topic Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files in Desktop (Linux)

"Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

LennertVA — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 08:40:12 GMT

Plan: Premium, although that doesn't matter for local files

Operating System: Debian bookworm/sid

$ spotify --version
Spotify version 1.1.84.716.gc5f8b819, Copyright (c) 2022, Spotify Ltd

Spotify can't play local files anymore (new laptop). They are being detected and show with the right metadata. Selecting them to play gives the dreaded "Spotify can't play this right now" message. All streaming (non-local) songs works fine.

Things already done reading various other reports on this:

Full wipe of local settings/cache (rm -rf ~/.config/spotify ~/.cache/spotify)
Mess with the "streaming/download quality" settings (nothing works, regardless)
Install ffmpeg with all dependencies

Pretty stumped about what now. Any hints?

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

two_ko86 — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:01:26 GMT

Got this same issue as well, on Gentoo Linux on the new spotify client; didn't use to have this issue and I have also tried everything you tried as well

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

jooon — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 14:08:50 GMT

Spotify only supports libavcodec/libavformat 54,56,57 and 58. Looks like a two new major versions of libavcodec have been released, 59 and 60. I can see that Debian bookworm/sid is on 59. Not sure how to check Gentoo, but I guess it is also on 59 or 60. I'll add a ticket internally to see if we can add support for 59 and 60.

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

paul-antoine — Fri, 05 May 2023 10:13:28 GMT

I can reproduce the issue on Debian Sid, with Spotify 1.2.8.923.g4f94bf0d and libavformat59, although libavcodec58 is also installed.

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

paul-antoine — Fri, 05 May 2023 12:19:24 GMT

BTW why is the client still able to play streamed songs, even with a unsupported libavformat?

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

saucyross — Tue, 09 May 2023 20:13:43 GMT

Spotify is notorious for having issues with local files. Despite several community issues about issues with local playback, it seems like this will never be fixed. My client periodically crashes while trying to play local files, even if they are in a supported format.

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

LaggyKar — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:23:04 GMT

I think it uses Vorbis for streaming, so it would presumably use libvorbis, while libavcodec is used for local mp3/aac files.

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

paul-antoine — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:32:55 GMT

Yes, you're right! The only thing I don't understand is why it's able to play Vorbis when it's streamed but not when it's a local file 🤷

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

LaggyKar — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:42:08 GMT

Yes, it would be nice if they added support for local Vorbis files (as well as Opus and flac).

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

alexandrpaliy — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 13:02:46 GMT

Just in case, for those who use flatpak version - check this github issue https://github.com/flathub/com.spotify.Client/issues/243 , since it mentions the current workaround in this post.

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

paul-antoine — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 16:41:09 GMT

FWIW I downloaded libavcodec.so.58 and libavformat.so.58 from https://snapshot.debian.org/ and put them in /usr/share/spotify. That was enough to make local MP3 files playable on Debian Sid.

HTH

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

thisguyrighthere — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 16:26:45 GMT

Hi,

Did you download the standalone files or a package ? Can't seem to locate "libavcodec.so.58 and libavformat.so.58" individual files from the link you provided. Thanks !

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

paul-antoine — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 17:47:51 GMT

I downloaded whole packages for libavcodec58 and libavformat58: https://snapshot.debian.org/binary/libavformat58/ and http://snapshot.debian.org/binary/libavcodec58/

Re: "Spotify can't play this right now" on local files

misspaulingfangirl47 — Wed, 15 May 2024 05:38:47 GMT

getting this issue on a fresh install of opensuse tumbleweed :-(. local files worked beautifully on leap 15.5, though!