spotify-ripper is a small ripper program for Spotify that rips Spotify URIs to audio files with metadata and cover art. By default spotify-ripper will encode to MP3 files, but includes the ability to rip to WAV, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, and MP4/M4A.
Note that stream ripping violates Spotify's ToS
spotify-ripper logs in over Zeroconf / Spotify Connect. To pair the ripper with your account, run it once with --login:
spotify-ripper --login
This advertises the ripper as a Spotify Connect device on your local network. Open the official Spotify app (desktop or phone, logged into your account, on the same network), open the device/speaker picker, and select spotify-ripper. The reusable credentials are then saved to ~/.config/spotify-ripper/credentials.json and used automatically on every later run — you only need to do this once (until the credentials are revoked or expire).
A few notes:
- A Spotify Premium account is required to download the 320 kbps stream; free accounts are limited to 160 kbps and the ripper falls back automatically.
- Track, album, artist and playlist metadata (and cover art and genres) are fetched over the Spotify protocol. Ripping is done by track / album / playlist / artist URL or URI.
- Downloads the native Ogg Vorbis stream from Spotify and transcodes to other formats with ffmpeg
- Writes ID3v2/metadata tags (including album covers)
- Rips files into the following directory structure:
artist/album/artist - song.mp3by default or optionally into a user-specified structure (seeFormat String_ section below) - Option to skip or overwrite existing files
- Accepts tracks, playlists, albums, and artist URIs
- One-time Zeroconf pairing with the official Spotify app; reusable credentials stored for later runs
- Globally installs ripper using pip3
- Use a config file to specify common command-line options
- Helpful progress bar to gauge the time remaining until completion
- Keep local files in sync with a Spotify playlist, m3u and wpl playlist file
- Option to rip to ALAC/FLAC/AIFF (loseless codecs) or Ogg Vorbis, Opus and MP4/M4A instead of MP3
- Option to replace output filenames
- Option to normalize output filenames to NFKD (see http://unicode.org/faq/normalization.html)
Please note: Spotify’s highest quality setting is 320 kbps, so the benefit of ripping to a lossless format is to not double encode the audio data. It’s not possible to rip in true lossless quality.
You can rip songs, albums, playlists and artists, passing either the share
URL straight from the Spotify client or the equivalent spotify: URI. Both of
these refer to the same artist and work identically:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zfT626RwO6zN3RDYeRit5
spotify:artist:0zfT626RwO6zN3RDYeRit5
Pass one or more of them on the command line, or put a list of them (one per
line, # for comments) in a text file and pass that file as a download queue.
Nothing else is supported — search, charts and the "liked songs" library are
not available.
An artist URI rips the artist's full discography (all albums, singles and
compilations). Use --artist-album-type to narrow that down, e.g.
--artist-album-type album for studio albums only.
The program takes many command-line options:
usage: spotify-ripper [-h] [--login] [-a] [--aiff | --alac | --flac | --id3-v23 | --pcm | --mp4 | --opus | --wav | --vorbis] [--all-artists]
[--artist-album-type ARTIST_ALBUM_TYPE] [-A] [-b BITRATE] [-c] [--comp COMP]
[--comment COMMENT] [--cover-file COVER_FILE] [--cover-file-and-embed COVER_FILE] [-d DIRECTORY] [--fail-log FAIL_LOG] [-f FORMAT]
[--format-case {upper,lower,capitalize}] [--flat] [--flat-with-index] [-g {artist,album}] [--grouping GROUPING] [--large-cover-art]
[-L LOG] [-na] [-o] [--partial-check {none,weak,strict}] [--playlist-m3u] [--playlist-wpl] [--playlist-sync] [--plus-pcm]
[--plus-wav] [-q VBR] [-Q {160,320,96}] [--keep-offline-cache] [--retries RETRIES] [--delay DELAY] [--resume-after RESUME_AFTER] [-R REPLACE [REPLACE ...]] [-s]
[--stereo-mode {j,s,f,d,m,l,r}] [--stop-after STOP_AFTER] [-V] [--windows-safe]
[uri ...]
