Spotify Web Player Not Working? Here Are the Fixes

The Spotify web player should be one of the most-loved websites in the world, as it lets you access the Spotify musical universe directly through your web browser. It’s kind of brilliant but also terribly flawed, with many people reporting that it’s not working properly or at all on various browsers. Here are the fixes for the Spotify web player not working issues.

Spotify Web Player Not Working in Windows 10 “N” Version

“N” versions of Windows 10 run much the same way as other Windows 10 versions except that they’re missing much of the media functionality and apps that come preloaded in mainline Windows 10 releases. (Apps like Skype, Video, Music, and Voice Recorder are missing.)

“N” versions of Windows 10 also don’t come with the media-playing functionality required for the Spotify web player to work in the Edge browser. Thankfully, it’s not hard to install the Media Feature Pack, which should get the Spotify web player working in Microsoft’s browser.

Just download and install the Media Feature Pack for “N” versions of Windows 10, restart Edge, and the Spotify web player should work the next time around. Note that you won’t be able to install this media feature pack on non-“N” versions of Windows 10.

Open the Web Player in a Private Window

Before moving on to the bulk of the tips in this list, you can do a quick check to see if there’s an extension or feature in your browser that’s interfering with the web player.

How do you do this? Just try opening the web player in a private window. By default, this launches a browser window without extensions, cached data, and so on, which can sometimes interfere with Spotify’s functionality.

To open a private window in Chrome, click the three-dot menu icon at the top right, then “New incognito window.”

To open a private window in Microsoft Edge, click the three-dot menu icon at the top right, then “New InPrivate window.”

If the web player works fine in a private window, you should clear your browser cache and also try disabling extensions one by one to see which one was causing the problem.

Enable Protected Content

If you try to open the Spotify web player but get a message that “Playback of protected content is not enabled,” then you need to make sure you enable protected content in your browser.

If you’re using Chrome, go to chrome://settings/content, then scroll down to “Protected content” and enable “Allow site to play protected content.”

If you’re using Firefox, go to the Spotify web player site, click the shield icon to the left of the URL bar, then click “Turn off blocking for this site.”

You may also get a message that you need to install Widevine to play protected content. If so, you must install this before the Spotify web player will play anything. This often happens on more privacy-centric browsers.

Clear Cache and Flush DNS

If your web player is launching and seems to work fine except that it’s not playing music, you should try flushing the DNS cache on your system. This will refresh your PC’s DNS cache, which should make sure the next time you log in that its domain name gets properly registered.

To do this in Windows, hit Win + R, then enter ipconfig /flushdns.

Songs Won’t Play

If the web player is loading and looking like it should work properly, but no music is playing, there are several things that could be causing this.

As a potential quick fix, select an album you want to play on Spotify, click the three-dot icon next to a song in that album, then select “Copy song link.” Paste this link into your browser address bar, hit Enter, and it should jolt the web player to life, playing the song.

That failing, some users have reported that the issue can be caused by using Spotify across multiple devices. With Spotify open in your browser, grab your phone or tablet and open Spotify on it.

In the Spotify web player, click the “Connect” button at the bottom right and make sure “This Web Browser” is selected.

Spotify Web Player Not Working at All

If the web player is refusing to load at all, the first thing you should do is clear the cookies in your browser. This varies slightly from browser to browser, but it should be under Settings, then Privacy or History. Clear the cookies, restart your browser, and see if it works.

The Spotify web player may not be perfect, as the above guide shows, but with a few tweaks and a few creases ironed out, it does a pretty good job as a stand-in for the full-fledged app. What’s more, it also resembles the Spotify app to quite an extent.

Also, remember that if you’re using a public computer your employer’s or school’s network, Spotify may be blocked. If this is the case, the Spotify website shouldn’t load at all.

Update Your Browser

The Spotify web player requires your browser to have specific features and security measures in place to be compatible. Even if everything worked fine the week before, Spotify may have chosen to support only the newer version of your browser for various reasons.

