Unfortunately, there is no native way to import a playlist to Spotify. In fact, aside from meticulously copying the tracklist and order of a playlist from off-app into your Spotify Library, there’s no quick way to go about importing a playlist without resorting to third-party software.
Nevertheless, there are two excellent and free third-party programs that you can use to import playlists to Spotify. A little more hassle than if Spotify had a native tool, but at the end of the day, just as effective.
To learn how to use Soundiiz and Playlist Converter to import playlists to Spotify, simply follow our step-by-step guides below. For all other information, see our FAQ section at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
How to import a playlist to Spotify (Soundiiz)
You can use Soundiiz on any OS computer.
- First, you need to export your playlist as an M3U file from whatever program you made it on (unless that program is supported for playlist transfer by Soundiiz already – see the last question of the FAQs for a list of supported programs).
- Open your preferred web browser (preferably on a desktop) and navigate to the Soundiiz website
- Sign up to Soundiiz, or log in using your existing credentials
- From the homepage, select ‘Playlists’
- Next, select ‘Import Playlist’, and then choose ‘From File’
- Locate your playlist M3U file from your File Explorer on your computer and double-click it
- Now, follow the on-screen instructions to import this playlist file into Spotify
- Note: with the free version of Soundiiz you can only import one playlist at a time, and only playlists with fewer than 200 songs in them. The premium version costs $3 per month.
How to import a playlist to Spotify (Playlist Converter)
You can only use Soundiiz on Windows computers.
- First, you need to export your playlist as a PLS file from whatever program you made it on (unless that program is supported for playlist transfer by Playlist Converter already – see the last question of the FAQs for a list of supported programs
- Download the Playlist Converter app from the Microsoft Windows store and open it once installed
- Follow the on-screen instructions to connect Playlist Converter with your Spotify account
- Next, locate and click on ‘Import’
- Choose ‘PLS’ file type and choose your file
- Click ‘Convert’ and wait until the ad screen goes away (once conversion is finished)
- Now, select which version of each song you wish to be included in your playlist (given there may be many different versions of the same song streamed on Spotify)
- Follow on-screen instructions to finalise the import process.
And there you have it! If you’re looking to import playlists to Spotify from other streaming services for free, then you can’t do much better than using either Soundiiz or Playlist Converter.
If you have any further questions, see our FAQs below.
FAQs
Why is there no native way to import a playlist to Spotify?
Spotify, the world’s leading music streaming platform, presents its users with a wide variety of tools and custom features designed to enhance the user’s experience. Unfortunately, however, these features do not extend to importing your own playlists from outside Spotify.
It may at one point have been a feature of the streaming service, but today there is simply no native way to import playlists to Spotify. It’s hard to say exactly why there’s no native tool for this. It’s likely that Spotify is simply trying to keep their user’s experience on-app, instead of promoting other music apps on which you might build a playlist, in any way.
It’s equally possible that Spotify’s team has concerns about the safety and security of the Spotify app if they opened it up for users to import playlist files from off-app. Doing so might put them at risk of malware being imported, for example.
Thankfully, whilst you cannot natively import playlists to Spotify, there are still ways to do so. Just follow our step-by-step tutorials to find out how.
Can you export playlists from Spotify?
Just like being unable to import playlists to Spotify, there are also no native ways to export your Spotify playlists off-app. Instead, all you can really do is make notes of the songs on your playlists and then compile them elsewhere. Nevertheless, there are third-party apps (like those we’ve highlighted above) which you can use to serve the purpose of exporting playlists.
What’s the best tool to use to import your playlists to Spotify?
The answer to this question depends on the device you’re using and your personal preferences. In our opinion, Playlist Converter is the best tool for the job, especially trustworthy since it’s available directly through the Windows store. However, many users report problems with the program not recognizing M3U playlist files, and so you need to export playlists as PLS files instead.
To avoid this issue, or if you don’t have access to a Windows computer (but use a Mac or something else, instead), then of course the ‘best tool’ for importing playlists is going to be the other program we recommend: Soundiiz.
Whilst Playlist Converter lets you choose which specific version of the song you want Spotify to include in your new Spotify playlist, Soundiiz just chooses the most popular version, which may lead to some frustration with the latter.
Why would I want to import a playlist to Spotify?
Which leaves us with the question: why would I want to import a playlist to Spotify, anyway? Well, whilst lots of people use Spotify as their one and only music streaming platform, there are plenty of other users who use Spotify as only one platform among many. Perhaps you have an old iTunes with lots of playlists you’d like to have available on Spotify as well, for example.
Perhaps a friend or partner has sent you a playlist file, but doesn’t use Spotify and so can’t just make it and share it with you there. In a situation like this, you’d want to be able to import a playlist to Spotify so that you can enjoy the music contained therein on the platform, alongside all of your other Spotify-favorited tracks.
Which streaming services can I transfer my playlists to Spotify from?
With Soundiiz, you can import playlists to Spotify from Apple Music, YouTube Music, Last.fm, Deezer, Telmore Musik, JOOX, Anghami, and KKBox.
With Playlist Converter, you can import playlists to Spotify from Deezer, YouTube and Napster.
