topic Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser in Desktop (Mac)

Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser

hollygolightly1 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 17:15:29 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

MacBook Air 2023

Operating System

Tahoe 26.2

My Question or Issue

Over the past 3 days I've noticed that any music tracks or podcasts that have videos do not play on either the desktop app or in browser. Neither the videos nor the audio plays and the play button is unresponsive. I don't even get a popup telling me that it can't play. It does say "now playing" but there is only a black screen in the video area and the text on the track or podcast episode is empty.

Re: Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser

Billy-J — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 21:54:20 GMT

Hey @hollygolightly1, thanks for reaching out to the Community!

First, make sure you don’t have any VPNs enabled. Once you’ve made sure of that, let’s try a few steps so we can solve this or narrow down the root cause of what’s causing your issue.

Could you try restarting your Mac? If that doesn’t work, try a clean reinstall following these steps. These steps are more thorough than the simple reinstall and can solve common issues.

If you're still having trouble, can you let me know if this happens on a mobile device, or another desktop device, if possible? That way I can isolate the issue and take a closer look.

Let me know how everything goes!

Re: Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser

alexco234 — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:49:44 GMT

I am another premium mac desktop user and I've also had this issue. Songs with music videos attached won't even play like normal, and there is no feature to tell it *not* to load the music video. This doesn't happen on my mobile device, and reinstalling didn't help.

Re: Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser

Billy-J — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 15:38:03 GMT

Hey @alexco234,

Thanks for your post. Can you let me know if you’ve followed the steps provided in my last reply? They’re more thorough than a simple reinstall. If that didn’t help, let me know the make and model of the device you’re experiencing this on. It would also be best to send me a screenshot of what happens when you access music videos following the steps here. Make sure to hide sensitive info when posting to the Community.

Keep me posted.

Re: Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser

cbgrfx — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 21:08:57 GMT

I have a premium account and no VPN running and I have reinstalled SPOTIFY. I am on a mac desktop. I cannot get video for Good Hang with Amy Poehler - The Claire Danes episode. I. have always had video and now it is gone. Please advise a solution

Re: Music and podcasts with video not playing on desktop app or on browser

Billy-J — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:55:09 GMT

Hey @cbgrfx,

Thanks for your post. I was not able to reproduce this on my end, so let’s try some troubleshooting steps here. Can you connect to another wifi network (it can be a mobile WiFi hotspot)?

If that doesn’t work, can you try logging in with a different Spotify account to see if you experience the same behavior? If possible, you can ask to use the account of a friend or relative to check.

If you’re still having issues, try to start the Mac in Safe mode. Let me know how this goes!