How to make music on Xiaomi play in order: all the ways

You downloaded your favorite artist’s album on Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5 Pro, but are the tracks played in a chaotic order? Player persistently jumps from track one to track five, ignoring the numbering in the file titles? This problem is familiar to many smartphone owners on the Internet. MIUI — The standard Music application often confuses the playback sequence due to sorting features or metadata errors.

In this article, we will explore all possible causes of chaotic playback and offer working solutions, from basic player configuration to editing file tags and using alternative applications. MIUI Music and Google Play Music, VLC Or Poweramp, and if the problem goes deeper, we'll tell you how to fix the track metadata or reset the media scanner settings.

Important: instructions are relevant to all modern smartphones Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO base MIUI 12-14 (including HyperOS) If you have an older firmware version (e.g, MIUI 11), some menu items may differ - note alternative ways at the end of the article.

Why Xiaomi Music Is Out of Order: 5 Reasons

Before we start setting up, we'll see why the player ignores the sequence of tracks. Here are the most common reasons:

• 🔢 No numbering in file names. If tracks are simply called «Track1.mp3», «Song2.mp3», The player sorts them alphabetically, not by album order.
• 🏷️ Damaged or missing metadata: The file does not have Track Number, Album or Artist tags, which makes it impossible for the player to determine the correct sequence.
• 🔄 Random playback in player settings. MIUI Music can be turned on by default by “accident” or “Repeat everything” mode».
• 📁 Media scanner errors: The mediaserver system process incorrectly indexes files, especially if they were downloaded via Telegram or other messengers.
• 📱 Features of the file system: On some Xiaomi firmware, tracks from an external memory card (SD-card) are sorted separately from internal memory.

Most often, the problem is solved by changing the player's settings or editing metadata, but in 10-15% of cases, system bugs are to blame - for example, after an update. MIUI The media scanner starts to work incorrectly, and then it will help to reset the cache or reinstall the application.

Method 1: Configure the order of playback in a standard player MIUI Music

If you use the built-in Music app» (MIUI Music, check the playback settings first. Often the problem is solved in two clicks:

1. Open the Music app and start playing any track.
2. Slap three points (⋮) upper right corner of the playback screen.
3. Select the "Playback order" option.
4. Set the “In order” or “Repeat in order” mode.

If this menu item is not available (this is the case on some versions). MIUI 13/14), Try an alternative path:

1. Press your finger on any track in the library to create a context menu.
2. Select “Play next” – this will force the track to be added to the beginning of the queue.
3. Repeat the action for all tracks of the album in the desired sequence.

Also check if the "Random Play" mode is enabled in the player settings:

1. Go to Settings. → Music. → Reproduction settings.
2. Turn off the “Shuffle” option.
3. Make sure the “Play in order” option is enabled.

If the music is still out of order after this action, the problem is deeper, most likely in file metadata or system settings.

Method 2: Editing track metadata (tags) ID3)

More 60% playback problems are associated with missing or damaging Track Number tags in files. if there is no number in the track title (e.g., no number in the track title, «01 - Song.mp3»), a metadata does not have a tag TRCK, The player will not be able to determine the correct sequence.

You can check and correct tags using special applications. Here is a step-by-step instruction:

Step 1: Install the tag editor

Download one of these apps from Google Play:

• 🎵 MP3 Tag Editor (simple interface, supports batch editing).
• 🎵 Star Music Tag Editor (advanced features, working with the FLAC and M4A).
• 🎵 Automate (for automatic file numbering by mask).

Step 2: Check the Track Number tags

Open the app and select the folder with the album. Notice the columns:

• Track – must contain the track number (e.g., track number, 1/12, where 1 — track number, 12 — total).
• Album – The album title should be the same for all tracks.
• Artist – artist (if the album is from one artist)

If the Track field is empty or contains erroneous data (e.g., 0 or 1 for all tracks), correct it:

1. Highlight all the tracks on the album.
2. Click "Edit» → «Track number».
3. Enter the sequence (e.g. 1, 2, 3...) or use the Autonumeration function.
4. Save the changes and restart the player.

Step 3: Check the format of tags

Xiaomi has the best tags in format ID3v2.3 or ID3v2.4. If your files are being used ID3v1 (Outdated format, convert them:

1. In the tag editor, find the option “Convert Tags”.
2. Choose the format ID3v2.3.
3. Save files and restart your phone (this will update the media scanner database).

💡

If the album consists of several discs (for example, CD1 and CD2), In the Track tag, specify the format 1/12 (disk 1, track 1 from 12) and 1/10 (disk 2, track 1 from 10). This will help the player to properly sort multi-disc releases.

