Where Xiaomi Redmi Stores Music: 5 Places You Didn't Know About

You downloaded the song into VK Did you save the track from YouTube Music, or just transfer the audio files from your computer to Xiaomi Redmi, but now you can't find them? POCO) They store music in multiple places, and not all of them are obvious. In this article, we will examine all possible ways in which your music may lie, including system folders, app cache and even hidden directories. MIUI.

Feature of firmware MIUI (Even in the latest Android-based versions 13/14) — For example, music from streaming services is often stored not in the Music folder, but in deep-seated directories with obscure names. In addition, some applications (such as Mi Music or Google Play Music) create their own storage that does not appear in the standard file manager without enabling the mode of showing hidden files.

If you’re looking for a particular track or want to transfer all the music to a memory card, this guide will help you avoid hours of aimless search.We’ll look at not only the standard paths, but also the unique features of audio storage on Xiaomi Redmi, which are not written about even in the official documentation.

1. Standard folders for music on Xiaomi Redmi

To start with the obvious, where should music be stored by default: Most Android smartphones (including Redmi) host audio files in the following directories:

• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Music/ — The main folder for music that any player sees (including Mi Music, Poweramp, VLC).
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Download/Music/ — here are often saved tracks downloaded through the browser or messengers.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Ringtones/ — Here you can have audio files if you set them up as ringtones.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Notifications/ — Sometimes short audio is included (for example, notifications from WhatsApp).

But there's a caveat to Xiaomi Redmi: if you use an external memory card, the paths will be different. SD-The card is most often stored here:

• 📁 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/Music/ (where XXXX-XXXX — unique identifier).
• 📁 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/MIUI/Music/ — This folder is automatically created if you transfer files through Mi File Explorer.

To check out these directories:

1. Open the File Manager (Files or Mi File Explorer).
2. Go to the Device section (for internal memory) or SD-card (for external storage).
3. Enable the display of hidden files: click on three dots in the upper right corner → Settings → Show hidden files.

⚠️ Note: If you connect your smartphone to your computer through MTP (File transfer mode) and copy the music manually, check the folder /storage/emulated/0/ Sometimes the files go to the root of the memory without sorting.

2 Where music from streaming services is stored

If you download tracks via Spotify, YouTube Music, VK Music or Yandex Music, they are rarely saved to a standard Music folder, and each service uses its own storage, often encrypted or hidden in system directories.

To find these folders:

1. Open the File Manager and enable the display of hidden files (see previous section).
2. Go to /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/.
3. Find a folder with the name of the application package (for example, com.spotify.music for Spotify).
4. Open the file or cache directory, and audio files may be there.

⚠️ Attention: Files from folders /Android/data/ Not usually visible to other applications (e.g., Poweramp or VLC) Because of the limitations of Android, you have to manually copy them to the Music folder to play them.

3. Hidden system folders with music on Xiaomi Redmi

Firmware MIUI It creates a few hidden directories where audio files can be stored, and you can't see them in a standard file manager, but they take up space on the device:

• 🔍 /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/sound_recorder/ — Here you can save voice recordings from the standard Mi Sound Recorder.
• 🔍 /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/music/ — Alternative folder for music that the system creates when transferring files through Mi Mover.
• 🔍 /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/ — Sometimes there are audio files from games (for example, the soundtracks from Genshin Impact or the soundtracks from the game). PUBG Mobile).
• 🔍 /data/media/0/ — System directory where files can get into crashes (available only through ADB rat).

To see these folders:

1. Install a file manager (e.g. Solid Explorer, FX File Explorer or Root Explorer).
2. In the manager settings, enable the option to Show System Files or Root access (if you have superuser rights).
3. Go to the root directory/and manually scroll through the paths from the list above.

If you don’t have a Root-Right, you need to find files in the /data/, can be used ADB (Android Debug Bridge:

adb shell


su




ls /data/media/0/

Without Root, you won’t be able to copy files from there – just browse.

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If you work with system files frequently, install MiXplorer, a modified file manager for Xiaomi with support for Root and cloud storage.

4. How to find music through a file manager search

If you don't want to manually browse all folders, use the built-in search in Mi File Explorer or a third-party manager. Here's how to do it effectively:

1. Open the File Manager and click on the magnifying glass icon (search).
2. Enter the file extension: For MP3:.mp3 For M4A (Apple Music, YouTube Music):.m4a For WAV:.wav For FLAC:.flac

.mp3 OR

Wait for the search to be completed and check the results.

Xiaomi Redmi Search Could Be Slow Due to Optimizations MIUI. To speed up the process:

• 🔄 Turn off the option of Cloud Search in the Manager Settings.
• 🔄 Restrict your search to internal memory or SD-The map (depending on where the music should be).
• 🔄 Use a filter by date (e.g. Last week) if you remember when you downloaded files.

