No Sound in Desktop App on Ubuntu Linux

[jonte330]

I am getting no sound from the Spotify desktop app on Ubuntu Linux. All other apps play sound normally.

I have tried reinstalling the app with no success. Checking pavucontrol, Spotify is outputting to the correct output (Line out) and volume is normal. The monitor in pavucontrol does not register sound from Spotify.

The app worked a few months ago. I was messing around with outputs in pavucontrol in order to isolate the output from Spotify for streaming reasons. I changed the output to a new one I created in the terminal but this output is not available in the list anymore. I don't remember all the details, unfortunately.

I've checked that Spotify is playing on "This Device" and it also works normally on my phone and in browser.

Anyone have any ideas what's wrong?

[Nocrouter]

After of days messing about this is a great fix thank you, shame with all the money you spend with Spotify they can't be bothered to fix it.

[Luuf10]

guys, to prevent running every time on the terminal, follow these instructions

1. Copy the file:

cp /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop

2. Then open it:

nano ~/.local/share/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop

3. Find this line:

Exec=/snap/bin/spotify %U

4. Change it to:

Exec=/snap/bin/spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio %U

5. update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

[J_Trancozo]

Looks like the latest Spotify Snap updates are broken on Ubuntu 22.04. I managed to get it working again by rolling back to an older revision. Here’s what I did:

1. Remove the current version:
   snap remove spotify
   
   

2. Install a specific known-working revision (90 still working):
   sudo snap install spotify --revision=90
   
   

3. Prevent it from auto-updating:
   sudo snap refresh --hold spotify

If you ever want to unfreeze it and let it update again:
sudo snap refresh --unhold spotify

If you want to update to the latest version afterwards:
sudo snap refresh spotify

[pasqualep]

So this is not just an Ubuntu issue.  Also happening on Manjaro with snap package.

uname -r
7.0.9-1-MANJARO

Snap Package:
spotify 1.2.89.539.gfb3c63a3

running "spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio" as stated by @JVRN does fix the issue.

[prkrmx]

Same issue, Ubuntu 22.04, Spotify 1.2.89.539

"spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio" workes as expected

[3_otj-g2pw4hi]

Thansk!
This did the trick for me.

[poketon]

Same issue here, Spotify does not show up on the PulseAudio control panel.

The `spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio` workaround worked but hoping for the dev team to look into this.

I'm  using Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS.

[steventh]

That's interesting since the flatpak is just the repackage snap version. 

[fintux]

There was a new version coming in the past 24 hours, but it still has the issue.

[Adventsparky]

Adding another voice, just the same issue as everyone else. New update didn't fix it, launching with pulse-audio command works fine.

[ArtyTamer]

It's been more than a week now. What about Spotify team handles the problem and provide the update ?

[OxOrboy]

hola amigos, encontre una solucion!
Primero cierren Spotify, e intente abrir usando la terminal con el siguiente comando:

spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio

Si funciona, perfecto. Lo que estaba pasando es que las últimas acualizaciones de Spotify intentan forzar un backend de audio moderno (como ALSA directo o PipeWire nativo).

Para los amigos que usan Spotify versión snap:
Para no abrir el terminal y escribir siempre ese comando, vamos a configurar de forma permanente el lanzador haciendo lo siguiente:

sudo nano /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop

Buscando la linea "Exec=" y lo reemplazamos así:

Exec=snap run spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio %U

Espero que les ayude, a mi me funciono! Llevaba dos días usando Spotify Web, con esto volví a la aplicación nativa.

Hey everyone, I found a solution!

First, close Spotify and try opening it using the terminal with the following command:

spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio

If it works, great! What was happening is that the latest Spotify updates try to force a modern audio backend (like ALSA Direct or native PipeWire).

For those using the Spotify Snap version:
To avoid opening the terminal and typing that command every time, let's permanently configure the launcher by doing the following:

sudo nano /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop

Find the line "Exec=" and replace it like this:

Exec=snap run spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio %U

I hope this helps, it worked for me! I had been using Spotify Web for two days, and this got me back to the native app.

[donniekramer]

Just wanted to share my experience and the fix that worked for me in case it helps others.

OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Install method: Flatpak
Issue: "Can't play current song" error on every track

I tried everything like reinstalling via Snap, reinstalling via the official .deb repo, clearing the cache, reconnecting snap interfaces, nothing worked.

The fix that worked: forcing Spotify to use PulseAudio instead of PipeWire by launching with the flag:

flatpak run com.spotify.Client --audio-api=pulseaudio

To make this permanent so it works when clicking the app icon, I created a local desktop file override:

cp /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications/com.spotify.Client.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

Then edited ~/.local/share/applications/com.spotify.Client.desktop and changed the Exec line to:

Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=spotify --file-forwarding com.spotify.Client @@u %U @@ --audio-api=pulseaudio

This persists across Flatpak updates since the file lives in ~/.local/share/applications/.

Hope this helps others hitting the same issue. Seems like Spotify is defaulting to PipeWire on Linux but it's broken — would be great if PulseAudio could be the fallback automatically.

[trot]

this is a nice solution, thank you! silly that we need to manually roll back to an earlier version just to fix this broken one

[Jaggamasta]

Hi there,
since I also ran into the same issue on my Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS I thought to look up for a solution for that.
Well I use flatpak instead of snap. So the fix would be

A) Flatpak

1) We copy our spotify shortcut to our user directory:

cp /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications/com.spotify.Client.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

2) After that we edit the cpoied file with your editor of choice:

nvim ~/.local/share/applications/com.spotify.Client.desktop

3)There you'll find an Entry ilke Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=spotify com.spotify.Client (must be line 5 or so) and just append --audio-api=pulseaudio so you have:

Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=spotify com.spotify.Client --audio-api=pulseaudio

4) Save and exit the editor.
5) Start Spotify as usual via the shortcut and enjoy.

Since there are a couple of snap users here:
the fix for the snap installation is pretty similar

B) Snap

1) we copy our spotify shortcut to our user directory (snapd instead of flatpak then):

cp /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

2) We now edit our copied file:

nvim ~/.local/share/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop

3) Add the same --audio-api=pulseaudio in the Exec line like:

Exec=/snap/bin/spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio %U

Make sure it sits before the %U

4) In case it didn't work directly we just refresh our Ubuntu application cache (since we made a personal override here):

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

P.S. I tried both snap & flatpak myself and it works perfectly fine 🙂

Versions I tested:

- snap: spotify 1.2.90.451.gb094aab0
- flatpak: com.spotify.Client 1.2.89.539.gfb3c63a3



Hope it could help 🙂

Cheers

Jaggamasta

[nrxd]

"spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio" worked for me too.
Thanks @JVRN
I changed spotify_spotify.desktop to add the arg All is fine now.

[rogeriowolff]

Exactly The same behaviour here. Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS, Spotify for Linux 1.2.90.451.gb094aab0

[moondot]

Same issue on Artix Linux, also works for me when using 'spotify --audio-api=pulseaudio'