YouTube Music Readies Free Upload Feature, Google Play Music Migration Service Coming - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

YouTube Music Readies Free Upload Feature, Google Play Music Migration Service Coming

by

YouTube Music appears to be readying a feature that proved a big draw for Google Play Music fans – the ability to upload your own music collection to the cloud. Google has published a new support document explaining how music uploads will work in YouTube Music.

YouTube Music 2
If you're on a computer you'll be able to add your personal music library either by dragging files to any surface on music.youtube.com, or by clicking on your profile picture and selecting "Upload music." The feature supports FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG and WMA files. The support document notes that music uploads cannot be completed in the YouTube Music mobile app, uploads will not influence the user's music recommendations in YouTube Music, and uploads stay private.

To view or manage uploaded music, you can tap (in the app) or click "Uploads" in the Albums section of the library. The big bonus here is that uploaded songs can be played in the background, ad-free and offline - even if you're not a YouTube Music Premium subscriber. It's basically the same feature Google Play Music offered, so that's good news for anyone who wants to switch to Google's new music streaming service.

Google is asking users looking to transfer their entire Google Play Music library to "stay tuned" for a seamless way to do so. "Nothing is changing with Google Play Music right now," says the document. "When we do replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music, we'll be sure to give you plenty of advance notice."

Top Rated Comments

79 months ago

I’d like to point out that Apple Music has always had this as well. It’s quite convenient.
But Apple Music destroys your tags and album artwork in doing so. That's enough for me to have cancelled their service.

Plus this sounds like I can do this for free with Youtube. Another win.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
79 months ago

I’d like to point out that Apple Music has always had this as well. It’s quite convenient.
Except this says that you don't need to be a Premium subscriber to upload and access your music collection. How would you do this with a non-paid Apple Music subscription? (is there even such a thing?)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B/D Avatar
79 months ago
@progx

You don't need to keep iTunes Match anymore (since July 2016 ('https://www.loopinsight.com/2016/07/18/apple-begins-rolling-out-itunes-match-with-audio-fingerprint-to-apple-music-subscribers/?utm_source=loopinsight.com&utm_campaign=loopinsight.com&utm_medium=referral')) if you subscribe to Apple Music. All features are included, and the matching algorithm now works with the iTunes Store database (not the Apple Music catalogue), so, your music is DRM free if you download it back from the cloud on any device, and you can keep the matched copies if you cancel Apple Music.

Previously, the matching algorithm worked with the Apple Music DB, and was identifying songs by metadata only (now it's using acoustic fingerprint). Thus, people were having DRM, metadata and artwork issues, which is not the case anymore.

Excuse my English.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
progx Avatar
79 months ago
Apple has had this service for quite some time, even before Apple Music, with iTunes Match. They still haven’t replaced it, but you can still get it for $24.99 per year. I’ve had it since launch!

I have Apple Music as well, but it doesn’t retain all the iTunes Match features. Which is why I keep both.

Must be Google is looking to rebrand its services under the YouTube banner.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
79 months ago

But Apple Music destroys your tags and album artwork in doing so. That's enough for me to have cancelled their service.

Plus this sounds like I can do this for free with Youtube. Another win.
all the original and custom album artwork never got changed when I used iTunes Match.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
79 months ago

iTunes Match allows you the exclusive ability to download upgraded quality AAC versions of your own music for free without DRM. For example, if you have an MP3 collection encoded at 192k, you would be able to download the 256k AAC iTunes versions to your computer to use as you wish. To help combat piracy in this scenario, however, the files are encoded with your email address so don’t be throwing those tracks up on Bit-Torrent.
This is exactly what AM also offers, isn't it? Match your songs, delete your old files, download the upgraded DRM-free AAC from iTunes.


Match offers the ability to leave AM and still keep your ICloud library.
If I don't understand anything wrong here – yeah, if you only want the feature of having your own personal library in the cloud, you can chose iTunes Match (and if you had AM before and added tracks from this, I'm pretty sure they of course disappear as soon as you leave this service). And again: Nothing here that iTunes Match offers which isn't also included in AM.

progx specifically talked about keeping BOTH service for all features, therefore my question – in this case, iTunes Match must have an exclusive feature which isn't included in AM. And I am not aware of this.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
Related Apple News: Lifestyle | Sport | Motoring | Opinion | Entertainment