Before giving up on listening to Spotify in your favorite browser, update the browser to the latest version, if there’s an update available.

The exact method to update your browser depends on the browser itself. However, there are a couple of common methods that work in most mainstream browsers.

  1. Open your browser’s menu and select “About browser name.” This shows you information about the browser along with an area for checking for updates.
  1. Alternatively, open your browser’s menu and select “Settings.” Most modern browsers have a search function within Settings. Search for “Update” or look for “About browser name” as a settings section.

If you have any trouble downloading or installing the update, visit your browser’s web page, download the latest version directly, and install it. This will simply update your existing browser installation.

At the time of writing, Spotify supported the following browser versions:

  • Chrome 66 and higher
  • Firefox 60 and higher
  • Safari 12.1 and higher
  • Edge 18 and higher
  • Opera 49 and higher

It’s important to note that Spotify also supports most Chromium-based browsers, as they’re similar to Chrome, so the Spotify web player may also work well on these lightweight browsers.

Disable Your Ad Blocker for Spotify

Usually, ad-blocker extensions don’t interfere with Spotify, but occasionally, they do. The fix for this is easy: disable your ad-blocker extension for the Spotify web player. You don’t have to disable it on all sites, just on Spotify.

For most ad blockers, including those built in to your browser, you should see an icon to the right of your address bar. For example, I’m using the Brave browser, which has a built-in ad blocker. When I’m on Spotify’s web player, I can click the icon and disable the shields for just that site.

This should work similarly for all types of ad blockers. If you don’t see an icon, look for the extensions icon or open your browser’s menu and select “extensions,” “plug-ins,” or “add-ons.” (The exact word depends on what your browser calls them.) You’ll then be able to manage your ad-blocker extension by clicking on it.

Try a Different Browser

As a final option, try a different browser. It’s possible there’s a compatibility error between the Spotify web player and your browser. This could be due to the browser version, an extension, a custom setting, or something else.

Install one of the supported browsers listed above to use for Spotify. If it works with no problems, consider keeping that browser just for listening to the Spotify web player.

Other Common Issues

In addition to all of the above, there are a few other issues that could be the reason behind the Spotify web player not working, such as:

  • A poor internet connection: if your internet connection is weak, the web player may not be able to stay connected long enough to stream. One song might preload and play fine, but the next song may not load at all. Verify your connection by checking another website, especially a site where you can stream music or video.
  • An unsupported location: like most streaming services, Spotify isn’t available everywhere. If you’re traveling and you to listen via a browser, ensure the country you’re in is supported. Otherwise, the web player won’t work.
  • Active VPN connection: many apps and services don’t work well with a VPN. This is to prevent users from using the service where they’re not supposed to. Try turning off your VPN, then load Spotify again.
  • Viruses: while a virus isn’t going to specifically target the Spotify web player, sudden glitches could be a sign of a virus infection. This is especially true if you’re noticing any other performance issues or problems with other sites and apps. Run an antivirus scan to check for any problems.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Spotify web player free?

Is Spotify web player better than Spotify?

Is Spotify web player down?

Can I use Spotify web player on mobile?

Are there any alternatives to Spotify?


— Update: 07-02-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article Fix: Spotify Web Player won’t Play from the website appuals.com for the keyword spotify web player not playing or loading.

Article post on: us.suanoncolosence.com

Spotify is a Swedish based audio streaming platform which provides users with more than 50 million songs and podcasts. Spotify also provides users with a web-player for browsers so that you don’t have to download the application. However, quite recently a lot of reports have been coming in of users who are unable to stream audio on the web service of Spotify. The users cannot play any tracks and refreshing the page does not fix the issue.

Spotify Web Player won’t Play

What Prevents the Spotify Web Player from Working?

Upon receiving numerous reports from users we investigated the issue and scribbled up a guide that solved the issue for most of our users. Also, we have put together a list of reasons due to which the error is triggered and they are listed as follows:

Now that you have a basic understanding of the nature of the issue we will move on towards the solutions. It is recommended that you try these solutions in the specific order in which they were presented.

