Since Spotify encrypts its music delivery due to DRM protection, listeners are unable to play the songs outside the app, modify or transfer Spotify songs. That's why people want to remove DRM from Spotify music to have flexible playback or further processing. For more information, let's take a look below.
Differences in Playback and Other Usage
Audio downloaded on Spotify are cache files and can only be recognized by the Spotify app. Every time you move them to other devices for playback or import them to an audio editor like WavePad for editing, it disappoints you with errors. But after converting them to MP3, you can play them or edit them easily and flexibly.
Spotify Format and Quality
Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis audio format for music streaming encoded in AAC, which ensures a smaller file size and better audio quality. That means it can provide a better streaming experience even if the internet is dodgy.
It delivers different audio quality for free users and premium users. Also, it may vary from where your stream Spotify music. Meanwhile, you should note that the higher bitrate and sample rate are, the better the sound quality will be.
● For Spotify free listeners, the highest quality is at AAC 128kbps on a web player and 160kbps on its app.
● For Spotify premium listeners, the highest quality goes up to AAC 256kbps on a web player and 320kbps on the app.
Compared to MP3, OGG Vorbis offers slightly better compression than MP3 and better sound quality at the same bitrate.
Where Does Spotify Download Music to?
The locations vary from device to device as follows. Even if you find out the downloads, they are totally DRM-protected and cannot be played outside the Spotify app.
● For Windows PC, the location is C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Local\Spotify\Storage.
● For macOS, Spotify music will be saved in /Users/ username/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache/Storage.
● For Android, go to this directory: Android/data/com.spotify.mobile.android.ui/files/spotifycache/Storage/.
● For iOS, the downloaded Spotify music is encrypted and hidden.
However, even though you find the downloaded files, you can't directly convert them with common format file converters because they are encrypted. So, the problem here is how to decrypt Spotify songs without quality loss. In this case, you should find a way to convert Ogg Vorbis to MP3 and then enjoy DRM-free playback of Spotify music. To keep the highest quality, TuneFab Spotify Music Converter works like a charm to retain the original quality of up to 320kbps.