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.

[Eni]

Hey there @22f7rnlk6v4agm5xs7az, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this. 

Could you let us know exactly which troubleshooting steps you've already tried? That way we can avoid repeating any steps.

If you haven't tried performing a reinstall of the app on your PC, we suggest that you do so by following these steps. 

Also, we suggest that you disable any antivirus or ad-blocking software, and turn off any VPNs if in use.

Keep us posted.

[22f7rnlk6v4agm5xs7az]

Hi, Eni, sure, when I reinstalled the app and restarted windows, spotity started working again. Thank you very much.

[OscarDC]

Hey @22f7rnlk6v4agm5xs7az,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

We're glad to know that everything is working fine now. We appreciate the time you took following the process and sharing what works for you. 

In case you need anything else, remember that we're just a post away. It's always a pleasure to help.

Cheers!
 

[KILL4GOTH]

After a week of pulling my hair out with this error, your picture helped me fix mine. Somehow Windows had a blank box instead of an output selected for that dropdown menu. I went through every setting i could find and somehow missed this one. Thank you.

[JayRKay]

Worked for me as well. Wish they would finally get to hi-res audio. At this point I don't think it is happening. 

[Shawc]

Thanks ! This worked for me (every other solution did not)

[SharkWithLegs]

tried that twice now.. still won't work. Keeps saying "cannot play song right now"

[Lyubka]

Hey @SharkWithLegs 

Thank you for your reply in this thread.

In this case, we'd like to gather as much info as possible. Would you mind letting us know what you've tried so far? This'll help us avoid repeating steps. It'd also be helpful if you share with us the make, model and OS of your device along with the Spotify version you're currently running. Sending us a short video ( or couple of screenshots) of what is happening on your end would also come in handy as this way we can take a closer look and advise you better how to fix it. 

We'll be on the lookout. 

[Vinnie2500]

This problem only appeared recently on my computer. Used to be able to play until about a month ago. Tried deleting ad re-installing. Looked at a few fixes on this thread, but nothing seems to fix this. Whether I download the playlist to the computer or not, can't play anything. Internet connection is fast, so I should be able to play direct on line, but keep getting the same warning. Very frustrating 

[MihailY]

Hey @Vinnie2500,

Thanks for reaching out.

Can you please confirm you've reinstalled the app using the steps under Clean reinstall in this guide and that you've checked your hosts file?

If yes, please try using a different internet connection like a hotspot on your phone.

Keep us posted.

[KelvinLai]

Same issue. I reinstalled and restarted the PC, but nothing worked. The sound quality is just 48000hz. Cleared cache, storage whatever. What else I could try here?

[Yordan]

Hi @KelvinLai,

If you haven't already, it's worth checking if there are any Spotify-related entries in your hosts file and removing them. You'll find a detailed guide on how to do this here.

Something else you can check is if the correct audio output device has been set for the Spotify app, as suggested by the Community user in the pinned solution in this thread. Here's how:

1. Open Spotify and press Play on something.
2. In Windows' search bar type "Sound settings" and open them.
3. Click on Advanced sound options, found at the bottom of the new window that pops up.
4. You should now see Spotify in the list of apps that are currently playing audio. Simply set the Output either to Default or to the correct audio output device, then restart the app.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

[12167035018]

I was in the same situation. I was able to play local files from my computer to my phone until it stopped recently. It will say "Can't play this right now, the song isn't available on your device." I tried all the solutions above and it didn't work. I fixed the issue by uninstalling Spotify and installing the Spotify app straight from my Microsoft Store app in Windows. That resolved it.

[Les4921]

The app is playing other things ok. This is just one podcast which was
failing.

[MihailY]

Hey @Les4921,

Thanks for reaching out.

Can you please send us the link to the podcast, so we can check on our end? Also, does the same error appear in the web player or on a different device? Can you please let us know the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far and the OS version and Spotify version of your device?

Keep us posted.

[BendM1]

Same here, I'm done. It's time to cancel my Premium plan. I'm tired of wasting time fixing these bugs.

[Spitifi-arses]

I had this problem - for me it was that Windows had set Spotify to play using speakers "" (none). Setting to Default fixed it. 

[20bt]

check the audio device, if the default audio is via hdmi it does not work, I had to change it to play via the computer audio before it worked.

[eule_7834]

Recently I was confronted with this issue too: "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it".

*I tested my connection several times, it is always more than fast enough, and no other load. (It's 50MBit Downstream, and ping is reasonable too.)

*Problem occurs in Mac Desktop app.

*Problem manifests like this:

There's a bunch (like 20) songs that I have just added to a playlist.

I want to listen to them, so I click onto them, listen for 10 seconds (5 at beginning,  5 at center of song), then proceed to the next song.

My setting for quality is set to "very high", but I have never had the issues decribed It is clearly a bug and not due to the high quality or the bandwidth (for why, see later).

Some randon songs won't start and instead ""Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it" is shown. It does not help to click another song, and then the problematic song in the hopes it will then work. It will not. Other songs (that are just as new as the problem song) will work and start to play immediately). Even when I go to the album of the problem song, the problem song will not play, but all the others in that album will play. THIS PROVES IT IS NOT A BANDWIDTH OR HIGH QUALITY ISSUE.

- After a certain waiting period (perhaps a minute), the problem song WILL play and the problem will be "solved" for THAT song.

- After some more listening to other new songs from that playlist, inevitably some other song will exhibit this problem.

- It's highly disruptive because I have to keep track of songs that did not play, to revisit them. It is also disruptive because upon not playing the song, Spotify will skip it and play some other song. Super annoying.

- I have restarted the App -- will not help, problem will re-occur with some song soon after, just as if I had not restarted the app.

- Please look into this.

UPDATE: Sometimes, the time it will take to play the song is short, i.e. after 5 seconds it WILL work. In sum it looks to me like a performance issue, with data not being downloaded fast enough. I believe a solution might be to prioritize download of a song that the user has just clicked on, and pause any other downloads of other songs.

[OldSkewlMarc]

This worked for me.  Fought with trying everything else.  Uninstalled, went to windows store, downloaded and started playing within a minute.  Almost canceled my account trying to fight with Spotify's download.  Soo frustrating!