desktop app's offline feature. Instead, you can use ViWizard Spotify Music Downloader to get MP3s.
What You Need: ViWizard Spotify Music Downloader
If you like songs, podcasts, and audiobooks on Spotify and want to listen without limits on downloads or devices, ViWizard is the best way to start. Using the built-in Web Player, you log in to your Spotify account—free or paid—and access your music library with a familiar interface to browse Spotify's catalog. You can select individual songs, playlists, or albums and add them to the conversion list, then choose the output format like MP3. This tool is great for bulk downloading your music collection to your computer. After downloading, you can easily find and organize the files as your own offline library.
ViWizard gives you the same listening experience as the desktop app but with more freedom. All metadata—like song title, artist, and album info—is preserved. The conversion is fast, up to 15× speed, so you won't be waiting long. For best results, use Wi-Fi and avoid downloading too much data at once to stay safe.
Download Spotify music, podcasts and audiobooks as MP3 and more. Keep full sound and listen offline anytime.
Step 1: Download and Install ViWizard Spotify Music Converter
Start by downloading the ViWizard Spotify Music Converter to your computer. Make sure to select the right version for either Windows or Mac. After the download, run the installer and follow the instructions on-screen. Once the installation is complete, open ViWizard to begin converting your Spotify music.
Step 2: Add Spotify Tracks for Conversion
Open ViWizard and log in to your Spotify account. Browse your playlists, albums, or favorite tracks, then select the songs you want to convert. Click the "+" button at the bottom-right of the app, and it will load your selected songs into ViWizard.
Step 3: Choose Output Format and Settings
To make sure your converted songs are easy to use, click the menu icon in the top-right corner and go to Preferences > Conversion. Choose your preferred output format like MP3, WAV, or FLAC. For the best sound quality, set the bitrate to 320kbps. You can also adjust other settings like sample rate and channels for higher quality.
Step 4: Convert and Download Spotify Music
Once you're happy with the settings, click the "Convert" button. ViWizard will convert your music at up to 15x faster speed than most other tools. You can track the progress as it works through each song. After the conversion is done, go to the output folder to find your newly converted tracks, ready for use.
Part 4. How to Download Spotify Music on Your Computer for Free
If you're not using Premium, you can still save Spotify music to your computer—it just takes a different approach. One of the most reliable free tools out there is Audacity. It's a free, open-source audio recorder that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. While it won't download music in one click, it records exactly what you hear on your computer, which makes it a solid choice for getting tracks offline.
You'll need to spend a little time setting things up, and it does mean letting songs play in real time while you record them. But once you've captured them, you can export the files in common formats like MP3 or WAV—and they're yours to keep and organize however you like.
Want to try it? Here's how to get started:
How to Download Spotify Music to Your Computer for Free with Audacity
- Download and install Audacity from its official website.
- Open Audacity and set it up to record your system audio:
- On Windows: choose WASAPI as the audio host and select your output device (like speakers or headphones).
- On Mac: you might need to use a virtual audio routing tool like BlackHole or Loopback Audio to capture internal sound.
- Once set up, press Record in Audacity.
- Go to Spotify and start playing the track, album, or playlist you want to save.
- Let the music play all the way through. When you're done, stop the recording in Audacity.
- Use File > Export to save your recording as an MP3, WAV, or other supported format.
Having trouble downloading music from Spotify and play on your own player? Try using Audacity to record them as many as you wish.
Part 5. Where to Find and Manage Downloaded Spotify Music on Your Computer
Once you've downloaded music using the Spotify desktop app, finding it is simple. Just open the app, go to Your Library, and use the Downloaded filter at the top. You'll see everything you've saved for offline listening, including playlists, albums, podcasts, and audiobooks. If the green arrow appears next to the content, it's ready to play offline.
