How to Download Music from Spotify to Computer via 4 Methods

By Charles Davis Updated on 2023-06-13 / Update for Spotify Tips

Q: It's not a difficult task to download music from Spotify to computer. Spotify's download feature allows you to do it only if you subscribed to Spotify Premium account. But using this way comes with some limitations. You will discover that you got the Spotify cache files but not local files. So, you can't locate the Spotify downloads on your computer and transfer and play Spotify music on other devices that don't support the Spotify app.

You might wonder whether there is a way to download songs from Spotify to computer locally for full music control? Thus, in this article, I will introduce the official way to get offline Spotify music tracks. But also, we will share the excellent solutions to download Spotify songs for free to computer locally.

download music from spotify to computer

Part 1. How to Download Music from Spotify to Computer without Premium

It can't be denied that using the Spotify desktop app is the easiest way to download Spotify music to computer. And it offers an uninterrupted listening experience and ad-free support. Yet, it also comes with some disadvantages, especially for better playback. What's worse, it doesn't work for Spotify free users.

So, I will introduce the best method first to download Spotify songs to computer for both Spotify free and premium subscribers. It's to draw support from professional third-party Spotify music downloader software.

Here we can meet AudFree Spotify Music Downloader. It is specialized in downloading Spotify music, playlists, or albums to computers from Spotify free and premium accounts. Besides, it has the ability to convert Spotify to 320 kbps MP3, FLAC, WAV, and other plain audio formats. The highlight feature of this tool is saving Spotify audios to the best quality on your computer's local folder directly.

Key Features of AudFree Spotify Music Converter

Here are main advantages of using AudFree Spotify Music Converter to download Spotify audio tracks below:

✔ Download music from Spotify for free on PC for offline listening

It can break the 'Download' limitation for Spotify Free users. With it, all music lovers can listen to ad-free Spotify songs, playlists, podcast, albums, etc. offline. No need to create a new playlist to add single songs, it supports downloading individual Spotify music directly.

✔ Convert Spotify music, playlists, etc. to 320 kbps MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, etc.

In general, Spotify audios are encrypted in Ogg Vorbis format, which can be compatible with devices that support the Spotify app. Here, AudFree Spotify Music Converter has the ability to do format conversion of Spotify songs. It will download and convert Spotify songs to MP3 and other popular audio formats with raw original quality kept.

✔ Work at 5X faster speed, edit music quality and parameters

With built-in capturing technology, AudFree Spotify Music Downloader runs at 5X faster speed to download songs from Spotify to computer. If necessary, you are able to customize the sample rate to 48Hz, 192kHz, etc. and bit rate to 320 kbps.

✔ User-friendly interface and keep ID3 tags

With a conside user interface, without any tech skills, you can save Spotify files to your computer by doing a few clicks. All ID3 tags, like the title, album cover, track number, year, etc. will be retained in intact for better music management. Then, you can transfer Spotify songs to iTunes library, USB drive, SD card, etc. for backup.

How to Download Music from Spotify to Computer

With the help of this smart Spotify song downloader for PC and Mac, you can truly possess downloaded Spotify music files. In this case, you can use them in your wanted way without limits. Now, let's see how to download music from Spotify to PC and Mac locally for free with 3 steps only.

Step 1Import Spotify Music to AudFree SpoDable
add spotify music to download
To start with, you can directly drag and drop Spotify files to the main screen to import them. It supports adding an individual song to download. Or you can copy and paste the URL of Spotify playlist to the search box of AudFree Spotify Music Downloader. And then, press the '+' button to upload Spotify tracks.
Step 2Choose Spotify output format and other settings for download
set spotify output settings for download
Enter to the top menu-> 'Preferences' -> 'Convert' option, it will pop up the setting window. You can define the output format of Spotify downloads like MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, M4A, or M4B according to your needs. Besides, in this window, you can customize the output quality of Spotify music. If you are a free Spotify user, you're suggested to set the bit rate as 320kbps to enhance the output quality.
Step 3Download music to computer from Spotify for free
download songs from spotify to computer
Click the 'File' icon to set the output folder to store Spotify music downloads. Or you can skip this step to keep it by default. Please touch the 'Convert' button at the bottom-right corner of the main interface to save and download music on Spotify without Premium to computers.

Video Tutorial to Download Spotify Songs to Computer

We have also created an intuitive video tutorial for you on how to download songs on Spotify to your computer quickly as follows:

Part 2. How to Download Songs from Spotify to Computer for Free Online

The free trial version of the above third-party Spotify music downloader for PC and Mac has a file length limitation. Under this circumstance, here, we will also introduce two easy-to-use free tools to you to download music from Spotify online to computer.

How to Download Music from Spotify to Computer Free via SpotifyMate

The first one is called SpotifyMate, a professional and free open-source Spotify playlist downloader online. Without any restriction, it works well to download Spotify playlist for free on PC and Mac from any web browsers.

