How to Download Music for Offline Listening (Spotify and YouTube Music)

Originally published on Tutomod.

Airplane mode, the metro's dead tunnels, or a stingy data plan: offline music fixes them all, and both big services already have the feature built in.

Updated August 08, 2026, after a fresh review, with updated visuals and links.

The setting is oddly easy to miss, so here's exactly where it lives on each app.

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What you'll need

Spotify Premium or YouTube Music Premium (offline is the paying feature in both)
WiFi for the download itself

Here's how it works

Spotify: download a playlist. Open any playlist or album and flip the Download switch at the top (the arrow turns green when it's done). Do this for your daily rotation on WiFi at home.
Spotify: check your downloads. Your Library, filter by Downloaded. If it's not there, it won't play without internet, a good pre-flight checklist item.
- Songs land on phone storage, keep an eye on space
- Re-downloads happen automatically when the app notices missing files
YouTube Music: downloads and Smart Downloads. On any album or playlist tap the download arrow. Better: Library, Downloads, and enable Smart Downloads, which refreshes music automatically from what you actually play, an offline collection that maintains itself.
Test before travel day. Switch the phone to airplane mode and press play. Anything not downloaded skips silently, better to discover that on the sofa than at the gate.
Keep offline files happy. Both apps ask you to connect to the internet at least once every 30 days or downloaded songs pause until you do. An anti-piracy handshake worth knowing about before that long trip.

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A few things worth knowing

Set download quality: Medium sounds identical through most earbuds and halves the storage.
Downloading over mobile data is possible in settings both apps, but let WiFi earn its keep for gigs of albums.
Podcasts download too, same screens, ideal for flights.

Pitfalls worth skipping

Offline downloads are rented, not owned: cancel Premium and the files stop playing. They're encrypted for the app, not MP3s you can move around.
Running low on storage and then downloading a festival length pregame playlist is how 'storage full' interrupts your night out.