Local files stuck at 0:00

[zondaa]

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I have an issue with playing music in the Spotify app on my PC (Windows).
Some of the upcoming tracks in the queue get stuck at 0:00 and don’t play automatically. They only start playing if I manually move the progress bar or skip to the next track and then return to the previous one.

Here’s what I’ve already tried without success:
Reinstalled Spotify multiple times.
Toggled "Volume Normalization" on and off.
Downloaded the entire playlist for offline playback.
Cleared hosts file
Tried many setting in app
None of these steps resolved the issue. How can i fix this?

[Kyanovk]

Plan

Premium

Country

Netherlands

Device

HP Laptop Elitebook

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Since a couple of days ago my spotify has been acting very weird. Everytime i turn on my playlist and dont shuffle it it stops randomly. I thought this was a local files issue, but then it also stops randomly with normal songs. It like  stays at 0:00 and wont move.

I have autoplay turned on. I tried restarting my laptop, deleting spotify, clearing cache and making a new playlist but all of that didnt work. So how do i fix this issue now?

[AlejaR]

Hey there @Kyanovk,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome.

We understand you've already tried reinstalling the app on your device, but we'd like you to perform, if you haven't yet, a clean (more thorough) reinstall of the Spotify app on your devices. You can find out the steps to do it here. By doing that, the app can be up-to-date and you can make sure the stored cache is not leading to this behavior.

If the above doesn't do the trick, you can also try:

• Clearing the host files. You can follow these steps to do it.
• Try running Spotify in Safe mode with Networking. to rule out any issues with your default Windows settings and basic device drivers. You can follow these steps to do so.

We had a similar report in this thread. Just to confirm, does this happen when connecting a specific device to your laptop, such as Bluetooth speakers?

Keep us in the loop!

[Kyanovk]

Hello @AlejaR
I've tried the clean reinstall of Spotify and that fixed the issue with the normal songs, but the playlist with local files still bugs out every 3ish songs. I've tried turning off Local Files and back on, removing the folder that all of the songs are in and i've tried to make a new playlist with those songs, but they still stop at 00:00. How do i fix this issue?

Also it isn't anything with bluetooth, because I'm using wired earphones on my laptop.

Thank you for helping me and hope you can help me with this issue too!

[Dessi]

Hey @Kyanovk,

Thanks for the reply!

One of the users in the thread @AlejaR mentioned said that unplugging their mic and plugging it back in resolved the issue. Can you give it a try with your earphones? Also, when you performed the clean reinstall, did you download Spotify from the Windows Store or from the Spotify site? If you've only downloaded it from one place so far, it's worth trying the other one. 

Just to double-check - does this happen when Spotify is in the background or when you're actively using it as well? It's also worth changing your Power Plan to Best Performance in your laptop's settings to see if that helps.

Let us know how it goes.

[Kyanovk]

Hello Dessi,

I tried unplugging and plugging my mic back in that didn't work, I also tried a clean reinstall on the windows store and on the Spotify site both didn't work. 

This issue happens when I'm actively using Spotify and in the background. I also changed my power plan to best performance but nothing changed. What do I do now?

Thank you for your time and help.

[AlejaR]

Hey there @Kyanovk,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

Just to confirm, have you tried clearing the host files and running the app in Safe mode with networking as mentioned above? If you haven't, it'd be awesome if you could give it a try.

Since you mentioned this happens now only when playing you're local files, we'd recommend:

• Changing the location of the local files. You can move them to a different folder and add a new source under Settings> Show songs from.
• Making sure the format of your local files is mp3.

If issues persist, we'd like to gather some additional info. Please send us: 

• The exact Spotify version you're running.
• Do you use a VPN service? If yes, try setting Spotify as an exception. Keep in mind Spotify doesn't officially support VPN. This means that issues with the app while using VPN are expected behavior.
•  Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event such as an OS update?

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Szaszkee]

Hello there, I just want to chime in, I have a similar issue for some time now. I have a playlist with some local files added in the mix, whenever it would get to one of those songs (shuffle is on) spotify stops playing (it shows playback is on, but stuck on 0:00). If I click on the bar to 0:01 or something similar it immediately continues to play the local file, but then the phenomenon repeats one more time after said local file is over and it jumps to another track. Again if I adjust it on the bar it continues and then there are no further issues as long as when it reaches another local file.

The local files are all .mp3 format.

I am using Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.62.580.gb27ad23e

I do not have VPN, I do not remember any OS update, I have windows11 and do not generally mess with settings, I guess it is on autoupdate all the time? It just started to behave like this recently, I never had issues with local files before.

[Dessi]

Hey @Szaszkee,

Thanks for joining the thread!

To check if this is related to the local files in the playlist, it'd be great if you can remove them from it and re-add them again afterwards. It'd also be helpful if you can check if they play from the Local Files folder in Your Library.

If you haven't already, I'd also recommend performing a clean reinstall of the app to remove any damaged cache. If you're using the Microsoft Store one, try downloading it directly from the Spotify site this time and vice versa.

Hope this helps.

[Szaszkee]

Hi Dessi,

thanks for the tips, I tried them all just now:

Removed and readded local files to the playlist, the issue still remained as I described it.

Checked the local files folder and it was mostly the same. What I mean by mostly, I will describe in a second.

I did a clean reinstall, I had MS store version up until now, deleted everything and installed by downloading directly from your link, readded the local files folder, but my experience is the same.

So mostly = while checking the local files folder I noticed that not all mp3-s are "equal" in the sense, that some do not reproduce this issue, while others do. These mp3-s are all over in size, bitrate (or bitrate mode), writing library, etc... maybe some of them are acting up for some reason? I could understand if the spotify app flat out refused some file formats, but it does play it, just needs manual nudging on the bar... And again, this started just recently.