⚠️ Note: Searching for extensions will not find files without extension (e.g., extensions, track123 instead track123.mp3). This happens if the music is downloaded via Telegram or some messengers, in which case, search for keywords in the title (for example, audio, song, track).

5. Music in the app cache: how to extract it

Many apps (like TikTok, Instagram, Likee) cache the audio you listen to. These files are not designed to be stored for long-term, but they can be extracted and stored as regular music.

Where to look:

• 🎵 /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.zhiliaoapp.musically/cache/ — TikTok cache (there may be original tracks from the video).
• 🎵 /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.instagram.android/cache/ — Instagram cache (audio from Reels and Stories).
• 🎵 /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.ss.android.ugc.aweme/cache/ — Likee cache or Snack Video.
• 🎵 /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ru.mail.mailapp/cache/ — Sometimes attachments from letters (including audio) are saved here).

How to extract music from the cache:

1. Copy files from the cache folder into /storage/emulated/0/Download/.
2. Rename files by adding an extension.mp3 or.m4a (Many cached audios do not have an extension).
3. Open the file in the player - if it is played, then the extraction was successful.

To automate the process, you can use applications like Cache Extractor or Video & Audio Cache Viewer, which scan the cache and allow you to save media files in one click.

6.Music on the external memory card: features of Xiaomi Redmi

If you use a microSD on Xiaomi Redmi, the music can be stored in unexpected places. MIUI sometimes transfers files to system folders on the map that are not displayed in the standard manager.

Where to look:

• 📱 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/Music/ — standard folder (where) XXXX-XXXX — ID map).
• 📱 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/MIUI/Music/ — This is where files are automatically copied when transferred via Mi File Explorer.
• 📱 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/Android/data/ — If apps (like Spotify) save music to a map, they create folders here.
• 📱 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/.nomedia/ — a hidden folder where files excluded from media scanning sometimes fall.

Problems with memory card on Xiaomi Redmi:

• 🚫 If the card is formatted as internal memory (via Settings) → Memory, paths to files will change /mnt/expand/XXXX-XXXX/....
• 🚫 Some applications (such as Google Play Music) are not able to work with external drives on the Internet. MIUI.
• 🚫 If the music doesn’t appear in the player, check for the.nomedia file in the track folder (delete it if it is available).

To transfer music from the internal memory to the map:

1. Open the file manager and find the music folder (for example, /Music/).
2. Select files, click Move and select the target folder on SD-map.
3. If the Move option is not available, copy the files and then manually delete the originals.

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On Xiaomi Redmi with MIUI 12+ External memory cards are by default mounted as portable (rather than internal), so not all applications can save data directly to the device. SD. To fix this, format the card as internal memory in the settings, but note that it can not be removed after that without losing data.

7. Search for music through ADB (power-user)

If you can’t find music through the file manager, you can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB). This method is suitable for searching files in system folders that cannot be accessed without Root.

Instructions:

1. Install ADB Tools on your computer.
2. Turn on USB Debugging on your smartphone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times to activate Developer Mode), then go back to Settings → Additional → Developers → Debugging on USB.
3. Connect Redmi to your computer and execute the command:

adb devices

If the device is determined, enter:

adb shell


find /storage -name ".mp3" -o -name ".m4a" -o -name ".flac" -o -name ".wav"

This command will recursively scan all folders on the device and output paths to all audio files.

To copy the files found on the computer:

adb pull /path/to/file.mp3C:\Music\

⚠️ Note: Find and Adb pull may not work for folders in /data/ In this case, you will receive a Permission denied error, the solution is either to get the Root or use alternative methods (for example, backup via adb backup).

8 What to do if the music is not found

If you’ve tried all the ways but the music never came, here’s what else you can do:

• 🔎 Check Cloud Storage: Files may be synced to Google Drive, Mi Cloud or Yandex.Disk.
• 🔎 Use specialized apps: Music Finder or Audio Manager scans the device deeper than the standard manager.
• 🔎 View download history: In the browser (Chrome, Mi Browser) or instant messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) may be information about where the files were downloaded from.
• 🔎 Recover deleted files: If music has been deleted, try DiskDigger or Recuva (requires Root for deep scanning).

If you suspect that files are hidden by a virus (for example, folders have become invisible or have been replaced by shortcuts), do an antivirus check (Malwarebytes or Dr.Web) and check the following directories:

• /storage/emulated/0/.thumbnails/
• /storage/emulated/0/.cache/
• /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/[random_folder]/

In the extreme, you can make a backup copy of all data through ADB or TWRP Scan it on your computer using Everything or Agent Ransack.

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If the music is missing after the update MIUI, check the folder /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/backup/AllBackup/ — Sometimes the system automatically backs up media files before the update.

FAQ: Frequent questions about music on Xiaomi Redmi