Solution 1: Loading Track Directly

Sometimes, the web player can glitch during the loading process of the website. A simple fix for this is to try to load the song that you are trying to play by pasting the link inside the browser directly. Therefore, in this step, we will be copying the song’s link and pasting it to open it directly.

  1. Open the browser and launch the web player service.
  2. Navigate to the track that you want to play and click on the three dots in front of the song and select “Copy song link“.
    Copying song link
  3. Paste this link the address bar of your browser and press “Enter“.
  4. Once the page loads try to play the song and check to see if the issue persists.

Solution 2: Refreshing Selected Device

If the account is logged into multiple devices and is also being used on your mobile phone or tablet it can sometimes face issues while making the switch from the selected streaming device. Therefore, in this step, we are going to be reinitializing the selecting process. For that:

  1. Open the web player on your computer.
  2. Grab the phone or tablet on which the account is logged into and open the Spotify application.
  3. Tap the “Settings cog” and select the “Devices” option.
  4. Tap on the “This Phone” option on your mobile, wait for 2 minutes and then tap on the “Listening on: Web Player (your browser’s name)” option.
    First, select the “This phone” option and then the “Web Player” option.
  5. Navigate back to the web player on the browser and click on the “Connect” button at the bottom right.
  6. Make sure that the “This web player” is selected from the list.
    Making sure that the “This Web Player” option is selected in the Web player
  7. Try to play the audio and check to see if the issue persists.

Solution 3: Deleting Cache and Cookies

The cache and cookies can become corrupted over time and cause problems with the loading process of the site. Therefore, in this step, we will be deleting the cache and cookie from the browser. The process varies slightly depending on the browser that you are using.

For Chrome:

  1. Close all tabs and open a new one.
  2. Click on the menu button on the top right of the browser and select “Settings” from the list of options.
    Clicking on the menu button and selecting Settings
  3. Scroll down to the bottom and click on “Advanced“.
    Scrolling down and selecting “Advanced”
  4. Scroll down further and click on “Clear Browsing Data” under the “Privacy and Security” heading.
    Clicking on the “Clear Browsing Data” option
  5. Click on “Advanced” select “All time” from the time range and check the first four options.
    Clicking on Advanced, selecting “All time” as range and checking the first four options
  6. Click on “Clear Data” and restart your browser.
  7. Open the Spotify website and check to see if the issue persists.

For Firefox:

  1. Open the Firefox browser and launch a new tab.
  2. Click on the menu button on the top right corner and select “Options” from the list.
    Clicking on the menu button and selecting “Options” from the list
  3. Click on the “Privacy & Security” button on the left pane and scroll down to the “Cookies & Site data” heading.
    Selecting “Privacy & Security” from the left pane
  4. Click on the “Clear Data” button and select the “Clear” option when the message displaying the space that is occupied by the cache and cookies is shown.
    Clicking on “Clear Data” option and selecting “Clear”
  5. Open the Spotify website, try to play audio and check to see if the issue persists.

For Microsoft Edge:

  1. Open the browser and click on the menu button on the top right corner.
    Clicking on the menu button and selecting “Settings” from the list.
  2. Select “Settings” from the list of options and scroll down to the “Clear Browsing Data” tab.
  3. Select the “Chose what to clear” button and check the first four options.
    Scrolling down and clicking on “chose what to clear”
  4. Click on “Clear” and restart the browser.
    Make sure these options are checked and select “Clear”
  5. Open the Spotify website, play the audio and check to see if the issue persists.

— Update: 20-02-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article How to Fix Spotify Web Player Not Working from the website www.online-tech-tips.com for the keyword spotify web player not playing or loading.

Spotify’s web player lets you listen to your favorite music without installing an app. Various things can cause Spotify’s web player not to work, most commonly a problem with your web browser.

You may have enabled an ad blocker in your web browser, causing Spotify not to play your music. Your browser’s cache files could be causing problems. Or you might have the wrong playback device set in your browser. When the Spotify web player isn’t working, here’s a list of things to check.

