Where Does the Spotify Desktop App Store Its Cache?
Spotify's local cache and offline-download storage location on Windows and macOS, and why you can't just grab the files and play them elsewhere.
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Spotify keeps a local streaming cache to avoid re-downloading songs you play often, plus a separate encrypted store for tracks you've explicitly downloaded for offline listening.
Both are worth knowing about if Spotify's storage use is growing unexpectedly, but the offline files themselves are DRM-protected and encrypted, so copying them out and expecting a playable MP3 or similar won't work. Spotify's own Storage setting (Settings > Storage) is the supported way to see and clear this.
Where Spotify stores this, by platform
C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Spotify\Storage
This is the cache/offline storage folder; app settings live separately under AppData\Roaming\Spotify. Exact subfolder names have shifted between Spotify versions.
~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client
macOS keeps Spotify's cache in the standard Caches directory rather than alongside app support files.
Frequently asked questions
Can I move downloaded Spotify songs to another device manually?
No. Offline downloads are encrypted and tied to your account inside the Spotify app. Downloading again on the new device through Spotify itself is the only way.
Is it safe to delete Spotify's cache folder?
Yes. Spotify Settings > Storage > Clear Cache does this safely from inside the app, which is easier than finding the folder yourself and won't touch your offline downloads.
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