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[2024 Guide] Where Does iTunes Store Music on PC and Mac?
Where does iTunes store music? Read this guide to find iTunes music files on PC and Mac so that you can backup your music library or move music library to another computer.
By Lena / Updated on March 4, 2024
How Do I Find iTunes Music Files on Windows 10
How do I find my itunes music files on my windows 10 computer. I just upgraded to a new computer and had itunes on my old laptop. I had all the information loaded onto an external drive along with itunes which I mapped to that external hard drive and I am still missing files. Can anyone help?
- Question from Microsoft Community
iTunes is a great music player as well as a music management tool. All purchased and imported songs are listed in iTunes so that we can easily find the music we want to listen to. Usually, we don't care about iTunes music library location. But if you are in the following situations, you definitely want to know where does iTunes store music.
● Plan to back up your music library, after all, you never want to lose the songs you've spent time collecting.
● Accidentally delete some songs from the playlist and want to add the music files back to recreate your library.
● Need to transfer iTunes library to another computer so you want to copy your music library to external drive.
Well, it’s not difficult to find iTunes music files on PC and Mac. Keep reading to know where does iTunes store music so that you can make a backup or move music files to another location.
Where Does iTunes Store Music?
Generally speaking, iTunes will automatically choose a location to store your library when you first install it. You can go to that folder to find the "Music Folder" where the music files are stored.
Where Does iTunes Store Music on PC
On Windows 11/10/8/7 computer, the iTunes music library is usually located at: C:\users\[username]\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media. When you are there, you will see all your media content, including your music.
In addition, you can also take advantage of iTunes to find iTunes music library location. Open iTunes > Click Edit > Choose Preferences > Click Advanced and you will see where does iTunes store music.
Where Does iTunes Store Music on Mac
On a Mac computer, by default, the iTunes music library is stored in: Home\Music\. You can also go to the desktop of your Mac > click Go > choose Home > open the “Music” folder to access your music files.
In macOS Catalina or later, your previous iTunes media library is now available in the Apple Music app, you should go to [User folder]\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media to find your music files.
How to Change iTunes Music Library Location
You can change iTunes music library location if you want to. But for the best results, it’s recommended not to change the location of iTunes folder.
- Notes:✎...
- If you want to backup your music library, you should first go to File > Library > Organise Library in iTunes or Music app to Consolidate files.
- If you want to backup the purchased songs, please first download them to computer.
Change iTunes Music Library Location on PC
If you want to change iTunes Music Library Location, go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced and click Change... button to select a new location for your files.
Change iTunes Music Library Location on Mac
In the Music app, go to Music > Preferences > Files and click Change to select a new location for your files.
- ★Tips:
- From now on, songs you have imported will be stored in the current location and the new songs you import will be saved to the new location.
- To move the current files to the new location, you should go to File > Library > Organise Library in iTunes or Music app and choose Consolidate files to make it.
- If you regret it, you can click the Reset button and then your imported files will go back to the default folder.
An Easy Way to Manage and Transfer Music Files
Indeed iTunes is a good helper to manage our songs. However, the music transfer is not that easy.
- On the one hand, iTunes will not allow you to transfer non purchased music from iPhone to computer.
- On the other hand, it’s kind of difficult to transfer music from iPhone to iPhone with different Apple IDs.
If you want to easily transfer music between iPhone/iPad and computer, between two iPhones, you can turn to FoneTool for help. It’s one professional iOS data management that can help you backup and transfer music, photos, videos, contacts, etc.
You can let it help you transfer both purchased and non purchased songs from iPhone to another one, from iPhone to computer, external hard drive, USB flash drive and vice versa. It will help you to put the music in the specified location in a few clicks.
Example: Transfer Music from iPhone to Computer
1. Download, install and launch FoneTool.
2. Connect your iPhone to computer via the USB cable.
3. On the home interface, click iPhone to PC option.
4. Choose Music and select the songs you want to transfer.
5. Select a path to save your songs from Transfer Settings and click Start Transfer to transfer music from iPhone to computer.
If you want to transfer music from iPhone to iPhone, you can first transfer music from the source iPhone to computer and then click PC to iPhone option to add songs to the target iPhone.
Final Words
That’s all about where does iTunes store music on PC and Mac. Song files are usually stored in the iTunes Music folder and you can change the location if you need to. After you consolidate your media files, you can copy music library to external hard drive as backup.