How to Fix Local Files Not Showing in Spotify: Mobile & Computer

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions.

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Are the music files on your computer, phone, or tablet not showing up in Spotify? If you can’t see your local files or they aren’t syncing to Spotify on your Android, iPhone, or iPad, we can help. To fix local files not showing up, make sure your music files are in the MP3, MP4, and M4P format, and that they aren’t DRM protected. You’ll also need to enable "Show local files" in your Spotify settings and make sure Spotify is indexing the correct folder. If you still don’t see your songs, this wikiHow guide will help you get your local files back into Spotify on your computer, as well as in the mobile app for Android, iPhone, and iPad.

Things You Should Know

On a PC or Mac, click your username, choose Settings. Make sure "Show local files" is enabled and that the path is correct.
Spotify will not display local files that are DRM protected, including audio files you’ve purchased from iTunes.
If local files from your computer aren’t showing up on your phone, add those files to a playlist, then download the playlist in the Spotify mobile app.
You can listen to local files on any device with the Free version of Spotify, but you’ll need Spotify Premium to sync local files from your computer to mobile.

Find the New Local Files Location

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Click your username at the top-right corner of Spotify and select Settings. [1] X Research source
Scroll to "Local Files." If the switch next to "Local Files" is gray, click it to turn it green.
Under "Show songs from," you’ll see a list of folders in which Spotify will look for music files. If the switches next to these folders are off, click them to turn them back on.
If your music files are in a different folder, click Add a source to add other locations.

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Double-check the file names of each of your audio files to make sure they end with .mp3, .mp4, or .m4p.
Spotify cannot play iTunes M4A (.m4a) files. This means the songs you’ve purchased through iTunes won’t appear in Local Files on any device, including on your iPhone or iPad. [2] X Research source
MP4 files must be audio files. If you have MP4 files that contain video, they won’t appear in Local Files.
If your files are in a different format, check out our guide on converting files to MP3.

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Clear the Cache

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Close Spotify and make sure it’s not running in the background.
Find the location of the index.dat file:

In Spotify, click your name and select Settings.
Scroll down to "Offline storage location." The location listed here is the location on your computer where you’ll find the index.dat file.

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Reindex Your Music Files

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Make sure you have Spotify Premium if you want to sync local files from your computer. With a Spotify Premium subscription, you can listen to the local files from your computer when you’re using Spotify on your Android, iPhone, or iPad. This isn’t possible in the free version of Spotify—if local files from your computer don’t appear in your playlists on your phone or tablet, make sure your subscription is active.

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Make sure you’ve downloaded the playlist on your phone or tablet. You won’t see the local files on the playlist until you’ve downloaded the playlist in Spotify. Tap the download arrow at the top of the playlist and wait for the files to download. When the download is complete, the local files from your computer will be visible and playable.

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Reset Spotify (Windows)

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As a last resort, you can uninstall and reinstall Spotify. If the problem is related to your software, uninstalling and reinstalling should clear up the issue. If you use Spotify on a Windows PC, iPhone, or iPad, you’ll just need to uninstall the Spotify app from your device and then reinstall it. However, if you have an Android or Mac, you’ll need to take a few extra steps to do a clean reinstall.

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Close Spotify and open Finder.
Click the Go menu.
Hold down the Option key as you click Library on the menu. [5] X Research source
In the Caches folder, delete the folders called "com.spotify.client" and "com.spotify.client.helper."
Click the back arrow and open the Application Support folder.
Delete the folder called "Spotify."
Restart your Mac and then reinstall Spotify.