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.

[user-removed]

Plan

Premium

Country

Turkiye

Device

ThinkPad

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

The web player does not work stably in Firefox, especially when I open a new tab it cannot play, "Spotify cannot play right now." appears, sometimes it is fixed when I refresh it, sometimes I have to wait a while or reopen the browser.

Note: Firefox and Windows up to date

[#3]

Some items will not play - this message pops up

[HanJolo]

Plan

Premium Duo

Country
Belgium

Device

Windows PC. Output device with problems is my Nvidia 3080Ti

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Whenever i try to play a song i get the following error:

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

I do net get this error while trying to play on my Bluetooth earbuds.

I have tried the following things:

Signing in and out of my Spotify account

Reinstalling the app from both the site and the Microsoft store

Clearing Cache/deleting local files

Checking Hosts file

Made sure windows is using the correct output device for Spotify

Setting my output to different steps between 48Khz and 192Khz in 16 as well as 24 bits

Enabled/disabled exclusive mode on my device

Enabled/disabled hardware acceleration

Enabled/disabled local files

Updating to the latest drivers

Playing inside of the webbrowser (chrome) has no problems, but is not the solution i want nor is it full-featured.

The problem has persisted over more then two weeks and tried these steps multiple times, tried rebooting between every step

There are no other apps having problems outputting audio. This includes browser, games, Media player apps, DAW's, ...

I have also not found any recent topics online between Nvidia and Spotify output problems.

As i ran out of options to try i would appreciate any help to let me further enjoy the Spotify experience.

edit: when i try to play over the HDMI output, and my TV is playing through the TV speaker it will work. But as soon as i set my sound output to eARC it fails again. The connected soundbar is a Samsung Q930b. Spotify can connect to the device itself, and play music to/on it directly. But as soon as i want to play from my PC i keep getting this error message. I made sure that the soundbar is on the latest firmware update.

[bitcaesar]

I have been facing this issue since the past day, where I am unable to play any track on spotify web-player. Fundamentally, whenever I pick a track, the succeeding track in queue is played automatically, for 5 seconds and the player dashboard greys out completely, crashing the site., with a message "Spotify can't play this right now." For specs: I am using a Macbook Pro M1, with safari 18.0.1. An alternative account just works fine in the safari browser, so most probably it's the problem with account.

Help!! I need music for almost everything in my schedule......!

Plan

Free

Country

India

Device

(Macbook Pro M1)

Operating System

(macOS Sequoia)

[Jeffsterlaw]

I've tried every solution found here. Nothing works. The frustrating part was that for the last 3 months it worked fine on a new Windows computer. The Apple versions all work great. Not sure why Spotify can't get this fixed...but it's getting old.

[Chickenaro16]

Plan

Free

Country

Serbia

Device

Samsung laptop (Not sure of its exact device model)

Operating System

Windows 8.1

My Issue

I've never had major issues with the Spotify website until recently - Now when I try to play any of my favorite playlists, albums and songs (No matter what they are), Spotify player goes "Spotify can't play this right now" without further information and basically skips 3-5 songs before landing on 4th or 6th song and playing it for 9 seconds before completely going mute despite the song being played.
Please note that I have a pretty decent WiFi. I've tried clearing caches connected to it before logging in once and it didn't help at all. Nor does clearing my browser's (Google chrome) history help either.
This only happens on the Spotify website player on my laptop but it doesn't affect my phone (Samsung Galaxy A5) and works fine on it.

Has any of this occurred to you guys? I'm not sure FAQs, or Help forums can do me any favors, as this appears to be a obscure issue/bug.

[ANTWUO]

I currently have pretty much the same issue. I am using the web player and when I try to click on a song, it says Spotify can't play this right now. I am using my laptop - it then skips to a different song for about 9 secs where the sound just disappears but it's still playing. Can someone help me, I've tried resetting permissions for the website, turning my computer on and off, disabling hardware acceleration.

[user-removed]

probably because their code is very broken and you can listen for free without a subscription on browser, which no doubt breaks something in their system

[8smkwrgayun55e3qznjf]

As of the 31st of Oct 2024, Spotify appears to have a problem to deal with, as I am reading that many people on the net are frustratred with "Spotify can't play this song right now". DCRM and Widevine may also have something to do with this. Spotify, please fix this issue as soon as possible, or do people need to go Amazon & Apple Music instead?

[afugong]

Same Here

[HM301]

I've just started to experience this issue now, except the error message only says :"Spotify can't play this right now."  But I don't understand, because up until now I could listen to songs without any problems.   I use the Spotify website on my desktop pc or laptop (logged in).  My computer and laptop both have Windows 7, and I'm on a Spotify Free Plan.  Is it because I'm not subscribed to a premium plan or is there another problem?  Please, can you help me with this.  Thank you for your help.

[8smkwrgayun55e3qznjf]

It is not because you are on a free plan. Spotify have a major issue with "Spotify can't play this right now" and judging by the many comments online from upset subscribers, Spotify's sales might not be as good as they could in the future.

[plath]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

When I try playing songs on the web player. The songs skip and an error box says "Spotify can't play this right now" before settling on a song down the list. 

This has been happening intermittently for days. I thought Spotify would fix it by, but it's still going on. 

It has happened before in the app too recently, but I have been resorting it with more success. Web player has been very unreliable as of late. Either from timeouts or these bugs.

[Chickenaro16]

Most of us, including myself, would go to YouTube Music, SoundCloud or the Operating system's media player (with downloaded chosen music) when Spotify is down or dealing with a major issue, like the "Spotify can't play this right now" + Muted output sound after 9 seconds into the song as we speak.

[#16]

I click on the piece I want and I get "Spotify can't play this right now". Many songs on a playlist but not all. This is the third day in a row. What is the problem?

[keefie]

i have a pretty old laptop and it runs on windows 8.1. for the past 2 days spotify has been skipping every song I try to play (I don't have premium) after like one second of the song and then it gets to an ad and THAT plays, but not my music. every song I try to play says "spotify can't play this right now" and it skip through the whole queue. I've tried logging out and back in, clearing the cache, deleting and redownloading the app. nothing works HELP I JUST WANT MY PLAYLISTS

[#18]

Whenever I try to play any song on Spotify on my desktop I get that message. It works fine on my phone.

[luvvpalz]

Cuando selecciono una canción, automáticamente sale el mensaje "spotify no puede reproducir esto ahora" y se salta canciones pero a ninguna la reproduce.

[Schnee76]

Hi Keefie

I have the same issue.

I can listen to spotify on mobil, but not on PC - it keeps saying "spotify cant play this right now".

I tried to reinstall Chrome, but without luck

logged ALL users out of spotify, and changing password, but without luck

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Thank you all for posting about this in the Community.

If you're seeing this error message, here are a few things you can try:

• Clear your browser's cache and cookies (web player only).
• Reinstall the app.
• Check your hosts file.
• Update/reinstall your sound drivers
• Disable your VPN (if you're using one)
• Connect to a different network

If that doesn't help, please let us know the following so we can investigate further:

• Your OS and browser/app version
• Your sound output connection (Bluetooth or cable)
• Where you start the playback from (a playlist, an album, search results, etc.)?
• Do you get the error message immediately or after a few seconds of playing?
• Does the app keep playing without sound or it stops altogether?

If possible, send over a short video of the behavior.

Thanks for your help, we'll be on the lookout for your replies!