How to Add Custom Songs to Spotify: The Complete Guide

Ever wanted to listen to an unreleased remix, a rare live concert recording, a personalized mashup, or an indie track that isn’t on official streaming platforms, right alongside your regular Spotify rotation?

Good news: you can. Spotify features a built-in function called Local Files that lets you bridge the gap between your personal music library and your cloud-based playlists.

This step-by-step, comprehensive guide will walk you through setting up custom tracks on both your desktop and mobile devices.

What You Need Before You Start

• Compatible Audio Formats: Spotify officially supports standard audio files like MP3, MP4, and M4P (Note: If you are using formats like FLAC or WAV, you will need to convert them to MP3 first).
• A Spotify Premium Subscription: Required if you want to sync and stream those custom local files to your smartphone or tablet.
• The Same Wi-Fi Network: If you plan on syncing your songs to your phone, both your computer and mobile device must be connected to the same local network.

Step 1: Import Custom Songs on Desktop (PC & Mac)

The heavy lifting happens on your computer. Once your desktop app recognizes your custom tracks, you can organize them and pipe them into your mobile devices.

1. Launch the Spotify Desktop App and log into your account.
2. Click on your Profile Picture in the top-right corner and select Settings.
3. Scroll down to the section labeled Your Library and toggle the switch for Show Local Files to the on (green) position.
4. Underneath that, you will see a list of default source folders (such as Downloads or Music Library) alongside an Add a source button.
5. Click Add a source and select the specific folder on your computer where your custom MP3 songs are saved.
6. Navigate back to Your Library on the left-hand sidebar and click on the Local Files folder. All your imported custom tracks will now appear right there.

Step 2: Add Your Custom Songs to a Playlist

To make your custom tracks playable (and syncable to your phone), you need to drop them into a playlist:

1. Go to your Local Files folder within Spotify.
2. Find the custom track you want, click the three dots (…) next to it, and select Add to playlist.
3. Choose an existing playlist or click New playlist to create a dedicated hub for your custom music (