Where is my downloaded music from Google?

Google Play Music allows users to download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening. This can be incredibly useful in situations where internet connectivity is poor or unavailable, like when traveling, commuting on the subway, or being in remote areas without strong cell service.

By downloading music ahead of time, Google Play Music users can continue enjoying their favorite songs and playlists even without an internet connection. This provides uninterrupted music listening no matter where you are. Downloaded music also saves on mobile data usage for those with limited data plans.

Locating Downloaded Music Files

When you download music from Google Play Music on Android, the files are saved in the Music folder on your device’s internal storage by default. The typical location is:

Internal Storage/Music/

If you’ve added external storage like an SD card to your device, the Music folder may be located there instead. You can check the “On Device” section in the Google Play Music app to see the path where your downloaded music is being saved.

On iOS devices, any music downloaded from Google Play Music will be saved to the Files app. Open Files and go to On My iPhone > Play Music to access the downloads. The folder path will typically be:

On My iPhone/Play Music/

Knowing the default locations where Google Play Music stores downloaded songs makes it easier to find, manage and play your offline music collection.

Playing Downloaded Music

Even without an internet connection, users can still access and play music they’ve downloaded through the Google Play Music app. To save music for offline listening, simply tap the download icon next to any song, album or playlist. This will download the content to your device so you can listen offline.

Once songs are downloaded, open the Google Play Music app and select the “Downloads” section. Here you will find all your downloaded content that you can play back without needing an internet connection. The downloads will remain on your device until you delete them.

You can also download radio stations and playlists for offline listening. To do this, tap the download icon next to a station or playlist. The entire playlist will be downloaded to your device. According to Google Support, you can store up to 50,000 songs for offline listening ¹.

So with Google Play Music, your music library is available at your fingertips, even without an internet connection. Just remember to download content beforehand by tapping the download icon, and you’ll be able to listen offline through the Downloads section.

Downloading Music to a Computer

Google Play Music allows you to download purchased or uploaded music to a computer for backup or offline listening through the Google Play Music Manager software. Here’s how to download your music library:

Visit music.google.com and sign into your Google account.
Click on the Settings icon and select “Download Music.”

Click on “Download Music Manager.” This will start downloading the Music Manager installation file.
Once downloaded, open the file and follow the prompts to install Music Manager.
Sign into Music Manager using your Google account. This will sync your Google Play Music library to the app.

Select the music you want to download by clicking the checkbox next to each album/song.
Click the “Download” button to save your selected music to your computer. It will save to the default Music folder unless you customize the download location.

The downloaded songs can now be played directly from your computer without an internet connection. The Music Manager app runs in the background to monitor for changes and automatically upload any new music you add to your library. You can also configure it to automatically download new purchases to your computer.

Downloading Playlists for Offline Listening

One convenient feature of Google Play Music is the ability to download entire playlists for offline listening instead of having to download songs individually. This allows you to listen to the playlist anytime without an internet connection.

To download a full playlist for offline use, open the Google Play Music app and select the playlist you want to download. Tap the three dot menu icon next to the playlist name, then select “Add to offline.” This will download all of the songs in that playlist to your device storage. You’ll see a download icon next to each track as it saves for offline listening.

The total amount of storage space used by your offline music is shown at the bottom of the Downloads section. If you need to free up space, you can tap “Remove downloads” to delete any downloaded playlists.

According to Google’s support article, playlists containing under 100 songs will download automatically when you select “Add to offline.” For larger playlists, you’ll need to manually select “Download” next to each album or playlist to save the songs.

Downloading full playlists instead of individual tracks makes it quick and easy to save your favorite playlists for listening anywhere without using mobile data or WiFi. Just tap “Downloads” and you’ll see all your offline playlists ready to play.

Re-Downloading Music

If a user gets a new device and needs to re-download their purchased music library from Google Play Music, they have a few options. According to an article on 9to5Google, users can re-download their entire Google Play Music library using Google Takeout (https://9to5google.com/2021/03/17/google-play-music-download/). This allows them to download all of their purchased music as MP3 files. Then they can transfer the files to the new device.

There does not appear to be a limit on how many times a user can re-download their purchased music library. As long as the user still has access to their Google account that was used to purchase the music, they should be able to download their library repeatedly if getting new devices. However, there may be limits on how many times an individual song or album can be downloaded as DRM-protected files for direct playback in the music apps. But using Google Takeout to download the raw MP3 files avoids any of those limits.

So in summary, users with purchased Google Play Music can reliably re-download their entire library to any new device an unlimited number of times using Google Takeout to retrieve the DRM-free MP3 files.

Downloading Limitations

Google Play Music does have some limits on how many times a song or album can be downloaded. According to Wikipedia, there is a limit of 50,000 songs that can be uploaded to Google Play Music in total across all devices [1]. This provides plenty of space for most users’ music libraries.

In terms of downloading to multiple devices, there is no definitive limit. Users report being able to download songs to many different devices as long as there is storage space available. However, there have been some reports of problems downloading to more than 10 devices [2]. So while there is no set limit, downloading to a very large number of devices may cause issues.

Overall, the 50,000 song total upload limit provides reasonable space for most users. And downloading to a reasonable number of devices, around 10, should not cause problems. But users with extremely large libraries or many devices may run into limits.

Downloading Music Quality

Google Play Music allows users to download music for offline listening in either standard quality (128 kbps) or high quality (up to 320 kbps). The default setting is standard quality, which provides smaller file sizes suitable for most mobile devices. High quality downloads offer improved audio quality with larger file sizes, which is preferable for listening on high-end audio systems or if storage space is not a concern.

To change the default download quality in Google Play Music, open the app settings and select “Download quality”. Here you can choose between always downloading in high quality or only on WiFi to avoid large mobile data usage. Any previously downloaded songs will need to be re-downloaded to get the high quality versions.

The high quality setting is recommended for listeners who value audio quality over storage space. Standard quality provides sufficient audio fidelity for casual listening on smartphones and Bluetooth speakers. With Google Play Music downloads taking up device storage, it’s best to choose the optimal quality based on how and where you listen to the offline music.

Source: Google Play Music download quality file size

Using Downloaded Music in Other Apps

While the music you download through Google’s music apps are intended for playback within those apps, there are some limited ways to access the downloaded files in other apps on your device.

On Android devices, downloaded music files cannot directly be accessed by other apps, as they are stored in an encrypted folder private to the Google Play Music app. However, there are some third party apps like VLC media player that can play back music stored in Google Play Music’s cache through specific plugins.

On iOS, it is possible to save downloaded Google Play Music songs to the native Music app library. This allows you to then use the songs as ringtones or alerts sounds if desired. To save a downloaded song, open Google Play Music, tap the three dots next to the song, choose Add to Apple Music Library, and then access the song through the Music app.

So while options are limited, both Android and iOS devices do have some ability to use downloaded Google Play music files outside of the main Google Play Music app, with iOS allowing more direct access through Apple’s native Music library.

Conclusion

Downloading music from Google Play Music for offline listening gives you access to your music library anywhere, even without an internet connection. By default, downloaded music files are saved in a hidden folder on your computer or Android device. You can locate these files by going to the Download Manager in Settings. On desktop, your downloads folder is located in a hidden folder under My Music. On mobile, go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > Advanced > Download Manager.

Playlists and albums you download for offline listening will appear in the Downloads section of the Google Play Music app. You can listen to and delete downloaded music directly within the app. Keep in mind downloaded songs have a time limit and need to be renewed periodically. Overall, downloading music from Google Play Music makes it easy to take your music library offline, while keeping it organized and accessible.