Disable Video on desktop app

[albanderv]

There no X or way to close or stop a video on Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.64.408.g0a9b557c

[blabla200]

what worked for me was disabling hardware acceleration closed the app and opened it again and the button appeared...

[Ijustwantamusicapp]

The funny thing about it is, that for way over a year now Videos would never play on Desktop. Not one. I didn´t really care because I didn´t want to watch music videos anyway.

But forcing people to watch Podcasts without being able to turn off the video makes it impossible to listen to a podcast now. Well done, really

[iyoran]

It is ridiculous that there is no option to switch off videos completely on the Desktop version (Windows 11). In some cases the video player is causing a considerable lag or delay. I thought this was a music streaming app. So focus on the music then! Considering to cancel my subscription if Spotify can no longer deliver an enjoyable listening experience.

[pg-j0_o91q39i]

I had to completely uninstall and reinstall the app because the "switch to audio" button was nowhere to be found, as was the "now playing" button, it just seems like a seedy way, again pushing features no one cares for and forcing them on users for absolutely no good reason because NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS, videos often have intros interludes and outros that we don't care about it we're listening to stuff in the background, this is fkn ridiculous, what a POS company.

[wittzi]

Apple music for me.  Podcasts are more reliable when I'm downloading to my watch and somehow Apple now have a more useable product than Spotify!  Talk about throwing away a massive lead.

[moep99]

I don't know when exactly this was introduced, but all of a sudden some songs play a video instead of the actual song and I didn't find any way to disable this.

It's SUPER annoying because often the music video versions are different than the songs on an album or there's some random noise at the start of the song.

Please, please, please let us disable this "feature". It really ruins the experience. I'm paying to listen to music, not to be forced to listen to music videos.

Edit: I installed an old version of Spotify and now I can finally listen to songs again without seeing those shitty videos.
Nobody asked for this and you just made me waste a good amount of my time so I can simply listen to my playlists. Ridiculous.

At this point, I'll just let my subscription run out and switch to another service.

[ethan989]

it still will show up on the bottom left this in NOT A SOLUTION 

[kazash]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Windows Laptop/Desktop

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

It's ridiculous that on the desktop app, you cannot toggle between video and audio on podcasts. I will minimize the screen, but the video still buffers. I have crappy wifi at work, and I want to listen to certain podcasts. Forcing me into a video, that I'm not even watching and causing the podcast to continuously buffer, does not make for a good user experience and punishes the podcast makers. I've had premium for years, I listen a lot on my phone and appreciate being able to switch between audio/video. Why is that such a difficult feature to employ within the desktop app?

[Isolectra]

Also find this absolute deal-breaker with podcasts. The video gets streamed even when the window is minimized, and as internet coverage is rather spotty and slow, very often gets choppy or stuck altogether. This leads to very poor user experience, especially as the video can't be scaled down or disabled. Pleased do something about this!

[SilPho]

The following applies to music videos only, not podcasts.

To disable music videos on the Windows desktop app (and maybe others) you should be able to click the "Switch to audio" button in the Now Playing sidebar when viewing a music video. 

Normally the sidebar can be accessed by clicking the arrow in the middle of the right-hand side of the application. If that doesn't work, like for me, then the following steps should help you:

1) Play a song that does NOT have a music video

2) Click on the album art in the bottom left corner. This also brings up the Now Playing sidebar

3) Now play a song that DOES have a music video (leave the sidebar open)

4) The "Switch to Audio" button should appear underneath the video in the sidebar.

Additionally, in the Settings menu (Top left dots button, then Edit, then Preferences) under the "Display" section you can turn off the "Display short, looping visuals on tracks (Canvas)" option to further reduce distracting visuals.

[taoistmiao]

A workaround is to download first then play the downloaded episode, there is no more video in this case for me.

Hope they could add the switch "feature" ASAP.

[ux-expert]

how is this real. I pay for an audio app. now I cannot listen to podcasts without vido hogging my dataline. who on earth comes up with this bs?

[1135522989]

Absolutely ridiculous that I'm forced to stream a video for a podcast. It's been months, how difficult could it be to offer the functionality to disable this?

[paytonfrost]

For anyone else coming to this later who can't find the now playing view, I found it by going into full screen mode, and in the upper right there was the "Switch to Audio" button.

[Kayak83]

"what worked for me was disabling hardware acceleration closed the app and opened it again and the button appeared..."

- This worked for me.

[sonh]

For those still having this problem, especially on MacOS...

1. Play the song (with music video) on the desktop app
2. Open Spotify on your iPhone; make sure you're logged in to the same account
3. Open Now Playing (select your currently playing song) on your phone
4. Select "Switch to audio"

You should see the setting take effect in both your iPhone and desktop app. Brilliant job engineers...

[houseofmanylegs]

@sonh's post: This worked for me. THANK YOU. If I couldn't find a way to turn off autoplaying videos (in the background no less), I was going to cancel my subscription. Why is the off option hidden on desktop?? Baffling.

[violetcities]

Thanks everyone! I wouldn't mind the autoplaying videos so much but they were causing the audio to skip and get stuck all the time.

[oscar_0703]

Estamos en el mes de abril de 2026, y aun spotify no soluciona el problema de "obligarnos" a ver los videos de los podcast.... 

[Yordan · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone,

Thank you for sharing your valuable feedback here on the forum. Rest assured it hasn't gone unnoticed.

We believe that time spent on Spotify should be meaningful, personalized, and fulfilling. For this reason, we're excited to share that we're giving users the ability to better tailor their time spent on the platform, either by choosing to maintain the audio-first experience or to layer a richer, video-enhanced one. This article goes more in-depth on the topic, I'd recommend checking it out.

⚠️ Note: the feature is still in the process of rolling out gradually, so if you don't see it on your end just yet, rest assured it's coming your way soon. In the meantime, make sure you're keeping the app updated so you don't miss a thing.

Thanks again for helping us make Spotify better. The Community is always here if there's anything you need assistance with.