Thanks for looking into it!=)

[Eni]

Hey there @Szaszkee, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Since the issue seems to only affect some mp3 files, it'd be useful if you could try converting the mp3 files you noticed the issue with to another format and then re-add them to the playlist to see if the same happens. 

Additionally and just to confirm, could you replicate this exact behavior with your local files on your phone? To know how to get your local files on your phone, take a look at this article. 

Lastly, sending us a screen recording of this behavior would come in handy. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

Let us know how it goes. 

[Szaszkee]

Hi @Eni.

Thanks for the tip, though I think I will just remove the songs affected and maybe look for alternates as I don't have the tools or knowledge to reconvert without losing quality. My suspicion is that all of the files affected were downloaded (and converted to mp3 format) with yt-dlp from YouTube, maybe there is a connection?

I never use any local file on phone, only PC. Instead I uploaded one of the affected files, maybe it can help your engineers look at what is wrong. Here is the google drive link (4,4MB .mp3 file): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wlA5kHpJxI24O9QTwI4jLBnAKTTRwA2X/view?usp=sharing

If you add this song to the local folder and into a playlist you can see for yourself. To reproduce just start the playlist and queue this song next.

[Eni]

Hi again @Szaszkee, 

Thanks for your quick reply. 

We tried to replicate this behavior and the file caused issues indeed, however when we removed it, it started working again. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention, and as a workaround we suggest trying with other versions of the songs in the meantime. 

We'll keep an eye on other possible reports about this, and we recommend keeping the app up to date so you don't miss out on any improvements or fixes. 

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you. 

[Yordan]

Hi there, @zondaa,

Welcome to the Spotify Community!

Have you tried connecting to another network, if possible? You can create mobile hotspot from your phone and connect your router to it to see if that does the trick.

It's also worth flushing your DNS cache by following the steps below:

1. In Windows’ search bar, type “Command Prompt” and run it as an administrator.
2. Enter the following command: ipconfig /flushdns.

Lastly, make sure Spotify is allowed through your Firewall/antivirus software. If you're using a VPN, I'd suggest disabling it as well.

Hope this helps! Let us know how it goes 👍

[Deuseph]

Since almost a week, when listening to a playlist that has Spotify songs and local file songs (all are .mp3), when any song ends and a local file song has to begin, it instead pauses and never play, the play button shows like it is playing but when pausing and clicking the play button to play again it doesn't respond all the times this happens and I have to click to skip and return to the song or to click to the beginning of the song on the length bar that's below the play buttons.

[zondaa]

No, that didn’t help. The issue might be with local files. I have a playlist with nearly 300 songs from my PC, and the 0:00 error only happens when I play this playlist. Problem might be with some mp3 files, but they all play fine in Windows Media Player or similar player, i don't know how to fix this.

[Deuseph]

(Commenting because the original post didn't gave me enough text space)

I have tried doing a clean reinstall, trying the Microsoft Store version, log out from all devices, sync off and sync again all of the local files, disable hardware acceleration, disable many connections from my account that could affect like Discord but anything has worked. 

Sometimes this doesn't happen, sometimes doesn't happen that often, and sometimes it happens with every local file song. I have been using local files since 2023 and until now this problem started to happen, so I don't know what I have done because from what I have searched this probblem happens since many years, to many people and the solutions that I have found are not an ultimate solution in any way (changing from pc to mobile and viceversa or queueing the songs instead of the normal and automatic random mode that I use). 

I'm sending a video from when it happens. 

[ziljon]

I have a similar problem, when i have 2 tracks in a row on a playlist that are local files some of them wont play and get stuck at 0:00. This has never been a problem before. If I place a regular track between the 2 local ones it works as normal for some absurd reason so it's not something wrong with my files.. The only thing that has happened lately is that I tried to fix spotify by reinstalling it etc when you had the big technical problem back in April. Spotify has worked a bit iffy since in some small ways. Even tho I've made multiple clean installs and done the other workarounds you suggested above.  

Either way, none of the above solutions works for me (windows 10) and the problem doesn't happen on my phone (Android), the difference there is that all the playlists on my phone is downloaded and offline. As I said this was never a problem before... I don't exactly have faith in that Spotify hasn't rolled out some sneaky update that **bleep** up local files.. 

[AlejaR]

Hey there @Deuseph,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome.

Kudos for the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far! As the next step, you can try:

• Running the app in Safe Mode with Networking to rule out any issues with your default Windows settings and basic device drivers.
• Changing the location of the local files by moving them to a different folder on your computer.

If the above doesn't do the trick, we'd like to gather some additional info. Please send us:

• The exact Spotify and Windows versions you're running.
• Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event such as an OS update?
• Does this happen over WiFi? Ethernet? Both? Does this happen if you change the internet connection you're using? If possible, you can create a hotspot from a phone and connect your computer to it, to see if you notice any difference.

Keep us in the loop!

[Vasil]

Hey @zondaa & @ziljon,

Thank you for the feedback!

If this only happens with local files, it's likely that the error lies there. Even if the files can be played via a regular player there's no guarantee that Spotify is going to support them.

With this being said, we can do some additional troubleshooting here to see if anything would make a difference:

• Try adding a different local file to the playlist. Does the same error occur?
• Try moving the local files to a different location (folder) on the device.
• Move a few of the songs to a separate smaller playlist and see if you can reproduce the issue with it as well.

In case you're using an external speaker via Connect, note that local files are not compatible with Connect speakers.

Hope this helps! Keep us posted 🙌🏼