Download Tracks

This page documents all the available ways for downloading tracks.

Download a Track

You can download single tracks using the –song argument. Here’s what all parameters can be passed to –song.

Download by Name

For example:

  • We want to download Fade by Alan Walker, run the command:

    $ spotdl --song "alan walker fade"

  • The tool will automatically look for the best matching song and download it in the current working directory.

  • It will also encode the track to an mp3 while it is being downloaded.

  • Once it has both been downloaded and encoded, it will proceed to write metadata on this track.

Tip

The –song parameter can also accept multiple tracks like so:

$ spotdl --song "alan walker fade" "tobu candyland"

Download by Spotify URI

Important

It is recommened to use Spotify URIs for downloading tracks as it guarantees that the track exists on Spotify which allows the tool to always fetch the accurate metadata.

For example:

  • We want to download the same song (i.e: Fade by Alan Walker) but using Spotify URI this time that looks like https://open.spotify.com/track/2lfPecqFbH8X4lHSpTxt8l.

Hint

You can copy this URI from your Spotify desktop or mobile app by right clicking or long tap on the song and copy HTTP link.

  • Then run this command:

    $ spotdl --song https://open.spotify.com/track/2lfPecqFbH8X4lHSpTxt8l

  • Just like before, the track will be both downloaded and encoded, but since we used the Spotify URI this time, the tool is guaranteed to fetch the correct metadata.

Download from File

You can also pass a file filled with tracks to the tool for download. This allows for some features not available with passing multiple tracks to –song argument.

For example:

  • We want to download Fade by Alan Walker, Sky High by Elektromania and Fire by Elektromania just using a single command.

  • Let’s suppose, we have the Spotify link for only Fade by Alan Walker and Fire by Elektromania.

  • Make a list.txt anywhere on your drive and add all the songs you want to download, in our case they are:

    https://open.spotify.com/track/2lfPecqFbH8X4lHSpTxt8l
elektromania sky high
https://open.spotify.com/track/0fbspWuEdaaT9vfmbAZr1C

  • Now pass –list=/path/to/list.txt to the script, i.e:

    $ spotdl --list=/path/to/list.txt

    and it will start downloading songs mentioned in list.txt.

  • The tool will remove the track from the list file once it gets downloaded, and then continue to the next track.

Note

Songs that are already downloaded will prompt you to overwrite or skip. This default behaviour can be changed by passing one of –overwrite {prompt,skip,force}.

Tip

In case you accidentally interrupt the download, you can always re-launch the same command back and the script will continue downloading the tracks from where it left off.

Download Playlists and Albums

For downloading playlists or albums, you need to first load all the tracks into a file and then pass this file to the tool for download.

Download by Playlist URI

  • You can copy the Spotify URI of the playlist and pass it in –playlist argument.

Note

This method works for both public as well as private playlists.

For example:

  • To download the playlist https://open.spotify.com/user/nocopyrightsounds/playlist/7sZbq8QGyMnhKPcLJvCUFD, run the command:

    $ spotdl --playlist https://open.spotify.com/user/nocopyrightsounds/playlist/7sZbq8QGyMnhKPcLJvCUFD

  • This will load all the tracks from the playlist into <playlist_name>.txt.

  • Now run the command:

    $ spotdl --list=<playlist_name>.txt

    to download all the tracks (see #download-from-file for more info).

Tip

By default, the tracks are written to <playlist_name>.txt. You can specify a custom target file by passing –write-to <filename.txt>.

Download by Album URI

  • You can copy the Spotify URI of the album and pass it in –album argument.

For example:

  • To download the album https://open.spotify.com/album/499J8bIsEnU7DSrosFDJJg, run the command:

    $ spotdl --album https://open.spotify.com/album/499J8bIsEnU7DSrosFDJJg

  • The script will load all the tracks from the album into <album_name>.txt.

  • Now run the command:

    $ spotdl --list=<album_name>.txt

    to download all the tracks (see #download-from-file for more info).

Download by Username

  • You can also load songs using Spotify username if you don’t have the playlist URL.

Hint

If you don’t know the Spotify username. Open the user’s profile in Spotify, click on the three little dots below name -> Share -> Copy to clipboard. Now you’ll have something like this in your clipboard: https://open.spotify.com/user/12345abcde. The last numbers or text is the username.

  • Run the command:

    $ spotdl -u <your_username>

  • Once you select the one you want to download, the script will load all the tracks from the playlist into <playlist_name>.txt.

  • Now run the command:

    $ spotdl --list=<playlist_name>.txt

    to download all the tracks (see #download-from-file for more info).

Note

When using the username to display the playlists, only public playlists will be delivered. Collaborative and private playlists will not be delivered.

Download by Artist URI

  • You can copy the Spotify URI of the artist and pass it in –all-albums argument.

For example:

  • To download all albums of the artist https://open.spotify.com/artist/1feoGrmmD8QmNqtK2Gdwy8, run the command:

    $ spotdl --all-albums https://open.spotify.com/artist/1feoGrmmD8QmNqtK2Gdwy8

  • The script will load all the tracks from artist’s available albums into <artist_name>.txt

  • Now run the command:

    $ spotdl --list=<artist_name>.txt

    to download all the tracks (see #download-from-file for more info).