Earlier this month, reports started making the rounds that YouTube music will begin letting users upload their entire local music library. While those reports suggested that the ability is being tested in the mobile app across platforms, a support page hinted at the ability going live for users of YouTube Music on the web. Now, it looks like the ability to upload one’s own music to the service is going live for more users (via 9to5Google).
To check if the feature is live, one can directly drag and drop a music file onto the music.youtube.com interface or click on the user profile picture, select ‘Upload music’ and get started with uploading files. Currently, the supported formats include FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, and WMA. The support document adds that a progress bar at the bottom indicates that the user’s music file is uploading, after which a confirmation message is served once the upload is complete.
Users can view and manage their uploaded songs by heading to Library > Songs > Uploads or Library > Albums > Uploads. It must be noted that the uploaded content might take a while before it shows up in the mobile apps. To use this feature on mobile, users should be using YouTube Music version 3.51 or newer.
The company says that the music uploads will not influence your recommendations in the app. The music uploaded by a user cannot be viewed or played by another user, even if they are members of your Google or YouTube family plan. Only audio files can currently be uploaded, which can be played ad-free, even by users who are not premium subscribers.
These features are part of the aim to shut down Google Play Music eventually. The search giant, however, reassures users that nothing is changing with that service right now. The firm adds that it will provide users with a notice adequately in advance before it replaces Play Music with YouTube Music.