Local files not working :(

[leetaeyong]

Hi!

My local files show up on my laptop and on my phone, but on my phone they’re faded and grey. I can play them on my laptop but not on the phone.

They come from a valid source (mp4, i checked) and I have tried using different wifi and data hotspots. I have reinstalled the app and did the ‘clean install’. I have pretty much exhausted everything, so if anyone has any help I would really appreciate it. 

Many thanks. 

[Lyubka · Accepted solution]

Hey @leetaeyong,

Thank you for reaching out here in the Community. We've moved your post to a relevant Help Board where it fits better.

The way local files work has changed recently.  The synchronization between files from PC and your mobile devices over the network is no longer available. The audio files that you want to play within the app, need to be physically present on your phone's storage in order to be played by Spotify. You have to upload them following the steps in this article. 

In case you already uploaded them correctly and you're still unable to play them, it will be a good idea to remove all the local files you've uploaded on the app and try downloading them again. Moreover, it might be good to create new folders with the files.

Keep in mind that Spotify supports .mp3, .mp4, and .m4p files. It doesn’t support .mp4 files that contain video, or the iTunes lossless format (M4A). With that being said, some of your tracks may be protected in restricted formats and that might be the reason why they cannot be played.

We'd recommend to head also to this FAQ under "Local File not playing?" to double check if those files meet the requirements listed there.
 

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

[Jazzchilli]

Plan Premium

Country UK

Device

iPhone 14 and Windows laptop

Operating System

iOS and Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I have had local files synced for several years now, but over the last few months they have been skipped during playlist shuffle mode and I have to repeatedly click on them - usually five times -  to get them to play at all.

I keep all of my local files in one playlist that I sync, then copy them to the actual playlists I want them in.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to resolve it?

[kh144]

This has been happening to me too, hopefully it can get resolved somehow if it’s a larger spotify issue