Method 3: Rename files according to the template

If you can’t edit tags (for example, you have files.m4a or.flac with change protection, you can rename files according to a universal template. MIUI Music sorts tracks alphabetically, so the correct numbering in the title guarantees the correct order.

Use the following format:

Number - Name.mp3


Examples:




01 - Intro.mp3




02 - Main Song.mp3




03 - Outro.mp3

Important: the numbering should be two-digit (i.e. 01, 02..., not 1, 2...), otherwise after 9 will go 10, and the sorting will break.

How to rename files quickly

Manually renaming dozens of tracks is inconvenient.

• 📱 Files by Google: Open the music folder. Tap three dots. → «Rename. Select "Add numbering" and specify the template.

PC (via Total Commander or PowerShell)

1. Connect your phone to your computer in MTP mode.
2. Open the music folder in Total Commander.
3. Select files and use the “Group Rename” function (Ctrl)+M).
4. Point the mask: [C] - [N].mp3, where [C] — counter, [N] — filename.

After renaming it is mandatory:

1. Reboot the phone.
2. Open the player and wait for the re-indexing of files (may take 1-2 minutes).

Method 4: Use of alternative players

If a standard player MIUI Music stubbornly ignores playback order, try third-party apps. They often work better with metadata and offer flexible sorting settings.

Here. TOP-3 Players that are guaranteed to play music in order:

After installing the player, it is necessary to:

1. Go to the app settings.
2. Find the "Library" or "Scanner" section.
3. Perform a full music scan (may take a few minutes).

💡

Third-party players often work better with metadata than standard players. MIUI Music. If you want to be able to sort by album or track, Poweramp or VLC They're the best choice.

Method 5: Resetting the media scanner and cache settings

If none of these things work, the problem may lie in the system media scanner, a mediaserver process that indexes music, video and images. MIUI It doesn’t work properly, especially after updating or transferring files from your PC.

Here's how to reset its settings:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Slip on the three dots in the top right corner and select “Show System Processes”.
3. Find the Media Storage list and open it.
4. Click on “Clear Cache” and “Clear Data”.
5. Reboot the phone.

After the reboot:

• 🔄 Wait for the system to scan files (may take 5-10 minutes).
• 🎵 Open the player and check the order of playback.
• 📱 If the music is still out of order, repeat the steps for the Music app (com.miui.player).

💡

If the tracks are missing from the player’s library after resetting the media scanner, move them to the phone’s internal memory (for example, to the Music folder) and restart the device.

⚠️ Attention: Media Storage will remove thumbnails and album cache after the procedure, they will recover automatically, but this may take time (depending on the file size).

Method 6: Verification of file system and access rights

Sometimes the problem isn't with the player, it's with the file system or access rights.

1. Placement of files

On Xiaomi, tracks from different folders can play in a chaotic order.

• 📁 Store music from one album in one folder (e.g, /Music/Artist/Album/).
• 🚫 Don’t mix different albums in the same directory.
• 📱 For an external SD card, use a folder. Android/media/com.miui.player/music/.

Access Rights (for Android 11)+)

Starting with Android 11, apps are not allowed to freely access files, if the player can't see the music or plays it in order:

1. Open Settings → Privacy → Permissions → Permissions Management.
2. Find the Music app and enable the Storage resolution.
3. For Poweramp or VLC Also, turn on “Manage all files».

3. File integrity check

The damaged files can disrupt the order of playback to check:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and open the music folder.
2. Try to play files on your computer (for example, through Windows Media Player or Windows Media Player). foobar2000).
3. If a track is not playing or is playing with errors, reboot it from the source.

⚠️ Note: If you downloaded music via Telegram or other messengers, the files could be saved without extension (for example, the file file file extension, audio_123 instead audio_123.mp3). Rename them manually by adding the correct extension.

Additional Advice and Solving Rare Problems

If none of these methods worked, here are some other non-obvious solutions:

• 🔄 Update the firmware. Some versions. MIUI 12.5 and MIUI 13 were bugs with the media scanner. Check the updates in Settings → The phone. → Updating the system.
• 📵 Turn off the Adaptive Battery. This feature may pause the media scanner. Go to Settings → Battery → Adaptive battery and turn it off for the Music app».
• 🎧 Check Bluetooth devices. If you're connected to a headphone or a speaker, some players are disrupting the playback order. Try playing music through your phone speaker.
• 🔧 Reset the app settings. Remove the updates to do so. MIUI Music through Settings → Annexes → Music. → Three points. → Remove updates.

If you use custom firmware (like LineageOS or Pixel Experience), the problem may be that Xiaomi doesn’t have proprietary libraries, and only installing an alternative player (like Poweramp) will help.

FAQ: Frequent questions about playing music on Xiaomi