Choose the Correct Playback Device in Spotify

Spotify lets you manually select the device for playing your music. Make sure you’ve set Spotify to use your web browser for music playback. If this isn’t the case, change the device, and your web player will start working.

  1. Launch the Spotify web player in your web browser.
  2. Select Connect to a device at the bottom-right corner of the interface.
  1. Choose your web browser in the playback device list.
  1. Spotify will play your music in your web browser, fixing the web player not working issue.

Disable the Ad-Blocker in Your Web Browser

If you’ve installed an ad-blocker extension in your web browser, that may be causing Spotify’s web player not to load music. Ad-blockers are often the cause of various online media playback issues.

Luckily, you can fix that by disabling your browser’s ad-blocker. You can first temporarily disable the extension to see if it’s the culprit. If that resolves the problem, you can remove the ad blocker or disable it for Spotify.

The following shows you how to disable an extension in Chrome. The steps should be similar for other web browsers.

  1. Right-click your ad-blocker extension in Chrome’s top-right corner and choose Manage extension.
  1. Turn off the toggle to disable your ad-blocker extension.
  1. Close and reopen Chrome, and you’ll find that the Spotify web player now works.

Use Incognito Mode in Your Web Browser

An option worth trying when you can’t use the Spotify web player is to use an incognito window. When you open a site in this window, your browser isolates your browsing history and other data from your current session.

That helps fix issues occurring due to the interference of your browser data with Spotify’s web player. You might not want to use incognito mode every time you want to listen to music, but this technique can at least help you figure out whether your browser is what’s causing the problem.

Open an Incognito Window in Chrome

  1. Select the three dots at the top-right corner of Chrome.
  2. Choose New Incognito window from the menu.
  1. Open Spotify’s web player in the incognito window.

Launch a Private Window in Firefox

  1. Select the hamburger menu at the top-right corner of Firefox.
  2. Select New private window from the menu.
  1. Launch Spotify for the web.

Open an InPrivate Window in Edge

  1. Select the three dots at the top-right corner of Edge.
  2. Choose New InPrivate window in the menu.
  1. Open the Spotify web player.

Clear Your Web Browser’s Cache

Your browser caches web pages and images to speed up your browsing sessions. Sometimes, this cached data interferes with your online music players and causes them not to work.

Clearing your browser’s cache may help resolve your Spotify issue. Most browsers make it extremely easy to get rid of your cache files.

Source: us.suanoncolosence.com

You don’t lose your saved passwords, cookies, and other site data when you clear the cache.

Clear the Cache in Chrome

  1. Open Chrome, type the following in the address bar, and press Enter:
    chrome://settings/clearBrowserData
  2. Choose All time from the Time range drop-down menu, enable Cached images and files, deselect all other options, and select Clear data at the bottom.

Clear the Cache in Firefox

  1. Select the hamburger menu in Firefox’s top-right corner and choose History > Clear recent history.
  2. Choose Everything from the Time range to clear the drop-down menu, deselect all options except Cache, and select OK at the bottom.

Clear the Cache in Edge

  1. Open Edge, type the following in the address bar, and press Enter:
    edge://settings/clearBrowserData
  2. Choose All time from the Time range drop-down menu, select Cached images and files, deselect all other options, and choose Clear now at the bottom.

Enable Playback of Protected Content in Your Web Browser

When Spotify’s web player doesn’t work and you see a message that says you need to enable the playback of protected content, you’ll have to turn on an option in your browser’s settings to fix the issue.

You’ll likely only experience this issue with Google Chrome, so here’s how to turn on the playback of protected content in this web browser:

  1. Type the following in Chrome’s address bar and press Enter:
    chrome://settings/content
  2. Select Additional content settings > Protected content IDs.
  3. Turn on both Sites can play protected content and Sites can use identifiers to play protected content options.

