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.

[AcIdReb0rn]

Windows 10 pro Version 22H2

Spotify version 1.257.463.0

Hardware acceleration is turned off

[januaria81]

When seeking online advice for a technical issue, I tend to avoid all advice that suggests you reinvent the wheel or reformat your hard drive or reinstall the OS and all drivers from scratch. The solution (at least for me) was to change the Sound settings on your PC. Scroll through this thread and you'll find the exact adjustments to your settings that will solve your problem. And the solution is simple and painless and quick, not like the nonsense advice you sometimes get.

Unfortunately I'm at work now and can't get into more details.

[topiqq]

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

[Lanciano007]

Hey Hey, I have a similar problem again after installing last update on my desktop. 

In Discography section some albums won't play and hops to the next album. Again I'll get the "Spotify can't play this right now. ... you can import it " message.

I have to click the Album instead, where I can play the songs and don't get the message. Seems Discography got broken again with some Albums in Discograhy section on pc desktop... Sad dissapointment. 😞

Please help. 🙂

Seems the connection with my mobile to my pc desktop app works correctly. I can use my mobile app as a remote control. But this is not how it should work. With this workaround I can stay on the Discography screen on my desktop. But when I use the mouse pointer it gives me the "Spotify can't play this right now. ... you can import it " message. 

Now when I play the skipped Album directly, the next Album in Discography section that was playable before, gets the same message. 

Emptying my cache doesn't solve my problem. But the "Spotify can't play this right now. ... you can import it " message appears randomly. Mostly somewhere halfway Discography section...or when i add a song from there to one of My Playlists and come back.

Update: My message got replaced in this topic so it's a bit messy... I was responding on an ongoing topic where I was already involved...And the first time our problem got solved by a new update. I didn't do anything and didn't mess up anything except updating Spotify like the last time when the same problem appeared for many users.. I'm a bit confused why my message got placed here...

[Lanciano007]

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

AGAIN my discography sections on laptop app got broken after updating Spotify...

Please fix it like last time. Probably same or similar problem as before...

I have an annoying arrow with a sidepanel for a few weeks now from an earlier update. It shrinked all the things i use on the main panel. Please let us choose and opt-out side panels we don't use and even have already in a different section. 

Why am I loosing more and more songs from different artists in my playlists. Seems almost monthly i get more greyed out unplayable songs in my playlists. This is very unpleasant. Even a recording that I liked of a song as Trenck Town Rock - Bob Marley got greyed out now. The other recordings don't have the same sound...

This is something different then the "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it." message I get in some artists Discography sections.

[Lanciano007]

can't find the topic anymore where my message belonged where the whole problem was explained before...and solved by the techicians who created it with their new update..

. 

Otherwise I would place the link to that topic here to the earlier fix for this annoying problem. 

[Clownizzle]

I am having this same problem over and over again. I will not be renewing my subscription.

[MikeSmith34]

I isolated it to my desktop, went through all the cures, over several hours.  It still refuses to play "right now" but this work around although by no means perfect has worked.  From start Log in/continue to the app/redirecting to browser/ wait/ left click/ "Spotify can't play right now" / name circle icon / account/ "sign out everywhere"/ top right x or left click / log in / password and all good 

[11endr7ck]

You just have to play a song that works, then gradually move up to the one that gives you that error, and that should fix it—or at least, that's how it worked for me.

[yuta127]

I'm just trying to play a song and it won't let me, it tells me "Spotify can't play this right now, you can import the file if you have it on your computer"

Plan

Premium duo

Country

México 

Device

inspirion5570

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

I don't know what to do, honestly it's not the first time it's happened to me, and I've already tried restarting the computer, updating it, uninstalling and reinstalling the program, and the thing is that on my phone I don't have a problem, but on the computer I do.

[turellius]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 11 Pro

My Question or Issue

I found I am recently unable play any song from my PC from within the application.  I can browse and find music, but cannot play it.  I get the message "Spotify can't play this right now...".  I have tried restarting the application, computer, logging out/back in, reinstalling both from the website and from the Microsoft store.  I suspect at this point, there is some update that was recently installed either from the application or the OS and that is preventing this from working.  Anything else that can be suggested to try here?

[32HftAcKcmDendTxmJ2a]

In my spotify web i cant able to play songs it shows that spotify cant play this right now 

[lordsquall86]

Plan

Premium

Country

Italy

Device

MacBook Air 2024

Operating System

MacOS Sequoia 15.3.2

My Question or Issue

I get on my Macbook this alert "The current song cannot be played" with every song I choose to play. It works good on my Iphone and other devices. Tried to uninstall and reinstalled the app, deleted cache and offline data, the app still doesn't reproduce any song. 

[#15]

New account, old computer, windows 8.1. No app provided for anything under Windows 10. Using Opera browser. Music loads, begins to play, then stops and flashes message, "Spotify can't play this song right now." Skips to next song, repeats same message, repetitiously, endless.

[Malakias]

Exactly the same problem in Windows. I can listen my Library stuff like Discover Weekly, Liked Songs etc, but whenever I am searching some albums and try to listen them it gives this error, and the only way is to do full reset of the app. I have to do this every time I start listening. These problems with Windows app have continued for years.

[wasabi1235]

i solved my problem: try turning off smart shuffling. for some reason you can turn on smart shuffling later and it will work fine

[Beast0]

I am having a very similar problem. The app isn't even letting me play local files on my computer. I can play them using any other app but spotify. And when I try playing files online I get a message  "spotify can't play this file right now, if you have on your computer you can import it. I have already set the local directory to where my files are stored and still nothing. And yes I have tried everything. And no it's not a web connection issue because I can not even play local files in spotify. But they play just fine using other apps.

[nl3_wr-nh2gi]

I'm having this exact issue of getting the "Spotify can't play this file right now, if you have on your computer you can import it," but only for PC apps.  I have it installed on 2 PCs: 1 running with Win 10, the other Win 11.

When the error message occurs:

• Playing directly from an artist's album discography.  The older the album, more more frequent it happens on multiple artists.

What I tried:

• Cleared cache. Did not work.
• Restarted the app.  Did not work.
• Restarted the PC.  Did not work.
• Signed out of everything and signed back in.  Did not work.
• Reinstalled the most recent versions of the app using both the web download and Microsoft store on both PCs.  Did not work.
• Checked and restarted the internet connection, which was fine.  Did not work.
• Checked my actual Spotify account for any issues.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

What "fixes" it:

• If the PC app is open and the web browser (such as Chrome) is used, the music will transfer and play on the app.  But if you click to a different artist/playlist and come back to that same album on the PC app, the error message comes up.
• If I play it on my Android phone, it plays on the open PC app.  But, like above, switching artists or playlists and returning back to the album on the PC app causes the error.
• If the song/album is on a created playlist on the app, it will play.  Returning back to the album discography makes the error message pop up.

[fajita_47citronne]

For me, I found going into your audio settings, clicking on your output device, and disabling any "effects" worked.

[MusicMedium]

Hi,

I upgraded Spotify from free to premium, and ever since then, I can no longer play anything in the Safari web app. For each and every song I find, any attempt to play the song results in "Spotify can't play this right now".

It would be good to know definitively if this is known and expected. If others can confirm they get the same result.

I prefer not to run another application if I can instead play music in a browser tab. I'm not using Private Browsing Mode. Just a day ago (and for well over a year), attempting to play songs succeeded just fine in Safari, so the main change seems to be subscribing to a paid plan.

For this to work before when I had a free plan and then not allow me to play any songs through the web interface while switching to a paid plan seems pretty counterintuitive.

I'm connecting from the US, and this is a Mac (Apple Silicon), latest OS.