How to find and scan a Spotify code

A Spotify code is that little barcode you'll find under any song. It looks like a soundwave and works like a QR code: point your camera at it, the song plays. Here's how to find one, how to scan one, and what you can do with it.

Finding the Spotify code for a song

  1. Open the song in the Spotify app.
  2. Tap the three dots in the top right.
  3. The code appears directly under the cover art — the pale barcode on a coloured background.
  4. Use Share → Copy link to also get the song's URL.

On desktop it's the same: right-click the song, then Share.

Scanning a Spotify code

  1. Open the Spotify app.
  2. Tap the search bar at the top.
  3. Tap the camera icon on the right of the search bar.
  4. Hold your camera over the code. The song opens immediately.

On most recent phones the normal camera app recognises the code too, so you don't have to open Spotify first.

Do I need Spotify Premium?

No. Codes scan and play on a free account as well. Without Premium you'll hear ads between tracks, but the song opens exactly the same way.

Do Spotify codes expire?

The code itself doesn't. It points at a fixed song ID, and that stays put. What can happen is that a song leaves the catalogue because the label pulls it. That's rare, and it tends to affect B-sides and remixes rather than well-known tracks.

One practical tip if you're giving the code as a gift: use the regular album version rather than a live recording or a radio edit pulled from a playlist. Those disappear more often.

The most common mistake: the wrong link

If you share a song from your phone, you'll sometimes get a short link in the form spotify.link/…. That link plays fine, but it doesn't contain the song ID — so any tool that generates a code from it has nothing to work with.

Use the full link instead. It looks like this:

https://open.spotify.com/track/6habFhsOp2NvshLv26DqMb

That long string at the end is the song ID. That's the part you need.

What people actually do with Spotify codes

The most common use is giving one away — on a card, an invitation, or printed straight onto an object. The appeal is that a song can't be described. It can only be played. A code on a physical object makes that possible years later.

We print the code alongside your photo on acrylic glass and light it from below. If you want to see how that looks: have a look at Spotilight™.

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