Can't play Spotify on my laptop using headphones; speakers work (as does a usb headset).

[cts]

Plan

Paid

Country

US

Device

Laptop

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

Spotify gives me this error message in the subject line *only when I plug in headphones*: "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it." When I use a USB headset I have no problem, and when I play songs through the laptop's speakers (which I never do) I have no problem. Setting the sound preference to "headphones" appears to cause the issue.

I have a decent set of headphones, which sound infinitely better than my USB headset, which I use for zoom calls, so I would like to get this fixed.

[Sebasty]

Hey @cts 

If you try to change your audio output to Headphones and then restart Spotify, does it still show you this error?

The app doesn't function well with changing audio outputs while it's running.

Another thing that comes to mind is that Windows 10 allows users to select audio in/output now - see this HowtoGeek article to learn more about it. You can set your headphones as the audio output for Spotify and it should stay that way.
It may happen that it's currently set to something else instead, making Spotify not recognise your desired output.

Let me know how you get on!

[LawrenceMorrow]

Thank you so much for answering. I also can't play Spotify on my laptop using headphones and I want to know why I can't use it. I am so happy I have found my answer over here. I want to buy laptops for studying and I have found so many ideas on this page. But I am confused about which one should I buy. Can you guys please help me in searching for the best laptops online?

[JoJo86]

I'm having this issue as well. All of my settings are as they should be, check what people have suggested on previous posts. Still nothing. It used to work if I started listening on my phone, then swapped to my laptop, but it won't let me do that anymore

[JoJo86]

I spoke to Spotify support bot about this. I was told to uninstall the Spotify app. Then reinstall it. It worked. Bluetooth headphones are now working via the app on my laptop 🙌🏻