Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it

[lukaswil]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

Desktop

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

When I try to play a song I get the following error message "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it"

I have tried all the fixes I have seen:

Reinstalling app.

Using version from Microsoft store.

Disabled hardware acceleration.

Disabled crossfading.

Changed speaker options.

Deleted local files.

I've had this issue before and it was fixed by using the version from the Microsoft store but this isn't working now.

Spotify works on my phone and my laptop, web player also works only the desktop app doesn't work.

[Bittencourt]

Hi @dq2sew0qfdkiv58, thanks for reaching out!

There are a few solutions to this issue.

The first one is to disable "Audio Enhancements" in Windows Control Panel (See screen capture).

Just reinstall Spotify after disabling this setting.

Also, you can change the Output settings to 44100 Hz (from 48000) in Settings System/Sound/ Speakers Headphones > Output settings.

Let me know if it helps!

[mirrorfish13]

I went to computer Settings: System:Sound:Device Properties:Additional Device Properties:Advanced      Then I tried all the different settings, 16 bit 44100 Hz, worked for me, but when it doesn't work, you can sometimes just change to a different setting here (try them all) and one will mysteriously work!

[hu17]

hi everyone. i got the same message...

The apps installed on my home laptop. its play alright, but when i connect my home streo suing Bluetooth, the apps announced that message.

another thing is when connect the laptop withe Alexa it keeps playing just fine. also with my Bluetooth ears plugged 

i have tried every thing. eventually i discoverd ther was one thing i didn't do - i disconnect my home streo and removed it off my laptop then pairing it and now it works 🙂

hope i was helping

[Lindsay35]

This is the modern trend of tech companies trying to be hip by printing utterly useless error messages like “There was a problem”. This practice makes troubleshooting a nigh impossible black box affair.
It is likely to be caused by everything from internet service provider issues, to wifi, to Spotify’s servers - anything that would cause a streaming timeout, authentication problems or some kind of app bug.
The problem as frustrating as it is, is normally temporary, so people think their actions are responsipble for fixing it, lol.

[geffen]

Plan

Premium

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Whenever I start to play a song in the app I get the following message:
Its important to mention I connect my speakers via docking station to my laptop.

When trying to play from the website of spotify it works perfectly fine.
When changing the audio output to the laptop speakers it also works fine.
How can I fix it so I'll be able to use the app?
I've tried to disable the hardware acceleration and it didn't help.

[geffen]

Thanks, it worked 🙂

[roverny]

While another song is playing, when I try to play a different song, by double-clicking or pressing the play icon on the new song, I often get: "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it".

I probably get that 6-8 times a day, especially when I'm quickly shuffling between songs-I listen to a lot of music daily-so this is extremely frustrating.

This occurs on the app on Windows 11 (Spotify for Windows (64 bit)
1.2.65.255.g85e641b4), and when I use Spotify as a tab in Chrome (also on Windows 11). It also occurs on my Mac (Spotify for macOS (Apple Silicon) 1.2.61.443.gc51c574b.

[kingCharles]

its soo easy just change spotify output to other device.
spotify should give me premium lifetime with my simple solution 

[ATSMajestic]

Alright, I'll admit it, it took me some time to return to this thread.

The problem solved itself -- mysteriously enough -- about two weeks since my first post.

The desktop app would list certain songs unavailable ("Cannot play this right now") __completely at random__.
I've tried a clean reinstall several times, as instructed by Vasil, I also ran a Windows registry purge to delete all leftovers. No joy, the problem would stay there, until Spotify simply decided to stop going haywire like this, as if of its own will, LOL.

Note that this issue comes back again, although much less frequently and affects the desktop app only.
The iOS app can access what the desktop app lists as "unavailable to play right now", so I'm using it as a 'force remote' to play content on my PC when I need to.

[Robinmist]

Plan

Free

Country

United States

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

For the past week, I have not been able to use Spotify on my computer. Using the app, songs get stuck at 0:00 and settings don't work. Using the web player, selecting a song will play it for a second, then it gives the message "Spotify can't play this right now", then it skips through about 3 songs until reaching an ad. The ad is only one second long and has no audio. After the ad is over, it continuously repeats. After a while of the ad repeating, it finishes and a song is played. Attempting to skip to a certain point in the song causes all audio to stop. Once the song finishes, it freezes. Mobile works fine.

[ribezaz]

Hello how are you?

Welcome to the Spotify Community! I'm happy to have you here 🙂

It may be that a clean reinstall of your Spotify can solve your issue!

You can check out how to do this in this link:
https://community.spotify.com/t5/FAQs/Perform-a-clean-reinstall-of-the-app/ta-p/4746485

Keep me informed, so I can keep helping you!

Cheers
ribezaz

[Robinmist]

I forgot to mention that I attempted reinstalling the app about 5 times (both new and older versions) and it did not fix it. Also the web player is having issues too that a reinstall would not fix.

[Mystery101]

As of 6.25.25 this glitch has not been fixed. Spotify dev's should be ashamed as this is still occurring especially if smart shuffle is enabled prior to using windows app.

[raikaashraf]

hi, what do you mean by that

[vtudor22]

The solution does not work, why must we accept it?  Just to satisfy your vanity?

[sesame22]

You are a hero!! This worked for me. No one would have imagined to turn on more features to fix bugs. A minor difference is that I don't have Dolby in the option,so I turned "off" to "Sonic".

[egrace707]

This worked!

[freakish]

I had this problem and it turned out the issue was the bluetooth headphones (airpods) I was connected to, as it played just fine on the desktop monitor speakers. I turned off bluetooth, turned back on and reconnected my headphones, and it then worked fine. Not quite the same situation but in case it helps anyone else!

[bas_halyna]

i resolved it by removing the default audio output device. to the same one, but chosen manually. 

in my case the problem was in windows 

[GojiraNeptune]

So lately, I've been listening to some artists I follow and every once in a while whenever an advertisement pops up, Spotify will completely stop and say "Spotify can't play this right now", forcing me to refresh the page. I've tried clearing cache but that hasn't worked. Is there any way I can make this stop as it has been going on for a couple weeks now?