How to Fix The Spotify Desktop App Slow Issue

I know a majority of people that work on a PC/laptop use the Spotify desktop app to ease their minds while working. Even I use it. However, at times I would observe that the PC version app slows down. I mean the song will open but won’t play immediately. Opening a playlist will take a few seconds. The song may stutter or pause in between even though I have not paused it.

I must share that this issue doesn’t happen all the time. This issue may happen due to the incorrect installation of the Spotify desktop app. Again, the internet connectivity issue is a major culprit that causes the app to become sluggish. Now, I tried a few workarounds to fix this issue and that worked just fine. So, I will share the same with you in this guide.

Fix The Spotify Desktop App Slow Issue

Let us begin with the troubleshooting.

Memory on Your PC may be Insufficient

If your PC has less overall RAM and other programs are well-utilizing the memory then you may face a memory shortage issue. So, the Spotify app won’t be able to make use of enough memory to properly work. Hence, you have to free up memory.

  • In the Type Here to Search Box type Task manager
  • Click on Open
    Open Task manager
  • Go to the Processes tab and check for those apps/services that are consuming a high amount of memory
  • click on those apps to select them and then click End Task
    end tasks in Task Manager to fix the issue of slow Spotify desktop app

After that try to use Spotify and see if it runs smoothly.

Try to Disable Hardware Acceleration

The hardware acceleration feature is there to smoothen up the process of the running of an app making it more efficient in its performance. However, it may also cause the apps to slow down or become unresponsive. Disabling the hardware acceleration can help run the Spotify desktop app smoothly.

  • Open Spotify desktop app
  • Then on the top-left corner click the 3-dot button
  • A menu will expand from which navigate to Edit
  • Again one more menu will expand from which click on Preferences
    Open Spotify Preferences and Settings
  • Otherwise, you can directly press Ctrl+ P to open the Settings page
  • Scroll down the Settings page to go to the Advanced Settings option. Click to expand that
    Spotify advanced Settings
  • Then navigate to the option Enable Hardware Acceleration. Click on the toggle beside it to disable it [the toggle will grey out]
    disable hardware acceleration if Spotify desktop app is slow

Clear Storage and Data Contents of Spotify

You can consider this as the similar action we take in our smartphone to clear the data and storage cache. The only difference here is, we are going to do this on our Spotify desktop app.

  • First, close the Spotify app
  • Then go to that folder on your PC where the Spotify setup folder is present
  • Usually, this is the path
    C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Spotify\
  • Make sure to have the administrator access in-order use this troubleshooting method
  • The App Data may be there as a hidden folder. So, in the menu bat under the File option check the box Hidden Items.
  • Then under the Spotify folder, you should see Storage, Data, and Browser folders.
  • Only delete the files inside these folders. Delete all files
  • However, keep in mind that DO NOT delete these folders

This will clear all the junk files and temporary files of the Spotify app. Then you will be able to smoothly run the app on your desktop.

Reinstall Spotify Desktop App

This is the last resort that you can carry out and reinstall the Spotify desktop app if every other troubleshooting method I have mentioned above did not work for you. To reinstall you have to uninstall the app first.

  • In the Type Here to Search box type Spotify
  • Click Uninstall

To reinstall visit the official website of Spotify. Then depending on whether you use Mac or Windows PC download the appropriate client of Spotify. The setup file will download and you have to click on it to install it.

So, that’s all about how to fix if the Spotify desktop app is getting slower on your computer. Just try any one of these above-mentioned methods and this issue will be solved for good.

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