How to Fix Slow Spotify on Mac or Windows

Having trouble trying to fix slow Spotify on Mac or Windows?

Spotify is a music-streaming platform that has boomed in popularity over the recent decade by filling in the gap of making music easily accessible. The very convenient application lets users browse and play music online or offline, wherever they go.

Although it rarely happens, it can be an incredibly annoying experience to be listening to music only to find Spotify acting incredibly slow. Why does this happen, and how can you fix it? Luckily, there’s a lot of things that you can do to alleviate this problem.

In this article, we’ll be going through a series of steps that were taken from Spotify’s support forum, other sources around the net, and our own methods. Here’s how you can fix slow Spotify on Mac or Windows.

Let’s get started!

 

1. Delete Spotify Cache Files.

An underrated asset that’s been getting more and more popular, better known as ‘cookies’, are cache files. Whenever you open up a website, go through a couple of settings, or make changes with your personal account, these preferences are saved as cache.

Cache files elevate your experience by semi-automating a ton of manual work, like, for example, auto-filling your email address. However, these files can be problematic if they get corrupted or damaged, as they can slow down your computer. Deleting Spotify’s cache files will not remove any personal data, so don’t worry about losing any files.

Here’s how you can delete Spotify’s cache files for Windows:

  1. We’ll first need to access the Run dialog box, you can bring this out by pressing the Windows key + R keys simultaneously. Alternatively, you can also find this through the Start menu by searching for ‘Run’ and opening it up from there.

  1. Now, in the Run dialog box, type in ‘%appdata%’ and press Enter.
  2. You should be directed to a folder with an extensive list of files. Look for and click on Spotify.
  3. Once you’re there, go to the Users folder and navigate to the Username of your account. This might be displayed as a bunch of numbers. If there are a lot of entries, you can look for your username here.
  4. When you’re in your username folder, locate and delete local-files.bnk.

That should clear and delete Spotify’s cache files for your Windows computer. Alternatively, here’s how you can delete Spotify’s cache files for Mac users:

  1. Start by opening up Finder and click on the Go tab at the top-left corner of your screen.
  2. Next, move your mouse down and click on Computer and then double-click on Macintosh HD.
  3. From there, select Users and click on the profile you’re using.
  4. Now, click on the Library folder and navigate to the Caches folder.
  5. Finally, look for com.spotify.client and delete that by dragging and roping the folder to the trash bin.
 

2. Disable Hardware Acceleration.

A great way to utilize and increase the performance of common and everyday applications is to utilize the ‘Hardware Acceleration’ feature, if available. This allows the program to access your graphics card, which smoothens any visual effects from the application.

Though this is great for computers with a strong GPU, it can be pretty taxing for lower-end computers. Additionally, ‘Hardware Acceleration’ can also decrease your computer’s performance if enabled on a faulty or precarious program, which in this case might be Spotify.

Here’s how you can disable the ‘Hardware Acceleration’ feature:

  1. Go ahead and open up the Spotify app on your computer.
  2. From there, click on the V icon next to your account profile at the top-right corner of your screen. Select Settings.

  1. Finally, look for the Compatibility section and toggle Enable hardware acceleration. Make sure it’s disabled.

That should increase your computer’s performance. Restart Spotify first before proceeding, you can do so thoroughly by following these steps.

 

3. Disable Showing Local Files.

Sometimes, we can’t help but prefer covers of certain songs rather than the official studio version that Spotify only provides. This is completely understandable, which is why Spotify included the option of showing your local files through their app.

By showing your local files, you’ll be able to open and play the local music files stored on your computer through the Spotify app. However, if the connection between Spotify and your folder is faulty or compromised, this can end up slowing your program.

Here’s how you can disable the ‘Show Local Files’ feature:

  1. First, open up the Spotify app on your computer.
  2. Next, navigate and click on the V icon at the top-right corner of your screen and select Settings.

fix slow spotify on mac or windows

  1. Lastly, look for the Local Files section and disable the Show Local Files feature.

While you may be unable to play your locally stored files through Spotify anymore, this can be a small price to pay to alleviate the lag it causes. Additionally, you can always try to reinstall Spotify as another attempt to fix this problem. If that works, you should be able to enable the ‘Show Local Files’ feature again.

 

4. Update Spotify.

Having an outdated version of Spotify on your computer can lead to problems, like being slow. Furthermore, since Spotify relies on streaming to make its features work seamlessly, having an outdated version can cause compatibility problems.

It’s very important for network-reliant applications to always be up-to-date since these programs can’t run completely on its own. You will need an internet connection to update Spotify, but this shouldn’t take too much off your bandwidth.

Here’s how you can update Spotify:

  1. Start by opening up the Spotify app.
  2. From there, click on the V icon at the top-right corner of your screen.

fix slow spotify on mac or windows

  1. Now, if an update is available, there should be an Update Available. Restart now option. Simply click this to begin the update.
  2. Just go through all the prompts to finish the update. This will install the latest version of Spotify on your computer.
 

5. Pre-set Your Cache Files Size.

While this isn’t necessarily a fix perse, doing this method will help prevent any future cases of lag reoccurring from Spotify. Cache files can be incredibly useful since the purpose of these files store temporary but versatile information.

However, sometimes these files can increase in size, which both loses its efficiency and can be taxing on the memory of your computer. One of the steps above was dedicated to clearing the cache, while this step will deliberately limit the size of future cache files.

Here’s how you can pre-set your cache files size on Windows:

  1. Go ahead and open up the Run dialog box, do so by pressing Windows key + R simultaneously. You can also open up the Start menu and search for ‘Run’ and open it up from there.
  2. Once that dialog box is open, type in ‘%appdata%’ and press Enter.

fix slow spotify on mac or windows

  1. You should be redirected to a folder with a list of files. Look for and navigate to the Spotify folder.
  2. Once you’re there, find the prefs file and right-click this. Select Open with. A list of apps should be on your screen, select the Notepad app.
  3. Finally, copy and paste the following command into the file, then save your work and exit Notepad.

storage.size=1024

With that, your cache files should now be restricted to a maximum 1-gigabyte file size. This will eliminate any future instances where you come back to a cache file that’s gigabytes big.

Now that you’ve reached the end of this article, we hope to have helped you fix slow Spotify on Mac or Windows. If you’d like to ask us any questions, you can leave a comment down below or discuss your thoughts with our other readers.

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • Mako Young

    Mako is a staff writer at Saint. He's been writing about tech for more than a decade. When he isn't reading about the latest news on Apple, he's busy studying cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, cloud computing, and other IT-related sectors. His exceptional work graces technology and Apple-related blogs like How-To Geek, VEED.io, Macgasm, onMac, PhotoWorkout, GameRant, and many more. He also has a Bachelors in Computer Science and has been writing since 2018, with over 400 posts published. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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