m4a. local files crackling

[Cainos]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Australia

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

m4a. files on Windows 10 PC Spotify are crackling like crazy recently. Something is definitely wrong with the apps ability to read m4a

[crabkitten]

Same here. My local files used to play perfectly, now loads of them crackle. Some are OK though. Twitter support account linked me to an article that claims m4a isn't supported, but some of mine still play fine. It was updated in Sept 2020, so probably a recent update that's causing problems.

https://support.spotify.com/us/article/listen-to-local-files/

[Peachi]

Exact same issue! There has been so many Spotify issues it's about to give me a stroke. It was always working perfect. But this past year one issue after the other. Sick of it. FIX THIS SPOTIFY. 

[Alex]

Hi there folks,

Thanks for reaching out about this.

As @crabkitten said, .m4a files are currently not supported as local files. They may work on some systems or older versions of the app, but we can't guarantee that they'll function properly currently.

A thing you can try is removing local files cache, which when corrupted, can sometimes cause issues with playback. Have a look at the Solutions from this article for more info on how to do that.

Hope you find this info useful. Don't hesitate to reach out again if you have more questions. 

[johnwhat]

Can anyone recommend a useable mp3 converter m4a- looking for something free and easy to use, that will batch convert a group of M4a files into a group of MP3 files. Tried google but everything so far is horrible. File is for windows btw. Thanks.