So you’re a regular Spotify user, but you won’t have access to the internet for a while. Is there a way to listen to Spotify music offline? Where does Spotify store offline music on a Mac?
And can you share the music files? I went digging through my Mac’s folders, and what I found might surprise you. First of all, make sure that you have Spotify Premium, or you won’t be able to download playlists.
Where Does Spotify Store Offline Music on a Mac?
As it turns out, the folder location has changed a number of times over the years. The files for offline music on a Mac will be located in this directory:
/Users/”yourusername”/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache/Storage
If you’re running out of disk space, deleting the files in Spotify’s cache folder can help clear up a significant amount of storage. Just remember, if you delete the cache, you will have to re-download the music.
How to Download Spotify Music:
To download Spotify music, open the app, select a playlist, and switch the download toggle on. You’ll see a green arrow pointing down when the playlist has been downloaded.
To see which of your playlists are available offline, open Spotify and select Offline Mode. In Offline mode, the playlists that have not been downloaded will be greyed out.
Since Spotify only allows you to download playlists, the cache folder can get quite large after a few downloads. It’s not unusual for Spotify to take 30 GBs or more of storage.
So now that you know where Spotify stores offline music, can you open or transfer the files?
Look:
The thing with Spotify is the offline music files are encrypted and tied to the device and account you originally downloaded them on. They won’t even be formatted as music files.
While you can “see” the files on your local storage, they’re basically useless because you can’t open them.
Can You Transfer Offline Spotify Playlists to Another Device?
So you downloaded a lot of Spotify playlists on your Mac and you’re wondering if you can simply copy the offline music files to a different device. For example, maybe you want to move a playlist from your Mac to your iPhone, or vice versa.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to transfer offline Spotify playlists from one device to another. Spotify files are tied to a single Spotify account and device and cannot be shared with others. You will need to download the playlists on the other device one at a time.
Note:
There are some third-party apps that let you download Spotify music as audio files. However, I do not recommend those programs because technically it is illegal to download songs from Spotify because you do not own the copyrights.
Also, another important point is Spotify will automatically delete your downloaded playlists if you do not connect to the internet at least once within 30 days. The reason for that is Spotify needs to track how many times the music was played in order to compensate the artists.
You only need to let Spotify connect to the internet once within 30 days to refresh the countdown.
Can You Share Offline Spotify Playlists?
You can’t share Spotify’s offline playlist files with other members, but you can share a link to the online playlist. To share a playlist, click on a playlist, click on the three dots next to the play button, and select Share.
From there, choose the way that you want to share the playlist and send it to your friend. In most cases, the Copy Playlist Link option is the most convenient. If you open the link on a mobile device, Spotify should open the playlist.
Can I Download Spotify Offline Playlists to an External Hard Drive?
Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to save a Spotify offline playlist to an external hard drive. The reason is Spotify needs to sync the files with their servers every 30 days to compensate artists.
Conclusion:
If you’re planning a getaway, what you can do is use Spotify’s offline mode to download your favorite playlists.
Make sure the same playlists are downloaded on each of the devices you plan to bring with you. For example, you will have to download it once on your Mac, and then again on your phone.
Just remember, if you don’t connect the devices to the internet within 30 days, all the offline playlists will be deleted from your devices.
