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music streaming

How to Download Spotify Playlists for Offline Listening

Download Spotify playlists in the app while online, confirm completion, and use Offline Mode to play saved music without a connection.

By TheFinanceBase Team 3 min read
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To listen to a Spotify music playlist without an internet connection, you need Premium: open the playlist in the Spotify app while online, select Download, and confirm the download indicator appears before you go offline. Spotify Free accounts can download podcasts, but not music playlists.

Download a playlist on your phone or tablet

  1. Connect to the internet and open Spotify.

  2. Open the playlist you want to save and tap Download.

  3. Wait for the download indicator beside the playlist or its tracks to show that the download is complete.

Spotify downloads over Wi-Fi by default. To use mobile data instead, go to Profile picture > Settings and privacy > Data-saving and offline and enable Downloads over cellular. Higher audio quality uses more data, so Wi-Fi is the safer choice if you want to avoid using your mobile allowance. Spotify’s offline listening guidance explains the current options.

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Download a playlist on desktop

  1. While connected to the internet, open Spotify on your computer and select the playlist.

  2. Click the Download button and wait for its status indicator to confirm completion.

Do not rely on offline playback until the indicator shows the playlist is downloaded. The desktop menu for Offline Mode differs between Mac and Windows; use the current labels in your app.

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How to download just one song

Spotify does not offer a direct download for an individual song. Add the track to a playlist, then download that playlist in the app. Spotify’s instructions cover playlist downloads and this single-track workaround.

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Use Offline Mode when you have no connection

Downloads normally remain playable when your connection drops. If you want Spotify to avoid trying to stream tracks that are not saved, turn on Offline Mode. On mobile, go to Profile picture > Settings and privacy > Data-saving and offline. On Mac and Windows, find Offline Mode in the desktop app’s current menu. In this mode, items that were not downloaded are unavailable.

Eligibility, limits and keeping downloads

Spotify also lists an outdated app, a malfunctioning SD card, or reaching the device limit as possible reasons downloads may disappear. If the limit is exceeded, Spotify says downloads are removed from the least recently used device. These limits and retention rules are described in Spotify’s offline listening help.

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Fix a playlist that will not download

  1. Check that the device has an internet connection and that you have enough available storage. Spotify recommends at least 1 GB of free memory.

  2. Check whether your account has reached the five-device download limit. If it has, downloads may be removed from the least recently used device.

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  3. Update Spotify and restart the app. Spotify also recommends disabling apps that clear the cache or restrict battery use.

  4. If the app uses an SD card for storage, check that the card is working properly.

  5. Consider reinstalling only as a later troubleshooting step: reinstalling removes downloads, so you will have to save them again.

For more detail, see Spotify’s download troubleshooting advice.

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If you forgot to download: Offline Backup

Spotify documents Offline Backup for Premium on mobile phones, Android Auto and CarPlay. It can offer offline playback without a manual download, but it is a Spotify-generated mix based on music cached in the app—not a guaranteed offline copy of a playlist you selected. Spotify says it requires Offline listening to be enabled and songs to be stored in the app’s cache. It may not appear if you have not listened to enough music recently, have too little storage, cleared the cache or reinstalled the app. See Spotify’s Offline Backup information.

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