Rips Spotify URIs to media files with tags and album covers
positional arguments:
uri One or more Spotify URI(s) (either a URI or a file of URIs)
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--login Pair with Spotify over Zeroconf (select "spotify-ripper" in the device list of the official Spotify app), saving reusable credentials
for later runs
-a, --ascii Convert the file name and the metadata tags to ASCII encoding [Default=utf-8]
--aiff Rip songs to lossless AIFF encoding instead of MP3
--alac Rip songs to Apple Lossless format instead of MP3
--all-artists Store all artists, rather than just the main artist, in the track's metadata tag
--artist-album-type ARTIST_ALBUM_TYPE
Comma-separated album types to include when ripping an artist URI: album, single, compilation, appears_on [Default=album,single,compilation]
-A, --ascii-path-only
Convert the file name (but not the metadata tags) to ASCII encoding [Default=utf-8]
-b, --bitrate BITRATE
CBR bitrate [Default=320]
-c, --cbr CBR encoding [Default=VBR]
--comp COMP compression complexity for FLAC and Opus [Default=Max]
--comment COMMENT Set comment metadata tag to all songs. Can include same tags as --format.
--cover-file COVER_FILE
Save album cover image to file name (e.g "cover.jpg") [Default=embed]
--cover-file-and-embed COVER_FILE
Same as --cover-file but embeds the cover image too
-d, --directory DIRECTORY
Base directory where ripped songs are saved [Default=~/Music]
--fail-log FAIL_LOG Logs the list of track URIs that failed to rip
--flac Rip songs to lossless FLAC encoding instead of MP3
-f, --format FORMAT Save songs using this path and filename structure (see README)
--format-case {upper,lower,capitalize}
Convert all words of the file name to upper-case, lower-case, or capitalized
--flat Save all songs to a single directory (overrides --format option)
--flat-with-index Similar to --flat [-f] but includes the playlist index at the start of the song file
-g, --genres {artist,album}
Attempt to retrieve genre information from Spotify [Default=skip]
--grouping GROUPING Set grouping metadata tag to all songs. Can include same tags as --format.
--id3-v23 Store ID3 tags using version v2.3 [Default=v2.4]
--large-cover-art Attempt to retrieve larger cover art from Spotify [Default=300x300]
-L, --log LOG Log in a log-friendly format to a file (use - to log to stdout)
--pcm Saves a .pcm file with the raw PCM data instead of MP3
--mp4 Rip songs to MP4/M4A format with Fraunhofer FDK AAC codec instead of MP3
-na, --normalized-ascii
Convert the file name to normalized ASCII with unicodedata.normalize (NFKD)
-o, --overwrite Overwrite existing MP3 files [Default=skip]
--opus Rip songs to Opus encoding instead of MP3
--partial-check {none,weak,strict}
Check for and overwrite partially ripped files. "weak" will err on the side of not re-ripping the file if it is unsure, whereas
"strict" will re-rip the file [Default=weak]
--playlist-m3u create a m3u file when ripping a playlist
--playlist-wpl create a wpl file when ripping a playlist
--playlist-sync Sync playlist songs (rename and remove old songs)
--plus-pcm Saves a .pcm file in addition to the encoded file (e.g. mp3)
--plus-wav Saves a .wav file in addition to the encoded file (e.g. mp3)
-q, --vbr VBR VBR quality setting or target bitrate for Opus [Default=0]
-Q, --quality {160,320,96}
Spotify stream bitrate preference (320 requires Premium) [Default=320]
--keep-offline-cache Keep librespot's offline audio cache instead of deleting it after a successful rip [Default=delete]
--retries RETRIES Number of times to retry a track when Spotify rate-limits its audio key [Default=5]
--delay DELAY Seconds to wait between tracks and between retries; raise this if you hit audio-key rate limits [Default=0]
--resume-after RESUME_AFTER
Resumes script after a certain amount of time has passed after stopping (e.g. 1h30m). Alternatively, accepts a specific time in 24hr
format to start after (e.g 03:30, 16:15). Requires --stop-after option to be set
-R, --replace REPLACE [REPLACE ...]