Flush the DNS Cache

Spotify and other sites you open in your browsers use your DNS settings to resolve domain names. If your DNS cache has issues or has gone corrupt, you’ll need to clear this problematic cache to fix your site-related issues.

Fortunately, you can clear the DNS cache without deleting your browser or other files on your machine. Here’s how to do that on a Windows PC:

  1. Open the Start menu, search for Command Prompt, and select Command Prompt in the search results.
  2. Type the following in Command Prompt and press Enter: ipconfig /flushdns
  1. Close the Command Prompt window.

Use Another Web Browser

If your Spotify web player still doesn’t work, chances are your web browser is the culprit. In this case, try using the web player in another web browser and see if that works.

For example, if you use Chrome to access the Spotify web player, switch to Firefox and see if your player works. If you find the web player works by changing the browsers, your browser is the culprit, and you’ll need to either reset or reinstall your browser.

Use an Alternative Spotify Client

Spotify offers multiple clients to let you listen to your music. If you find that Spotify’s web player doesn’t work, use the company’s desktop app to access your music.

You can also use Spotify’s mobile app if you have a smartphone or tablet. This gives you access to the same music library that your web player does.

Troubleshoot Spotify Web Player Problems on Your Computer

Spotify web player’s issues are often linked to your web browser. Once you get rid of the problematic cache files, adjust specific settings, and remove the culprit add-ons, your web player starts working just as it should.

We hope the guide above helps you fix all your issues related to the Spotify web player.


— Update: 23-02-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article Spotify Web Player Not Working: A Complete Guide On How To Fix This Issue from the website www.republicworld.com for the keyword spotify web player not playing or loading.

The Spotify web player is the greatest website in the world. Why? because it allows you to directly access a whole heap of Spotify music without having to leave your internet browser. Although it looks like a great thing, many people reported that the Spotify player don’t work properly/doesn’t work at all in certain browsers. To fix this issue, we will have a closer look at why is Spotify player not working, how to fix this issue and more.

Also read: Spotify Free Vs Spotify Premium: Should You Consider Upgrading The Service?

The only web browser that it works without any hiccup from 2020 is Safari. But one thing we need to note here is that in 2017, Spotify web player completely stopped working in Safari. Some of the users even got a Spotify web Player black screen error when they landed in the site. After a long hiatus, it started working again in 2020 and since then, there are no issues reported regarding this. In the coming section, we are going to look at how to fix the Spotify web player not working problem with step by step instructions.

Also read: Spotify Wrapped 2020: What Does Top 0.5 And Top 0.1 Of Listeners Mean?

How to fix the Spotify web player not working problem?

When you encounter this issue for the first time, you may wonder is Spotify web player down? That can sometimes happen, but that’s not the reason why it isn’t working in your browser. In the coming paragraph, we’ll look at the solutions for the Spotify web player not working in the Windows 10 N version.

Also read: How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream? Comparing Spotify With Other Streaming Services.

Windows 10 N versions work much the same way as the other versions of Windows 10. But they are missing all the media functionalities that come preloaded with the mainline Windows 10 operating system. Also, Windows 10 N versions don’t have media playing functionality that is required for the Spotify web player to work in the edge browser. Thankfully, you can install the media feature pack available on the Microsoft website, and once you do that successfully, just restart the Edge browser.

Also read: Apple Music Vs Spotify: Which Streaming Service Is Best For You?

Now, you’ll be able to access the Spotify web player. Kindly note that you won’t be able to install the media feature pack in the other versions of Windows 10. If you are using a different Windows operating system, try these methods when you encounter this problem.

  • Open the Spotify web player in a Private Window.
  • If an extension is interfering with the web player, try disabling one by one to see which one is causing the issue.
  • Clear your browser’s cache and cookies.
  • If you get a message that says, playback of protected content isn’t enabled, then you have to enable protected content in your browser. This option is available in all major web browsers.
  • If the player is launching fine but doesn’t play music tracks, then you should clear the DNS cache on your system.

