Spotify is the world’s biggest music streaming platform, offering its users a range of settings and tools to customize their listening experience, even down to the transition between songs.
‘Crossfade’ is a setting that determines whether your music will transition from song to song with a short gap between each (as would be the case with conventional records or CDs, and as is the default setting), or whether the two songs will fade into each other.
‘Crossfade’ slowly and smoothly fades you out from one song, whilst fading the next song in your queue, playlist, or album in at the same time. The effect is a gentle transition between songs.
You can determine the length of this transition by moving the crossfade slider in your Spotify settings. A 12-second crossfade will begin 6 seconds from the end of the first song and finish 6 seconds into the next song. A 2-second crossfade will begin 1 second before the end of the first song and finish 1 second into the next song.
You can apply crossfade to your listening experience via the Settings menu in Spotify. To learn how to do so, follow our tutorial for desktop and mobile/tablet devices below. For all other information, see our FAQs at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
How to crossfade on Spotify (mobile/tablet)
- Open the Spotify app on your device, and sign into your profile if necessary
- From the homepage of Spotify, tap the gear-shaped icon in the top-right of the app to take you to your ‘Settings’
- Scroll down to the Settings subheading ‘Playback’, and below this locate ‘Crossfade’
- To turn Crossfade ON, simply tap and drag the slider below ‘crossfade’ to the right
- Position the crossfade slider as per the length of crossfade you’d like to apply between songs. Your options range from 1s to 12s.
- Exit out of ‘Settings’ to apply your changes
How to crossfade on Spotify (desktop)
- Open the Spotify app on your desktop device, and sign into your profile if necessary
- From the homepage of Spotify, click your Profile name/icon in the top-right of the app, and from the drop-down menu, select ‘Settings’
- Scroll to the bottom of ‘Settings’ and click ‘Show Advanced Settings’
- Scroll a little further down, until you locate ‘Crossfade’ beneath ‘Playback’
- To turn Crossfade ON, toggle the greyed-out button to the right of the option: click on it and it should turn green, signifying crossfade is ON
- Now that crossfade is ON, a slider should appear beside this setting, allowing you to customise the length of the crossfade between songs.
- Drag the slider to the left to shorten the crossfade
- Drag the slider to the right to lengthen the crossfade
- You can choose a length from 1s to 12s
- Drag the slider to the left to shorten the crossfade
- Exit out of ‘Settings’ to apply your changes
And there you have it! That’s all there is to crossfading. We’ve told you all about what it is and how you can use it, but if you’d like to read up on why you might use it, or how to turn it off, then check out our FAQs below.
FAQs
Why would I want to activate crossfade on Spotify?
Crossfade, as we described above, is a setting that transitions you smoothly from the end of one song into the beginning of the next. Whilst by no means necessary, it can be a really effective tool to employ for a number of reasons.
If you’ve ever been to a nightclub or to see a DJ perform, then you’ll probably have noticed that there’s not always a gap of silence in between each song. In fact, usually, the song merges with another as it’s ending.
The reason for this is that it allows you to keep your energies going, without creating a lull in the atmosphere. This is, of course, especially useful for the purposes of a club DJ that wants to keep people dancing.
For the everyday Spotify user, the effect is similar. Crossfade makes your listening experience on a long, continual, smooth journey from song to song. It can make two songs sound really nice together, by blending one’s outro with another’s intro. Moreover, it’s the perfect tool to use at parties, for the same reason as crossfade is used by club DJs (as described above).
What difference does the crossfade slider make on Spotify?
The crossfade slider allows you to customize how long the crossfade between songs is. The longer the crossfade, the sooner one song begins fading into the other, and the longer it is before the next song is heard on its own. The slider is also how you turn crossfade on and off, on smartphone devices.
The longest crossfade on Spotify is 12 seconds, meaning that the fade takes up the last 6 seconds of one song, and the first 6 seconds of the next. The shortest crossfade is simply 1 second. Play around with these various crossfade settings and listen to some tunes to help you work out which length of crossfade works for you.
Can I turn crossfade off on Spotify?
Of course! By default, crossfade is already off on Spotify. However, if you previously turned it on, and would like to now turn it back off, you can do so quite easily. On smartphone devices, simply return to the Settings, and slide the crossfade slider all the way to the left, until it reads ‘OFF’. On the desktop Spotify app, go to Settings, then Advanced Settings, and simply toggle crossfade off by left-clicking the green toggle next to it.
If I turn crossfade on/off on one device, does it apply across all of my Spotify-linked devices?
No, unfortunately not. In true Spotify fashion, the settings you apply to your listening experience on one of your linked devices are not replicated on your other devices. This is frustrating in some senses, but also gives you greater control over your listening experiences in another sense. If you wish to synchronize your settings, you’ll have to manually ensure that your crossfade settings are made the same across all of your devices.
What’s the best length of crossfade?
The answer to this depends purely on the user’s taste. Some people really enjoy a long, 12-second crossfade, whilst others think a crossfade takes away from the listening experience intended by the original artist(s).
Whilst a short, 1-second crossfade may make an album run smoothly from start to finish, others may argue that the gaps in-between songs were placed there intentionally, by artists who wanted you to experience a break.
Ultimately, the ‘best length’ for a crossfade is up to you. Experiment with the setting, and have fun!