pattern to replace the output filename separated by "/". The following example replaces all spaces with "_" and all "-" with ".":
spotify-ripper --replace " /_" "\-/." uri
-s, --strip-colors Strip coloring from output [Default=colors]
--stereo-mode {j,s,f,d,m,l,r}
Advanced stereo settings for Lame MP3 encoder only
--stop-after STOP_AFTER
Stops script after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g. 1h30m). Alternatively, accepts a specific time in 24hr format to stop
after (e.g 03:30, 16:15)
-V, --version show program's version number and exit
--wav Rip songs to uncompressed WAV file instead of MP3
--windows-safe Make filename safe for Windows file system (truncate filename to 255 characters)
--vorbis Rip songs to native Ogg Vorbis (copied straight from Spotify, no re-encode)
Example usage:
pair with Spotify (once): spotify-ripper --login
rip a single track: spotify-ripper spotify:track:52xaypL0Kjzk0ngwv3oBPR
rip an entire album: spotify-ripper spotify:album:6QaVfG1pHYl1z15ZxkvVDW
rip an entire playlist: spotify-ripper spotify:playlist:4vkGNcsS8lRXj4q945NIA4
rip a list of URIs: spotify-ripper list_of_uris.txt
For options that you want set on every run, spotify-ripper uses a JSON config file at ~/.config/spotify-ripper/config.json (honouring $XDG_CONFIG_HOME). On first run the full default configuration is written there, so you can open it and tweak whatever you like. The keys match the command-line option names with dashes turned into underscores; any option given on the command line overrides the value in the config file.
Here is an example config file:
{
"directory": "~/Music",
"format": "{album_artist}/{album}/{track_num:2} - {track_name}.{ext}",
"quality": "160",
"ascii": true,
"all_artists": true
}The file is always stored pretty-printed; you only need to include the keys you want to change. To regenerate the default configuration, just delete the file and run the tool again.
The format string dictates how spotify-ripper will organize your ripped files. This is controlled through the -f | --format option. The string should include the format of the file name and optionally a directory structure. If you do not include a format string, the default format will be used: {album_artist}/{album}/{track_num:2} - {track_name}.{ext}.
The --flat option is shorthand for using the format string: {artist} - {track_name}.{ext}, and the --flat-with-index option is shorthand for using the format string: {idx:3} - {artist} - {track_name}.{ext}. The use of these shorthand options will override any --format string option given.
Your format string can include the following variables names, which are case-sensitive and wrapped in curly braces, if you want your file/path name to be overwritten with Spotify metadata.
| Names and Aliases | Description |
|---|---|
{track_artist}, {artist} |
The track's artist |
{track_artists}, {artists} |
Similar to {track_artist} but will join multiple artists with a comma (e.g. "artist 1, artist 2") |
{album_artist} |
When passing an album, the album's artist (e.g. "Various Artists"). If no album artist exists, the track artist is used instead |
{album_artists_web} |
Similar to {album_artist} but retrieves the full list of artists credited on the album from Spotify. Unlike {album_artist}, multiple album artists can be retrieved and will be joined with a comma (e.g. "artist 1, artist 2") |
{album} |
Album name |
{track_name}, {track} |
Track name |
{year} |
Release year of the album |
{ext}, {extension} |
Filename extension (i.e. "mp3", "ogg", "flac", ...) |
{idx}, {index} |
Playlist index |
{track_num}, {track_idx}, {track_index} |
The track number of the disc |
{disc_num}, {disc_idx}, {disc_index} |
The disc number of the album |
{smart_track_num}, {smart_track_idx} |
For a multi-disc album, {smart_track_num} will return a number combining the disc and {smart_track_index} the track number. e.g. for disc 2, track 4 it will return "204". For a single disc album, it will return the track num. |
{playlist}, {playlist_name} |
Name of playlist if passed a playlist uri, otherwise "No Playlist" |
{playlist_owner}, {playlist_user}, {playlist_username} |
User name of playlist's owner if passed a playlist uri, otherwise "No Playlist Owner" |
{playlist_track_add_time}, {track_add_time} |
When the track was added to the playlist |
{playlist_track_add_user}, {track_add_user} |
The user that added the track to the playlist |
{user}, {username} |
Spotify username of logged-in user |
{feat_artists}, {featuring_artists} |
Featuring artists join by commas (see Prefix String section below) |
{copyright} |
Album copyright message |
{label}, {copyright_holder} |
Album copyright message with the year removed at the start of the string if it exists |
{track_uri}, {uri} |
Spotify track uri |
Any substring in the format string that does not match a variable above will be passed through to the file/path name unchanged.
