Delete local files

[bonjoursimone]

Hello everyone,

I recently sorted out my music in iTunes and therefore deleted many music files.

However all these local files, even those erased, still appear in my Spotify, even when I deactivate the display of my local files in my preferences! Grrrr.. How can I make them disappear??!

Thank you for your answer!

[Nico]

Hey @bonjoursimone! Welcome to the Spotify Community. ^^

That's odd.

Have you tried to delete/remove them out of your playlist?

They won't get deleted out of your playlists after deleting them from your computer. ^^

Let me know how it goes! ^^

Peace

[bonjoursimone]

Thanks for your reply Nico. But the local files are not in a playlist. They correspond to the music on my computer and were added automatically...

[bonjoursimone]

Thanks for your reply Nico. The local files are not in a playlist. They correspond to the music on my computer and were added automatically...

[Nico]

@bonjoursimone

Could you take a screenshot of the issue if possible?

And have you tried reinstalling your app? If not here's a step by step tutorial.

Let me know how it goes!^^

Peace

[bonjoursimone]

I've just reinstalled the app on my computer and it didn't work.

Here's a screenshot (in French sorry) of my local file problem. See the number 2033 files. I had 2033 songs on my computer indeed but it was before sorting out my itunes. Now I just have a few songs left so I don't understand why all these songs still appear in my local files on spotify... grrrrr

[Nico · Accepted solution]

@bonjoursimone

You will have to delete your local-files cache. Just follow the guide below.

1. Close Spotify
2. Navigate to "%appdata%\Spotify\Users\" in your file browser.
3. There should be a folder "username-user" - enter the folder.
4. Delete the file named "local-files.bnk"
5. Start Spotify

Let me know if that helps, thanks! ^^

Peace

[bonjoursimone]

It worked! Thank you !!

[Nico]

spotify:track:1gAqEg0gMyxJrM4DOOaYEA

Peace

[brikema]

Hello!

I have a bunch of old local files in Spotify that I can't play nor delete.
I tried your solution but I have no "local-files.bnk" in my "%appdata%\Spotify\Users\". 

Edit: I unliked them on my phone, and it worked

[michael1730]

what is a a file browser?

[noguffay]

That's not where I found it

Win 10 Pro 64bit (May 28,2021)

C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Users\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-user\local-files.bnk

[evamarie22]

Is it possible to delete one at time? I'm trying to delete some of the local files on mine but not all of them. I don't want to clear the cache if I'm going to lose them all?

[AndresM]

Hey @evamarie22,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community and welcome. 

Could you send us the make/model of the device/s where you want to delete some of your local files?

We'll be looking for your reply in order to assist you with it.

Cheers 🙂 

[sunoluke1]

How do you do it on phone

[Alex]

Hi there @sunoluke1,

You can find all the information you need on local files here.

Hope this helps.

[madinabcn]

Hi! I have the same problem. I deleted the file named "local-files.bnk" but it keeps apperaing in a user folder. Local files that I deleted on my computer a long time ago are still in my liked songs. How can I delete them permanently? 

[AlejaR]

Hey @madinabcn,

Thanks for your reply and for the info shared.

In this case, just to confirm, did you sync those files with your mobile phone in the past? If yes, try locating them on your mobile device. If you can still see them, try to remove the like on them. Keep in mind that it's not possible to like Local Files on the desktop app, so perhaps you can remove them manually on your cellphone.

On another note, since you mentioned you still see some old local files in your desktop app, would you try performing a clean reinstall of the app on your device? By doing that, the app can be kept up-to-date, and you can make sure a corrupted cache is not leading to this inconvenience. You can see the steps for a clean reinstall here.

If none of the above does the trick, would you mind sharing with us the make/model and OS of the affected device, along with the Spotify version you're running there?

Keep us in the loop!

[Agrathem]

I did what the solution to the post said: Go to your user file and delete the local-files.bnk file, but now when I launch Spotify and try to access it, it says I need to add files or turn the Show Local Files setting off even though I've uploaded a few different files.

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Thanks for posting in the Community.

We've forwarded this to the relevant team here at Spotify, however, we can't confirm when it will be addressed. In the meantime, please make sure to keep your app up-to-date.

Take care,