Spotify Web API playlist endpoints return fewer items than tracks.total with no unavailable placehol

[Synaptix23]

I am seeing consistent and reproducible behaviour across multiple playlists where the Spotify Web API does not return all playlist items, even though all tracks are playable in the Spotify client.

Observed behaviour

• GET /playlists/{playlist_id} reports tracks.total = N

• GET /playlists/{playlist_id}/tracks (or playlist_items via Spotipy) returns M < N items

• The missing items:

  • do not appear as track: null

  • are not returned at any offset

  • are excluded before pagination

• Pagination completes normally (next = null) after M items

• This behaviour occurs consistently across runs and playlists

Examples

• Playlist with tracks.total = 308 → API returns 200 items

• Playlist with tracks.total = 111 → API returns 100 items

• Playlist with tracks.total = 196 → API returns 100 items

• Playlist with tracks.total = 827 → API returns 427 items

Smaller playlists often return all items, while larger playlists frequently return a reduced subset.

Important detail

All tracks that are missing from the API:

• are visible in the Spotify UI

• are fully playable in the Spotify client

• do not appear greyed out or unavailable in the app

What has been tested

• Forced market parameter (e.g. market=GB)

• Multiple playlists (personal and Spotify-curated)

• Multiple runs with fresh tokens

• Spotipy and direct Web API calls show identical behaviour

No track = null placeholders are returned for the missing items. They are silently excluded from the response entirely.

Questions

1. Is this behaviour intentional?

2. Is full playlist enumeration via the Web API still supported?

3. Should developers expect tracks.total to exceed the number of retrievable playlist items?

4. Is there a documented reason why tracks playable in the Spotify client may be excluded from the Web API without indication?

I am not asking for a workaround, only clarification on whether this behaviour is expected going forward so developer applications can adapt correctly.

Thank you.