Format variables that represent an index can be padded with zeros to a user-specified length. For example, {idx:3} will produce the following output: 001, 002, 003, etc. If no number is provided, no zero-filled padding will occur (e.g. 8, 9, 10, 11, ...). The variables that accept this option include {idx}, {track_num}, {disc_num}, {smart_track_num} and their aliases.
Format variable feat_artists takes a prefix string to be prepended before the output. For example, {feat_artists:featuring} will produce the follow output featuing Bruno Mars. If there are no featuring artists, the prefix string (and any preceding spaces) will not be included.
By default, other than checking for an overwrite, spotify-ripper will not keep track of local files once they are ripped from Spotify. However, if you use the --playlist-sync option when passing a playlist URI, spotify-ripper will store a json file in your settings directory that keeps track of location of your ripped files for that playlist.
If at a later time, the playlist is changed on Spotify (i.e. songs reordered, removed or added), spotify-ripper will try to keep your local files "in sync" the playlist if you rerun the same command. For example, if your format string is {index} {artist} - {track_name}.{ext}, it will rename is existing files so the index is correct. Note that with option set, spotify-ripper will delete a song that was previously on the playlist, but was removed but still exists on your local machine. It does not affect files outside of the playlist and has no effect on non-playlist URIs.
If you want to redownload a playlist (for example with improved quality), you either need to remove the song files from your local or use the --overwrite option.
Each release attaches a self-contained .pyz (built with shiv) that bundles all Python dependencies — so it sidesteps any system protobuf version conflicts. Download the file matching your Python version from the Releases page and run it:
$ python3 spotify-ripper-py3.13.pyz spotify:track:...
# or make it directly executable:
$ chmod +x spotify-ripper-py3.13.pyz && ./spotify-ripper-py3.13.pyz spotify:track:...
Notes:
- Pick the
.pyzwhose version matches your Python (e.g.py3.13for Python 3.13) — it embeds compiled extensions tied to that version. - It still needs the system tools (
ffmpeg,lame, …) from the Prerequisites below; only the Python dependencies are bundled. - To build one yourself:
pip install shiv && shiv -c spotify-ripper -o spotify-ripper.pyz .
-
Install the command-line tools.
ffmpegis required (pluslamefor the default MP3 output); the rest are optional and only needed for their respective output formats:$ sudo dnf install ffmpeg lame $ sudo dnf install flac opus-tools sox fdkaac -
Install the ripper with
pip(this pulls in the Python dependencies automatically):$ pip3 install --user --upgrade git+https://github.com/scaronni/spotify-ripper
Install the system tools listed under Prerequisites with your package manager, then install the ripper with pip3:
$ pip3 install --user --upgrade git+https://github.com/scaronni/spotify-ripper
A Spotify Premium account (required for 320 kbps; free accounts get 160 kbps).
Python libraries (installed automatically by pip):
System libraries and commands:
- ffmpeg — required for every output format except native Ogg Vorbis (
--vorbis); it decodes the downloaded Spotify stream to PCM - lame — for MP3 output (the default)
- fdkaac (optional, for
--mp4) - flac (optional, for
--flac) - opus-tools (optional, for
--opus) - sox (optional, for
--aiff)
After installing, pair once with spotify-ripper --login (see the Login section).