Spotify won't play Local Files anymore.

[mm1983]

Plan

Premium

Country
UK

Device

(Macbook Air early 2015)

Operating System

(iOS 11.5.2 Big Sur)

My Question or Issue
I had synched up Spotify to play local files and suddenly it won't anymore. They appear grey and spotify just skips past them. I've checked and the Local Files is pointing at the right folder to play them from, I've cleared the cache in settings, and I've made sure it's updated to the latest version. It's throwing the error 'Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it.' They're MP3 files which used to play fine. 

Any ideas? thanks!

[Yordan]

Hi @mm1983,

Welcome to the Community and thanks for reaching out!

Are the songs greyed out in your playlists? If so, check if removing them and adding them again to the playlist does the trick.

If the songs are greyed out in the Local Files folder in Your Library, you can try moving them to another folder on your Mac and adding it as a source instead. It's also worth resetting your preferences by following these steps:

1. Open Finder on your Mac and click Go > Library (if you don't have hidden folders enabled, press the option key first and it should appear).
2. Go to Application Support > Spotify.
3. There you'll find a file called prefs, which holds info about the currently logged in account. Simply delete it.
4. While in the Spotify folder, you'll also find a Users folder. Open it and delete its contents as well.
5. Restart the Spotify app.

Note that you'll be logged out and your settings will be reset, so you'll have to adjust them again. If you had music downloaded for offline listening, you'll have to re-download it as well. Your library, however, will not be affected, so no worries there.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

[jedeez]

I try to add local files to Spotify on my iBook. I added the correct folder and Spotify is showing the mp3's but without the cover art. When I click on a song Spotify says it can't play the local file and that I should import it if it is on my computer. When I click on it again it suddenly starts playing anyway and it loads the cover art. I have to click on every song twice this way to get it playing and loaded. However, when I try to play a song I 'loaded' this way previously it suddenly is greyed out and there is no way at all to get it playing again.

I searched the internet for a solution and found tons of questions about this and a few replies (which didn't help me at all) but it seems this option to add local files is extremely buggy and usually not working. What a mess. Very disappointed with this.

Anyway, anyone here knows how ti get my greyed out files playing again?

[jedeez]

And while I am at it... I created a folder with playlists in the desktop app and it just won't show up on my mobile. The folder nor the content of it. Ive been troubleshooting Spotify for hours now and I can't say I am happy with it. It is far from intuitive and way too complicated. The simplest things can't be done without going through all kinds of trouble. Really bad.

[emelgren]

I deleted the recommended files from above, and created a new folder which I selected in my Spotify settings.

I also get the error message suggesting I import the file.

Clicking twice doesn't work for me.

But Spotify IS pulling in the album artwork from some of those files.

[Vasil]

Hey @emelgren,

Have these files worked before and, if yes - when have they stopped doing so?
It's a long shot but you can also take a look if the files are in a folder, the path to which contains characters outside of the usual Latin alphanumerics. Check if moving one of the files that is currently not playing to the desktop section of your device would make a difference.

The issue could either be linked to the files themselves (unless they've worked before), the path to them (which is why we'll try changing it up one more time) or an app error.
In case you think it might be the last option - try wiping all Spotify data from the device and installing it anew. Here's all the steps you need in order to do a full clean reinstall of the app.

Hope this helps! Keep us posted 🙂

[emelgren]

None of them had odd characters, but while it took a break from this problem I updated my phone.

I highly doubt the two are related, but when I came back to my Spotify desktop app, the songs were working in the folder I'd created earlier. So maybe it just takes some time to actually pull the data?

[Yordan]

Hey @emelgren,

Glad to hear everything's fine now.

This should normally happen instantly, but sometimes a restart may help resync things. This error might also show up if the wrong audio output device is selected for Spotify or if the sample rate is set to 384 kHz, so be sure to check if yours are set properly in case the message pops up again.

The Community is always here if you need assistance with anything.

Cheers 🤘

[sebh321]

Weird problem here. When on a playlist, spotify will skip some local file songs with the message "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it." However, if I double-click on the song, it plays like normal! It also works perfectly fine on my phone.
Again, not all of my local files are affected; it is just a set of them that were uploaded on the same day. All the files are still on my computer, and I am at a loss as to what is happening. Any help would be appreciated!