Where Xiaomi Stores Music: All Ways to Find and Manage Audio Files

You downloaded the song to a Xiaomi smartphone but can't find it, or you want to transfer the music from your phone to your computer but don't know where it lies? The problem is that the manufacturer uses non-obvious storage paths, and the standard file manager doesn't always show all the folders. In this article, we'll look at all the possible places where music can be stored on Redmi, POCO and Mi devices, from standard directories to hidden system directories.

Xiaomi smartphones often automatically sort files by type, and some apps (such as Mi Music or Google Play Music) create their own folders, and we’ll show you how to find music through Explorer, Settings, and even ADB for power users, and you’ll learn why some tracks don’t show up in the player and how to fix them.

Standard folders for music on Xiaomi

By default, all audio files downloaded through a browser, messengers or moved from a computer are placed in one of the standard folders, their location depends on the version of MIUI and the device model.

• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Music/ — The main folder for music that most players see.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Download/Music/ — here are stored tracks downloaded through the browser or some applications.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Miui/Music/ — system folder that creates firmware MIUI service-based.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ — Here you can find cached tracks from streaming services (for example, Spotify or Yandex Music).

If you connect your phone to your computer via USB, these folders will be available in the Internal Memory section, but some directories (e.g. /Android/data/) may be hidden, and you need to include them in your PC file display settings.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with MIUI 14+ path /storage/emulated/0/ may be displayed as /sdcard/ — It's the same place, just different designations.

To quickly find music, open the standard Explorer app (folder icon) and go to Categories → Audio, which will display all audio files, regardless of their actual location, but this method will not show files hidden from scanning (for example, protected DRM or system tunes).

Where is the music downloaded through the applications stored

If you use streaming services or specialized music download apps, files can be stored in non-obvious places.

It is important to understand that files from streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Yandex Music) are often protected by DRM and will not be played in other players. They can only be found through ADB or root access, but listen to them only in the original application.

If you downloaded music via Telegram or VK, files are usually publicly available and can be copied to a computer, but their names are often encrypted (e.g, audio_123456789.mp3). To rename tracks, use tag managers like MP3Tag Or MusicBrainz Picard.

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To see hidden folders on Xiaomi, open Explorer, click on three dots in the upper right corner → Settings → turn on the option to Show hidden files.

How to find music through system settings

If standard methods don't work, you can use the built-in MIUI tools, such as through Warehouse or Advanced File Manager.

Instructions for searching through Settings:

1. Open the Settings → Storage.
2. Click on the internal memory (or device memory).
3. Select Files → Audio.
4. The system will show all audio files sorted by size and date.

This is a convenient way to show all the audio files, including system melodies and notifications, but you can't see the path to the file, just the name and size, and to find the location, you have to manually search the file through Explorer.

Another way to do this is to use the search by device:

1. Open the Conductor.
2. Click on the magnifying glass icon (search) in the upper right corner.
3. Enter the file extension:.mp3,.flac,.wav, etc.
4. The system will show all files with such an extension and their paths.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with MIUI 13 and later, extension searches can be blocked for security, in which case use third-party file managers like Solid Explorer or FX File Explorer.

Enable the display of hidden files

Check the folder /Music/

Check the folder. /Download/Music/

Use the search for the.mp3 extension

Check the cache of streaming applications-->

Hidden system folders with music

Some audio files are stored in system directories that are not displayed in a standard conductor.

• 🎵 /system/media/audio/ — Standard alarm clock tunes, notifications and calls.
• 🎵 /product/media/audio/ — Additional sounds depending on regional firmware.
• 🎵 /data/local/ — Temporary audio files created by some applications.
• 🎵 /cache/ — cached tracks (usually deleted when rebooted).

Access to these folders is only possible with root rights or through ADB. For example, to view /system/media/audio/ content, run the command:

adb shell ls /system/media/audio/

If you don’t have root, but you need to extract system tunes, you can use applications like Root Browser (requires superuser rights) or Mixplorer (works without root, but with restrictions).

On devices with MIUI 14+, the /system/media/audio/ path can contain.ogg files with a bitrate of 128 kbps, which can be converted to MP3 via online services.

Why the music is not displayed in the player

A common problem is that files are on the phone, but they don't show up in Mi Music or other players.

• 🔍 Files have a non-standard extension (for example,.m4a instead.mp3).
• 🔍 Music folder excluded from scanning media files.
• 🔍 Files are corrupted or have incorrect tags (ID3).
• 🔍 The player does not support the format (for example,.flac or.ape).

To correct the problem, follow the following steps:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find your player (such as Mi Music) and click Warehouse → Clear the data.
3. Reboot your phone and it will start a re-scan of the media files.
4. If it doesn’t work, install a third-party player (like Poweramp or VLC) and check if it sees files.

If the problem is in a format, convert files through Audacity or online services. Use MP3Tag (Windows) or Star Music Tag Editor (Android) to fix the tags.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with MIUI 12.5+ Scanning media files can be blocked due to battery optimization. To fix this, add the player to exceptions: Settings → Battery → Optimizing the battery → All applications → [Choose a player] → No restrictions.

How to transfer music from Xiaomi to your computer

There are several ways to copy music from your phone to your PC, depending on where the files are stored and what tools you have.

Method 1: Through USB-cable (for files in open folders)

1. Connect your phone to your computer via USB.
2. On your phone, select File Transfer (MTP) mode.
3. On PC, open This Computer → Find a Xiaomi device.
4. Go to the Internal Memory folder → Music (or other place where the music is located).
5. Copy the files to the computer.

Method 2: Through the Cloud (for any files)

• 📱 Download music to Google Drive, Yandex Drive or Mi Cloud.
• 📱 On PC, download files from the cloud.

Method 3: Through ADB (for hidden files)

adb pull /storage/emulated/0/Music/ C:\Xiaomi_Music\

If files are protected (for example, from Spotify), they can not simply be copied - you will need special software to extract.

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The most reliable way to transfer music is via USB in MTP mode. For hidden files, use ADB or root managers.

How to Change the Default Music Store

If you want all new tracks to be saved to a specific folder (for example, on the SD-map, this can be configured.

For the standard Mi Music player:

1. Open Mi Music.
2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner → Settings.
3. Select the folder to download.
4. Indicate a new path (e.g, /storage/ABWH-1234/Music/ for SD-map).

For the Mi Browser browser:

1. Open Mi Browser.
2. Click on three points → Settings → Downloads.
3. Select the download folder and specify the desired path.

If you use Telegram or other messengers, the way you save changes in their settings.

1. Open Telegram → Settings → Data and memory.
2. Select the download folder.
3. Specify a new directory (e.g. /storage/emulated/0/Telegram/Music/).

On devices with MIUI 14 and later, file management permission may be required to change the way you save it, and it can be given to Settings → Applications → Permissions → File Management.

FAQ: Frequent questions about music on Xiaomi