But what about the actual files? Spotify stores downloaded music in a hidden folder on your computer. Still, if you're just wondering where your offline content goes, here's how to find out:
Can't find downloaded songs on Spotify? Follow the instructions to find all your downloaded Spotify songs. You can also use the ultimate solution in this post to play downloaded Spotify songs on any other device or player.
Bonus: How to Play Music Stored on Your Computer in Spotify
If you have your own music saved as MP3s or other supported formats, you can play those too—right inside Spotify.
Here's how to import local files:
- Open the Spotify desktop app and click the three-dot menu in the top-left corner.
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll to the Local Files section and toggle it on.
- Click Add a Source, then choose the folders where your music is stored.
- Once added, Spotify will scan and import the tracks.
- You'll find them under Your Library > Local Files.
Click any song to play it, just like your other playlists. It's an easy way to keep your personal collection and streaming music in one place.
You can easily add your own music files for playing on Spotify. Here's the complete guide.
Part 6: How to Transfer Downloaded Spotify Music from Computer to Phone
Now you can transfer your downloads to all your devices directly. Here's how you can transfer the downloaded Spotify music files from Windows PC and Mac to your iOS and Android devices.
How to transfer downloaded Spotify music files to iOS devices?
- Connect an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch to your computer by using a USB cable.
- After you add these Spotify music files to the iTunes or Music app, you can start to do the syncing of your music library. To add music files, use File > Add File/Folder to Library (iTunes) or Import/Import Music (Music).
- Select your device next to Apple Music contents menu (iTunes) or in the Finder sider bar (Mac).
- Select Music on the side bar of iTunes or button bar in the Finder.
- Check "Music" > "Entire music library" in iTunes or "Sync music onto [device name]" > "Entire music library" in the Finder.
- When you're ready to sync, click Apply.
- When the syncing of your music is done, click Done.
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can open the Files or Music app to find your Spotify downloads.
How to transfer downloaded Spotify music files to Android devices?
- Connect the Android phone to your computer by using a USB cable.
- Mac users should use Android File Transfer to transfer files from the Mac computer. If you haven't, head to https://www.android.com/filetransfer/ to download the app.
- On Windows, copy the downloaded Spotify music files or folders you want and paste them to your device's storage. On Mac, select and open your device's storage under "Use USB for" in the Android File Transfer app, then drag the music files to the Files app.
- Disconnect your Android device from your computer and open the Files app to check for these transferred music files.
Part 7. FAQs
Can I download Spotify songs directly to my computer?
Premium users can download music for offline listening, but the downloads are encrypted and can only be played in the Spotify app. They aren't regular audio files like MP3. For example, if you download an album or playlist, you can listen offline, but you won't be able to play them outside of Spotify.
Where are my downloaded Spotify songs stored on my computer?
Downloaded Spotify songs are stored in this folder: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Spotify\Storage. These files are encrypted, so you can only play them in the Spotify app. You won't be able to open or use them in other media players.
Can I transfer Spotify downloaded music to another device?
No, Spotify's downloaded music can only be played in the Spotify app and can't be moved to other devices as regular files. For example, even if you copy the downloaded files to another computer, they won't work unless you're logged into the same Spotify account and using the app.
Can I download Spotify songs as MP3 files?
Spotify doesn't let you download songs as MP3s. However, with a tool like ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, you can change Spotify songs into MP3 and other formats, making them easier to play on different devices or media players.
Conclusion
By using ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, you can download songs, albums, playlists, audiobook, and podcasts from Spotify to MP3 and other format files to your computer. Then you are able to play them on any device, such as smartwatches, MP3 player, or add them into video as the background music. The trial version can be downloaded for free, and thus you can save Spotify songs to computer free for one minute. If you want to unlock all the features, you can buy the full version. Just download it, and have a try first.
You May Be Interested
Adam Gorden, the digital media specialist at ViWizard, is dedicated to providing the best solutions for digital media management, including audio and video conversion, file optimization, and media workflow enhancements.
Leave a Comment (0)