We hope that we’ve given you a clear overview of why is Spotify web player not working. Fixing this issue is a lot easier than you think. If the issue still persists, then you have to contact the Spotify support team for further assistance.


— Update: 04-03-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article 7 Best Ways to Fix Spotify Web Player Not Working Issue from the website www.guidingtech.com for the keyword spotify web player not playing or loading.

Spotify is available on many platforms, but they also maintain a web player. A lot of folks I know prefer the web player instead of the desktop or mobile apps. Especially those who spend a lot of their time working on their desks. But the web player is not working for several Spotify users.

There could be so many reasons for Spotify web app not working problem and some might be related to the browser. Others could be due to the web app itself.

Let’s begin.

1. Windows N Edition

Which version of Windows you have on your system? Microsoft notes that N versions don’t come with media functionalities and apps right of the box. You will need to download the Media Feature Pack before you can use Spotify, even in the web browser. After all, the browser is also an app that’s been installed on Windows, right? It can use some help.

2. Check Browser and Extensions

We will check if there is some issue with your browser or one of the extensions you installed. Certain media extensions could also interfere with the Spotify web player.

Open Incognito mode and view if you can run Spotify. If yes, one of the extensions is at fault. Disable all extensions and then re-enable them one at a time to check which one is causing conflict.

If not, then it’s a browser issue. One quick way to check that is by using a different browser. There are many like Brave and Firefox, to name a few.

If you are using any Ad blocker, then you’ll have to add Spotify’s URL to the whitelist or the trusted site list.

3. Clear Browser Cache and Cookies

This is a follow-up to the above point. Cookies and cached data can break web apps resulting in errors like the one you face where the Spotify web player is not working.

We have talked before about how to clear cache and cookies on Chrome and Microsoft Edge. The steps are more or less similar for other browsers too. Just open settings and search a little or look under the privacy menu.

4. Enable Protected Content

Are you facing an error that says ‘Playback of protected content is not enabled’ or something similar? That’s an easy fix.

Toggle ‘Enable sites to play protected content option’ here. You can also paste this into the browser to save time.

chrome://settings/content

5. Multiple Devices

A user found out that using Spotify on multiple devices can actually confuse the web app. This can also have something to do with Spotify Connect. Are you using the same Spotify account to listen to music on a different device? Maybe one of your family members? Check it out.

One way to fix this is by opening the app and selecting Web Player at the bottom of the screen.

Try switching between different devices like Chromecast to stream Spotify. And then switch back to the web player. The temporary switch might help you jumpstart Spotify’s web player.

5. Log Out Everywhere

You can log out of Spotify from all the devices where you use the same account to stream music. The option can be found under the Account overview tab under profile on the web.

6. Change Location

Did you use Spotify when you were traveling? May be Spotify’s web player hasn’t updated your device location. A user found out that changing location in profile helps.

Step 1: Open the below URL, and replace ‘us’ in the URL with your country code – us, de, fr, etc.

https://www.spotify.com/in/

Step 2: Open your profile settings page, which should be located here.

https://www.spotify.com/us/account/profile/

Step 3: Select your country from the drop-down menu. After that, you can save the changes.

Reload the Spotify web player and check again if it is working.

7. Quick Refresh

Quick refresh is how one Spotify user found a weird way to fix Spotify not working in browser error. You can click on the album cover of the track you’re trying to stream a couple of times quickly, and the play button should appear. When it does, hit the F5 or refresh button. You can repeat this solution a couple of times if the play button doesn’t appear immediately.

Unlimited Songs on the Go

Spotify has apps on many platforms, and you can easily download their desktop app for both Windows and macOS. The web player is not the only option and only makes your browser slow, resulting in lags. You don’t want that, especially when you are working. Still, if you want to continue listening to songs on the web player, one of the above tips should have fixed the issue for good.

Next up: Want to add the music library on your computer to Spotify? Well, all you need is a Spotify Premium account and this guide to upload your music to Spotify.

Source: https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-spotify-web-player-not-working/

Article post on: us.suanoncolosence.com

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