Announcements

Help Wizard

Step 1

NEXT STEP

FAQs

Please see below the most popular frequently asked questions.

Loading article...

Loading faqs...

VIEW ALL

Ongoing Issues

Please see below the current ongoing issues which are under investigation.

Loading issue...

Loading ongoing issues...

VIEW ALL

Issue with the Web Player skipping tracks on multiple devices

Submitted by Moderator on ‎2024-11-13 08:31 AM
Status: Case Closed

We received reports from users having issues with the Web Player skipping tracks after a few seconds of streaming (usually around 10) and occasionally displaying a "Spotify can't play this right now" error.

Hey there folks,
 
We really appreciate all your reports so far!
 
Our tech teams have looked into this, but weren't able to reproduce it. Since this issue could be caused by individual network setups, we'll close this thread as the issue is something that will need to be looked into individually or could get resolved by an overall system and/or functionality change.

 

Here are some troubleshooting steps that are worth taking a look into:


Check if there are any pending updates for your browser and installing them? It's also highly recommended you manually check if the latest version of the Widevine plugin is installed. There's a detailed guide on how to do that in this article.

 

Below you can find some additional things you can try. Click on each section to expand it.

 

► Audio Output & Sample Rate

 

Make sure Spotify is mapped to a valid audio device in Windows/macOS and that the sample rate isn’t set too high (anywhere between 44.1 and 192 kHz should be okay). Check “App volume and device preferences” and confirm Spotify is assigned to the correct output. You'll find a detailed guide on how to do that here.

 

► USB DACs or external audio interfaces

 

Driver conflicts or odd configuration in advanced setups (e.g., gaming headsets, external DACs) can trigger errors. Disabling/re-enabling the device driver or trying a different USB port often helps.

 

► Clearing hosts file

 

Check if the hosts file contains any entries with Spotify in the address and remove them. You'll find the steps to do this here.

 

► Symlinks or moved browser data

 

If you moved your browser’s cache/profile via symbolic links, check permissions and confirm Widevine is working with the new location.

 

► Firewall/Antivirus software or Ad blockers

 

Aggressive AV or restricted network policies can break DRM or streaming requests. Try disabling them briefly or test with another network. Uninstall any ad-blocker apps.

 

► In case you're using any DJ apps/ software for mixing or creating tunes

 

If you have any DJ apps/software for mixing or creating tunes, try disabling the option to exclusively use a specific sound card. You can try using a different device to verify if the issue is limited to your setup and/ or network.

 


We hope this helps. If you still need a hand, you can start a new topic in the relevant Help board including all the steps you've tried so far and their outcome and we'll take it from there.

P.S. If you're on a non-personal device or network (student laptop, student network, corporate laptop, corporate network) get in touch with the administrator for more help! 🙂

See more ideas labeled with:
Top Answer
8hsn9203hz75o47i46yu
Newbie

‎2024-11-15 07:39 PM

IT's Finally FIXED - and can resume enjoying the music again !!! 🙂
Woah - waited a while in case the faults scame back but web player Spotify has been playing perfectly all afternoon.

Seems Spotify did some code changes the Mozilla Firefox Browser (and other browsers as well by sounds of it), didn't like very much.

Step 1 - Upgraded Mozilla Firefox 32 bit version from an earlier version up to version 115.0.3esr.

'esr' stands for - Extended Support Release'.
These ESR Mozilla releases are to keep the Firefox browser running on the ancient Windows 7 platform.

Version (115.0.3esr) was released (15-Jan-2024)
This made no change !!
Spotify Web Version was still not working.

Then upgraded again from (115.0.3esr) up to (115.17.0esr)
Version (115.17.0esr) was released (28-Oct-2024)
This is browser version is 9 months newer, and less than  3 weeks old as of 2024 11 15 (when this fix was posted).

So possibly (and hopefully) your issue will also be fixed by upgrading your browser to the very latest version 🙂
No idea what got broken, but the plan to Stubbornly Stay With Windows7 (along with the growing millions of other users), should definately be noted by Spotify please?

If the choice comes between W7 and Spotify, huge numbers of users (me included), will be hunting for another music streaming platform.

🙂 Thanks 🙂

Jump to reply
Comments
LargerThanL1fe
Visitor
2025-05-07 09:30 PM

This exact problem still comes around here in 2025.

It have happened multiple times this year, and now it just happened again.

 

Both when I'm in Chrome, Firefix, and the desktop application.

I use an external soundcard (Focusrite) and I have tried to change to sample rate (as suggested by other users) to no avail.

 

Spotify skips five songs ahead and then plays the first 10 seconds. Does not matter what "start" song I chose, always skips the first five.

I'm a premium user.

0 Likes
Not applicable
2025-05-08 08:31 AM
"Spotify can't play this right now" on chromebox
0 Likes
Frile86
Newbie
2025-05-13 10:18 AM

Most of the time I use Spotify trough web player and this problem is pushing me to cancel subscription and switch to apple music...

0 Likes
badgoat
Regular
2025-05-14 07:42 PM

okay sounds insane but i open the web browser i go to spotify and i click play music it DOESNT SKIP 5 SONGS then ONLY PLAY 10 SECONDS of a song. i know i know sounds impossible to do but i believe in you and the issue is 10000000% because of DRM

0 Likes
MrKnobs
Newbie
2025-05-21 10:31 PM
You're right it IS because of DRM.  A poster here replaced the DRM module in his Win7 Chrome Browser with the DRM module from a newer version of Chrome and reported the problem solved.

0 Likes
JJJJC
Visitor
2025-05-22 06:54 AM

Hi. I used web player to play music a few weeks ago. It kept skipping songs and a bubble showed up saying Spotify cannot play the songs currently. Until after a few songs it started playing, but the music went silent right after 10 sec. I tried quite a few time but it didn't work. I thought it was a bug or there was an update so I ignored the issue. Right now I tried again but the issue is still ongoing. Do you have any suggestion?

0 Likes
stopthelies
Newbie
30 days ago

notice how the mods are not replying! they know this issue wasn't fixed, still haven't reopened it. that's because spotify techies don't have a clue how to fix it, its really embarrassing this for the company, made all the worse by these "yes men" mods trying to silence customers by closing issues when they are NOT FIXED! @Yordan @ MihailY just want people to go away, they are mods are are abusing thier "power" on this site. the pair of them need to step down as mods if they cant do the job. Spotify is not fit for purpose, any other site would have fixed the issue with days, spotify been looking at it for over 8 months and STILL NOT FIXED IT! joke of a company, clown mods

0 Likes
MrKnobs
Newbie
29 days ago
Seems obvious that the easiest way to fix this mess is simply download FireFox browser and it all works again.
F
0 Likes
stopthelies
Newbie
29 days ago

people with firefox have said it does not work, maybe take time to read some posts @MrKnobs rather than post dumb comments! 

0 Likes
MrKnobs
Newbie
29 days ago
Well the FireFox thing works for me. Maybe it might not work for someone else but it should be tried because its an easy fix if it does.

0 Likes

Related Issues