Can't play local file

[thorzyleif]

Plan 

Premium

Country

Norway

Device

OnePlus Nord 2 5G

Operating System

Android 13

My Question or Issue

Can't play one specific local file on phone. 

Hello!

I've had a local file on my phone for over a year now that suddenly stopped working on my phone.

It's a track with 5 minutes of silence which I use as a break between albums in my playlist.(I have a strict listening pattern to not get bored of music lol). It works fine on my laptop but when trying to listen to this track on my phone it says it's unavailable at the moment.

I've tried deleting it from my phone and downloading it again but the problem persists. 

Is this due to some update or does anyone know a workaround for this? I have it maybe 100 -200 places across my playlists so it would be quite anoying having to replace all this tracks with another one. 

[Vasil]

Hey @thorzyleif,

Sorry to see this has happened!

Does the local file appear with an exclamation mark next to it? If so, you may be experiencing the issue from this thread.

Even if this doesn't look the same for you, I'd still suggest going through the troubleshooting steps listed there.
We'd love it if you could take a look and update us on which steps you've gone through so that we can take it from there in case the issue remains.

Many thanks! We'll be on the lookout for your reply 🙂

[thorzyleif]

Sadly none of these steps solved the problem.

Tried a fresh install on my phone and also deleteing the file from my phone.

The file works fine on my laptop but when a try playing it on my phone i get an error message saying "Spotify cant play this track at the moment. This track is not available on your device." 

I have the option to show unplayable tracks set to "off". Yet it is still showing up in my playlist? Isnt this a bit strange? 

Every other local files works fine. This is an mp3 file and have been working for aver a year now so i think this is very strange.

Are there any other solutions?

[Eni]

Hey there @thorzyleif, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Could you send us a screenshot of how the file looks like on your end? We'll take a closer look. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert image option in the post editor. Make sure not to send any private info.

Also, you mentioned that you tried performing a clean reinstall of the app on your phone and deleting the file, but could you give these recommendations a go too to see if they do the trick? 

Keep us posted. 

[thorzyleif]

"Also, you mentioned that you tried performing a clean reinstall of the app on your phone and deleting the file, but could you give these recommendations a go too to see if they do the trick? "

Weren't those the recommendations you already suggested in the last post? If so i've already tried them without success.

Ill attach a screenshot of the song. It's the one downloaded file in the center if there's any doubt.

[Eni]

Hi @thorzyleif, 

Thanks for sending us this info. 

Just to confirm, when it comes to playing that file in the playlist, do you get the error message you mentioned and the playback stops, or is it simply skipped and the next song in the queue plays?  Also, does the same happen in a playlist that you only have local files?

Additionally, could you let us know if you're using an SD card?  

Lastly, we'd recommend checking if the OS of your phone has any pending updates. 

We'll be on the lookout for your reply. 

[thorzyleif]

The playback stops immediately and it does not skip. It's the same if I play it from one of my playlists or from the local rules section.

My phone does not have a SD card or option for that matter.

There are no available updates for my OS at the moment.

[Yordan]

Thanks for confirming, @thorzyleif.

Since other local files work fine on your phone, the issue might be coming from that particular .mp3 file. Have you tried editing its metadata to see if that helps?

Something else that comes to mind is converting the file again in Audacity (or a similar program) as a new .mp3 file > adding it to your local files library on PC > then uploading it on your phone's internal storage.

Hope this helps! Let us know how it goes 👍

[thorzyleif]

The mp3 file works fine in VLC player on my phone as well. So Spotify is apparently the problem 

I don't know how to edit the metadata but maybe it's worth a shot?

Will making a new mp3 file mean I have to replace every file in every playlist? If so the meaning is gone. I could probably find another similar file but it's such a hassle having to replace these files everywhere.

[Yordan]

Thanks for the quick reply, @thorzyleif!

I'm afraid you'll have to replace it in all playlists in that case, since it's a brand new file. As for editing the metadata, this is not currently possible to do directly in Spotify, so you'll have to do it either in Windows or with another app.

Cheers 🤘

[thorzyleif]

Okay. Then that's a waste of time. How would I go about editing the metadata?

Guess this bug has s root in some updates on Spotify's end then?

[Eni]

Hey @thorzyleif, 

Thanks for your reply. 

You can try changing the file's format, but keep in mind that this would also mean replacing it in each playlist.

However, if changing the format doesn't do the trick either, the issue is most likely isolated to that specific file. Unfortunately, we can't reproduce this at the moment, and can't commit to a timeframe for when or if this will be addressed. 

In this case, we'd suggest keeping the app up to date to ensure you get the latest fixes and improvements.

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you.