However, a few points need to be explained in advance. As freeware, it features some disadvantages. For example, it sometimes crashes unexpectedly and the output quality of Spotify tracks could be lossy, only at up to 120 kbps. That's to say, the listening experience could be bad. Besides, it requires to click the 'Download' button one by one to download a single Spotify song in a playlist to computer. If you don't matter, you can check the user tutorial of this software as follow:

Step 1. Navigate to SpotifyMate Spotify Downloader website and there is a file add box in the middle of the top of the site. Open the Spotify Web Player on your browser also and find favorite Spotify tunes that you'd like to download.

access spotifymate spotify downloader

Step 2. Tap the item and click the 'three-dots' icon to choose 'Share' > 'Copy Track URL' button to copy the Spotify link. Go back to SpotifyMate Spotify Downloader, and then paste it to the address text bar. Then, please hit on the green 'Download' button, SpotifyMate will automatically load Spotify songs in the playlist.

load spotify music to spotifymate

Step 3. Scroll down to find target Spotify songs, and click the green 'Download' > 'Download MP3' button to download songs from Spotify to laptop for free. To download another music, please tap the 'Download Another Song' button.

download music from spotify to computer free

How to Download Spotify Audio to Computer Free via Apowersoft

Apart from the above approaches, here, we will turn up to the traditional music downloading way, which is using audio recording technology. One of the recommended online audio recorders could be Apowersoft Free Online Audio Recorder. It can not only record music from streaming music services, such as Spotify, Tidal, etc. via computer sound card but also record sound from a microphone.

If it's the first time to use it, you will need to download a mini installer. After that, nothing needs to be done, and you can visit this website and start to download songs off Spotify to laptop. By the way, there is only MP3 output option available and the Spotify audio quality could be only 160 kbps.

Step 1. Press the big 'Start Recording' icon and then select the audio source as the System Sound. It only supports saving Spotify as MP3. You don't need to customize output audio parameters.

choose system sound to download spotify

Step 2. Open the Spotify app or Spotify Web Player to play Spotify songs. At the same time, please click the 'Start' button to start the downloading process.

download spotify songs to computer free

Step 3. You can hit on the 'Pause' or 'Stop' options to control the process of downloading Spotify music to computer for free online. After that, you can find all Spotify download for PC in the output directory by clicking the 'Show in Folder' button.

Part 3. How to Download Music from Spotify to PC via Spotify Desktop App

Spotify free users can access over 80 million songs on devices that connect to the network. Users can listen to Spotify music online but have no right to download Spotify on computer. To get this privilege, you need to update to the Premium subscription by playing the $9.99 charge per month.

With Spotify Premium, you can download a song from Spotify to PC and Mac laptop via the Spotify desktop app. But there's still one catch: Spotify doesn't allow users to download Spotify songs individually. Please create a playlist and add favorite songs you'd like to download the playlist by right-clicking them directly. Let's move on!

How to Download Spotify Playlist on PC and Mac

Step 1. Open the Spotify app on your computer. Double-click the shortcut of the Spotify app to launch it from your computer desktop. Please log in to your paid account details, including your email address and password.

log into spotify premium account on computer

Step 2. Select the target Spotify playlist. Navigate to the 'PLAYLISTS' option on the left side of the main interface. Search the name of the playlist you'd like to download. Once you open the playlist, you can see there is a 'Download' button, which is near the middle of the window.

download spotify playlist to computer

Step 3. Download Spotify playlist to computer. Switch the 'Download' toggle button to on. Your Spotify playlists will be downloaded automatically. After you turn the 'Offline Mode' on, you can listen to Spotify music offline whenever you're not connected to the Internet.

listen to spotify offline on computer

Note: The downloaded Spotify music is cache files, which can be used to enjoy offline in the Spotify app only.

Part 4. Conclusion and Suggestion

With a Spotify Premium subscription, using the Spotify app to download songs from Spotify to computer is a great way. You can listen to Spotify music offline on compatible devices. But you need to pay for months and months. Because when you cancel it, the Spotify files will disappear from your Spotify app automatically.

For a free Spotify user, you can use the other three ways to download music from Spotify to computer. But the best way could be using the AudFree Spotify Music Converter. Because it can save Spotify songs to computer's local folder with best quality preserved. And it allows you to transfer and play converted Spotify files to all devices without a problem. You only need to pay once to get the full version of the Spotify downloader. As for premium users, you can also use this software to keep Spotify Premium for free forever.

Charles Davis

Charles Davis

Chief Editor

(Click to rate this post)
Charles Davis is the chief-editor of AudFree Company, who writes a variety of tech articles and music reviews, such as hot software releases and Spotify music tips.
spodable

AudFree SpoDable

Download Spotify songs, playlists, audiobooks, and podcasts to MP3, etc. with ease.

special entrance