High CPU usage on Desktop Windows client when "Now playing view" is visible

[Intelli32]

I have noticed high CPU usage when the "Now playing view" sidebar is visible, even when no music is actively playing. It is 100% reproducible. Closing the "Now playing view" makes CPU usage go down to 0% while idle.

It uses 10% of my CPU (Intel i7-9850H). This is my client version info:

Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.32.997.g4c6498b6

[olimex338]

This happens to me too

[Joan]

Hi there @Intelli32, @olimex338,

Thanks for reaching out. Could you please provide us the following:

• Is this on all devices or only on specific one(s)?
• When did this start happening?
• If you haven't tried already, perform a full clean reinstall. It's possible some sort of corrupted data is causing this and such a reinstall can remedy that.

Let us know how it goes.

[Intelli32]

 

Hi,

I reinstalled Spotify and I am now on this version:
Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.34.783.g923721d9

CPU usage is lower now but still at 5% while idle (no music playing). What I notice is that I get high CPU usage if there is a scrolling animation of the song title/ album name. If I play a song with a shorter title the CPU usage drops and is close to 0% while idle.

Might be worth looking into the animation of the text.

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the update @Intelli32!

What you can also try is to uninstall the app version you're currently using and download the one either from our website or from the Microsoft Store (whichever version you weren't using so far). As they can have different behavior, you can give it a test.

In addition to that, check if you've got Local Files enabled in Settings and if it's so, try with disabling them to see if it'll make any difference.

If anything else comes up in the meantime, we're here.

[DO_jws]

I thought I'd comment to say:

- same problem, same solution (turn off "now playing", or choose a shorter song, or make the window big enough)

- totally repeatable with the issue apparently only being the scrolling text on the song name

Surface Pro 7 i5, all up to date. Spotify app from website...

[Susan_GP]

Hi there @DO_jws,

Thanks for your reply in this thread and for the provided info.

Could you check if enabling/disabling hardware acceleration from the Spotify app's settings makes a difference?

On another note, a previous user performed a clean reinstall of the Spotify app and the usage decreased. We'd recommend giving it a try. 

Lastly, send over the OS on your device and the exact Spotify version you have installed.

We'll be here!

[DO_jws]

Hi

Did a clean reinstall (from MS Store) - same issue:  Spotify for Windows (64 bit) - 1.2.38.720.ga4a70a0e

Hardware acceleration makes limited, if any, difference (maybe slightly better with off). It only happens when the text scrolls. I can't be certain, but I think there is a CPU hit for each bit of scrolling txt (so worst case is a super long song name, in a long playlist name with the "Now playing" window open), and this includes the song name to the left of the controls (bottom left). If I get three bits of text scrolling I can push over 25% CPU utilisation.

It also drops CPU usage if you minimise the window (or maximise / choose songs and playlist that don't scroll).

Also tried installing from website (same version). Same issue.

[DO_jws]

Out of curiosity I checked - same behaviour on my gaming PC, but smaller % CPU utilisation as its a Ryzen 5600. 

[Maria]

Hey @DO_jws,

Thanks for all additional info and for reporting this behavior!

While we can't give you a specific time-frame for when this will be looked into, we're always working on optimizing the app and to improve the user experience. In the meantime, we recommend keeping both the app and the device(s) OS up-to-date.

If anything else appears, we're just a post away. Cheers!

[jaweinre]

Well this is an unexpected find.

Same ridiculous behaviour on my windows 10 laptop. 

CPU while app is focused, the now playing thingie is closed:

CPU while app is focused, the now playing thingie is open:

Wow.

[Yonatan69]

EDIT : The clicking sound is not related with the problem, it was a headphones problems.

Hi Maria,

I confirm the follwing : Spotify GUI uses a lot of ressources when it's maximised on my Windows 10 laptop.

The audio started to "click" with the latest updates of Spotify.

I confirm that I'm using Spotify version 

Spotify pour Windows (64 bits)
1.2.42.290.g242057a2

With some system info

Processeur Intel(R) Core(TM)**bleep** 2.21 GHz
Mémoire vive installée 32,0 Go (31,6 Go utilisable)
Type du système Système d’exploitation 64 bits, processeur x64
Dedicated Geforce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q mobile

This behaviour is very annoying!

I also confirm the following : 

- when the song name is long and "playing now" make the song name to slide from left to right, it does take A LOT of CPU for a simple animation like that. (8-10%)

- when the song name is shorter, it take less CPU, still high from my standards! (5-6%)

- when Spotify is minimised, Spotify very few CPU (0-1%)

Nonetheless, sound "clicks" are heards in whatever situation described over.

I also confirm the following :
- If i use Chrome Browser to listen the music from open.spotify.com, the roughly same CPU usages apply. 

    - 6-11 % when maximised

    - 0-1% when minimised

- Still hearing some clicking sounds!

Hopefully that get fixed!

Best regards,

[fowled]

I have the exact same problem. Scrolling through a playlist causes extreme amount of lag and high CPU usage.
Disabling hardware acceleration doesn't do anything. 
Windows 11 Pro 23H2

See here: i.imgur.com/kom2WY2.gif

[robiiiin1999]

I have exactly the same problem! 

[BladeDash]

This is horrible, I'm using the latest version downloaded from their own website, spotify consumes up to 25% of CPU just by scrolling on the main page or watching the playlists, has a fatal performance even activating the hardware acceleration, I can move games in ultra at 144fps but Spotify looks less than 30, it has been like this for a while and it seems that with each update is worse.

[sezr12]

ok so i found something weird when i dont put a song on repeat or one repeat the cpu usage goes normal

[grrrrrrrr0]

..

[grrrrrrrr0]

I have found a decent fix for Windows users using the app, if you open the Spotify process tree in Task Manager then set the one using high CPU to efficiency mode along with disabling Hardware acceleration in spotify settings, the CPU usage will be fixed.

[retake]

I usually have spotify open while I play games on my computer. And sometimes my game starts lagging a ton. I check the task manager and I see that spotify is using over 90% disk. Why is this and is there a way to fix it?

[Autrii]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device : PC

Operating System

Windows 11 Pro

My Question or Issue

So as of today my temps will get high (75c) when a song with a scrolling name plays. Any idea why?