How to add local files to Spotify

Switch on local files in Spotify's settings: on desktop, choose the folders that hold your music; on a phone, copy the files into Spotify's folder. They then appear in Your Library, under Local Files, next to the music Spotify offers. Spotify plays any audio file legally stored on your device, and you may need to allow access in your device settings.

Source: Spotify's help article Local files.

On desktop

1. Click your profile picture at the top and select Settings.
2. Scroll to Library and switch Show Local Files on.
3. Under Show songs from, switch on the folders you want Spotify to read, or click Add a source to pick another folder.
4. Open Your Library: your music is in Local Files.

On iPhone

1. Tap your profile picture, then Settings and privacy, then Apps and devices.
2. Switch Local audio files on.
3. Put the files in the Spotify folder: in the Files app, copy or move them to On My iPhone, then into the Spotify folder. From a Mac, drag them into that folder in Finder; from Windows, through iTunes.
4. Open Your Library: your music is in Local Files.

If the Spotify folder disappears from On My iPhone, restart the Spotify app.

On Android

1. Tap your profile picture, then Settings and privacy, then Apps and devices.
2. Switch Local audio files on.
3. Download the files to the phone, from an app such as Google Drive or over USB from a computer.
4. Open Your Library: your music is in Local Files.

Local files in playlists

Spotify lets you put local files in your own playlists, next to Spotify tracks, from the Spotify app. Other apps can't: Spotify's Web API, which third-party apps use to edit playlists, does not allow adding local files to a playlist.

Source: Working with playlists, in Spotify's developer documentation.

What Playlistation does with local files

Playlistation goes through that same Web API, so it can't add a local file to a smart playlist, even when the file is in your Liked Songs and matches every filter. A local file you add to a smart playlist yourself, in Spotify, stays there through every update. Artist and genre filters never match a local file, because it has no Spotify artist behind it. See Local files and podcasts.

Common questions