Most of the 1.3 million users of Spotify have used the Web Player for music and podcasts. Have you ever faced a screen flickering issue on a web player? Well, that’s a common issue if you frequently use Spotify’s web player.
Spotify is a popular music streaming service that offers a wide range of features for discovering new music, connecting with friends, and customizing listening experiences. It is available on various Mac, Desktop, Android, and iPhone platforms.
If you use Spotify’s web player on your browser, you may have faced a common problem where the player makes your screen flicker or flash for multiple reasons. This flickering issue can be frustrating and make listening to your favorite tracks difficult. We are here to provide solutions with easy and detailed steps to help you troubleshoot this issue.
Why Does Spotify Web Player Makes My Screen Flicker?
Spotify’s web player is a popular platform for streaming music online, but it can sometimes cause issues like making the screen flicker. Various reasons, such as outdated software or plugins, hardware problems, or issues with your internet connection, can cause this issue. Let’s elaborate on these one by one with the possible solutions.
Update Your Browser
The working of the Spotify web browser depends on your browser. If the browser is outdated, you cannot integrate the latest Spotify features on that web player. Similarly, if conflicting extensions are installed on your browser, you won’t be able to play the Spotify web player.
Spotify’s web player is compatible with the most popular browsers, including Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. If you are using any of the listed, then there are chances you need to use the updated version. To update your browser, there are two possibilities: uninstall the current browser or reinstall the fresh copy or update the currently installed version.
- Uninstall and Reinstall the Browser
By uninstalling the currently installed browser, you can get rid of the extensions and cookies of the browser, which are also the reason for invoking the screen flickering of the Spotify web player.
Go to the Add/Remove programs of your system and locate the browser that you are using. Click on the three dots and then choose the option, Uninstall:
Once the browser is uninstalled, you can open up the default web browser and get the updated version of the browser available on their official website.
- Update the Currently Installed Browser
The other possibility is to update the current installation of the browser. The process may vary from browser to browser, but the core steps are the same, performed below.
Open your browser’s settings and navigate to the About section of your Browser. Here, you will see the currently installed version and also the update prompt if there is any:
Disable Browser Extensions
Browser extensions are third-party tools that add extra features to your browser. However, some extensions may conflict with Spotify’s web player, resulting in the screen flickering issue. To fix this, you must either remove or disable the conflicting extensions.
Open your browser and click on the three dots in the window’s upper-right corner. From the drop-down menu, click “More Tools” and select “Extensions”:
A new tab will open, showing you all the extensions installed on your browser. Click on the Remove button to remove the extension or turn off the toggle button to disable that extension:
Clear Browser Cache and Cookies
Sometimes, browser cache and cookies can cause issues with the web player that makes your screen flicker in Spotify. The browser’s cache, history, and cookies can be removed from the settings of the browser. Let’s see how it can be done.
Open your browser and click on the three dots in the window’s upper-right corner. Click “More Tools” from the drop-down menu and select “Clear browsing data.”
In the “Clear browsing data” window, select “All time” from the drop-down menu next to “Time range.” Alongside that, check the three boxes, i.e., Browsing history, Cookies, other site data, and Cached images and files. Lastly, click on the Clear data button as shown below:
Switch to Other Browser
If you still need help with the above three solutions in terms of browser, then it is time to switch to another browser by keeping the recommendations of Spotify in mind. Some browsers have been allowed by Spotify for its web player, as listed on Spotify’s official website.
You can download and install any of the above-listed browsers and try playing Spotify music on them. Download and Install Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, or Safari from their official websites.
Update the Graphics Card Driver
The graphics driver integrates with your graphics card and provides a suitable outcome as supported. The graphics driver installed on your computer may be outdated, decreasing the video quality and the screen flickering issue on the Spotify Web Player.
The Graphics Driver is as necessary for the Graphics card as oxygen to humans. If the driver needs to be updated, you might not be getting the full fledge performance of the hardware. To fix that, you need to update your driver. Let’s see how it can be done.
Open the Device Manager from the Windows search option:
Here, you will get a list of the supported graphics drivers as per the hardware installed in your system. For instance, in our case, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU is the graphics driver associated with the hardware:
Now, it is time to update the driver. For that, double-click on your respective browser and get the Properties window. Inside Properties, navigate to the Driver tab, where you will find the Update Driver tab. Click on it to update your driver:
Now, you have two options: Browse your computer for the updated driver’s file or search automatically for drivers online. It is recommended to look for drivers online. Your system will search for compatible drivers online and will install them automatically:
This update process will automatically search for the latest driver for your graphics card and perform the update. If you have the latest driver installed already, then a prompt pops up, as shown below in our case:
Disable Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration is a feature that uses your computer’s graphics card to speed up the browser’s performance. However, if your hardware is not up to mark, this feature may invoke the screen flickering issue while using Spotify. This can be fixed by turning off the hardware acceleration.
Open the Settings of your browser and search for “Hardware Acceleration.” You will get the Hardware Acceleration feature in the results. Turn off the toggle button:
Contact Spotify Support
If none of the above fixes has worked, there might be an issue with Spotify. You need to contact the Spotify support team and communicate your problem. There are multiple ways to reach out to the Spotify support team, i.e., Twitter, Email, Facebook, etc. It is suggested to drop a direct message to the Spotify Support Offical Page on Twitter which is the fast and most effective way to contact Spotify:
Why Does Spotify Web Player Go Black?
Apart from the screen flickering issue of the Spotify web player. There are chances that your web player may turn black. The Spotify Web Player may go black for various reasons, such as a slow internet connection, outdated browser or browser extensions, cache and cookies issues, and an outdated graphics driver.
Except for one reason, i.e., Slow Internet Connection, the rest are the same as mentioned above for the screen flickering problem. Here, we will provide the solution to fix the slow internet connection as all other solutions are listed above, Solutions.
Fix the Slow Internet Connection
The slow internet speed can be for various reasons; you are using a slow internet connection, possible problems at the Internet Service Provider, damaged router or the internet device, etc. To fix the slow internet problem, perform the following steps:
Switch to a better internet connection and ensure that the router/modem you are using is not damaged and effectively transmitting the signals. After that, it is suggested that you can troubleshoot the internet connection to eliminate any remaining issues. For that, navigate to the path “System > troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters”:
Click on Run in front of the Internet Connections to start the troubleshooting process:
Then, windows provide two troubleshooting options: connecting to a website, or Windows will help you connect to a specific page. For better troubleshooting, choose Troubleshoot my connection as highlighted below:
If the troubleshooting process identifies any problem, it will list those asking you to fix it. However, if you do not have any problem related to the internet connection, then it will show the following prompt:
Bottom Line
Spotify is a top-of-the-line digital music-providing platform that can be accessed through the web browser and application support for Desktop and Mobile. Spotify Web Player is a web-based music player that allows users to access their Spotify account and stream music directly from a web browser without downloading or installing the Spotify application.
While using the Spotify Web Player, you might face a screen flickering issue where you cannot get the screen picture/output clearly, which creates a bad experience. Several reasons invoke the issue, i.e., outdated browser, conflicting extensions, browser’s cache, hardware acceleration, etc.
The Web-Browser’s screen flickering issue can be fixed by multiple means. For instance, if the browser is outdated, you must update it. Similarly, if the graphics driver is the reason, get the latest driver compatible with your machine. Apart from these, all the possible solutions, with their practical demonstrations, are provided to fix the screen flickering on the Spotify Web Player.
Adnan is a Software Engineer with an aim to learn and teach the community through words. The go-to expert about Technology. He has honed his skills in crafting easy-to-understand documentation, tutorials, and articles on these powerful tools.