{"success":true,"data":{"id":"fb7afa89-5694-4dc1-a036-d8feb16262aa","title":"How to Disable Music Videos in Spotify","summary":"Privacy Center Currently, only residents from GDPR countries and certain US states can opt out of Tracking Technologies through our Consent Management Platform. Additional options regarding these technologies may be available on your device, browser, or through industry options like AdChoices.","content":"Privacy Center\n\nCurrently, only residents from GDPR countries and certain US states can opt out of Tracking Technologies through our Consent Management Platform. Additional options regarding these technologies may be available on your device, browser, or through industry options like AdChoices. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.\n\nSocial Media\n\n- [x] On\n\nThese cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. 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You can refuse the use of this cookie by switching off the slider to the right.\n\nOK\n\nEnglish Deutsch Español Français Italiano 日本語 繁體中文\n\nen\n\nMore\n\n# How to Disable Music Videos in Spotify\n\nA recent update made video playback the default for songs and podcasts with a visual component. If you just want to listen to music—and save your data and battery—follow these tips.\n\nPhoto-Illustration: Wired Staff; Getty Images\n\nComments Save this story\n\nSpotify, it’s fair to say, has made some weird user-experience choices.\n\nThere are a number of panels in the app, and the layout is confusing. The service [constantly tracks](https://www.wired.com/story/spotify-tracking-how-to-stop-it/) your activity. The app also seems to have an odd [hostility to playing actual albums](https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-get-spotify-to-play-whole-albums/). This all works to create a general feeling that [Spotify’s](https://www.wired.com/tag/spotify/) designers are trying to push you into using the service in a particular way.\n\nIt’s understandable, then, that some people are annoyed with the way music videos have been added to the platform. For the most part, they would start to play by default, in the background, whenever an artist had uploaded a video for the song. Some music videos have very different audio from the original tracks, particularly if they include sketches or sound effects, which can prove distracting if you prefer the album version of the song. And even if you enjoy music videos (which I do), the decision to have videos play by default—using up bandwidth and battery power—upset a lot of people.\n\nThere are a few other quirks. On Spotify’s desktop app, the videos are barely visible; they stay contained in the tiny album art panel until you manage to find the hidden, extremely small Now playing button that enlarges them. Also, the selection of videos that are on the platform, and the ones that are mysteriously absent, seems totally random. Because of this, I check YouTube first when I really want to watch a music video.\n\nFeatured Video\n\nThe most annoying thing, though, had been a lack of any obvious way to disable all videos. [That changed recently](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2026-04-09/video-control-settings-update/)—there’s now a toggle in the settings to disable music videos in Spotify entirely, alongside controls that disable the Canvas feature (animated album art) and video podcasts.\n\nOn mobile you can do this by tapping your user profile icon in the top-left to bring up the side panel. Then tap **Settings and privacy**, followed by **Content and display**.\n\nPhotograph: Justin Pot\n\nIn the **Videos and Canvas** section you will see three toggles: one for music videos, one for Canvas, and one for all other videos. This last toggle disables video podcasts, meaning you’ll get the audio-only version of podcasts instead. Turn all these off, and Spotify will use a lot less bandwidth.\n\nOn the desktop app, it’s a little different. Click your user profile icon in the top-right corner, then click **Settings**. Scroll down to the **Videos and Canvas** section to find the options to disable music videos and Canvas.\n\nI tested this and it worked. The music video icon in playlists and albums disappeared, as did the collection of music videos on Artist pages. The only remnant of the disabled feature is a Switch to video button in the Now Playing sidebar, which appears below the album art. Click it and you’ll be told the video can’t play unless you turn videos back on in the settings. Odd, for sure, but for the most part turning this off means you don’t have to think about music videos in Spotify anymore.\n\nI sincerely wish that Spotify would roll out music videos with more care. Sometimes I really do want to see a video—just not every time I play a track. Playlists of music videos might be welcome if they ran separately from the audio-only playlists. I just don’t want to get a music video when I’m looking for the album version of a song, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. 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WIRED: For Future Reference.","source_name":"WIRED","source_url":"https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-disable-all-the-music-videos-in-spotify/","url":"https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-disable-all-the-music-videos-in-spotify/","author":"Justin Pot","author_name":"Justin Pot","published_at":"2026-07-19T11:00:00.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-19T11:00:00.000Z","image_url":"https://media.wired.com/photos/6a589941063549554fcc0b79/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/SpotifyVids.jpg","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":9,"word_count":1775,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot","language":null}}