Mac to Android music transfer: copy the files, upload them, or stream them

There are three ways to get music from a Mac onto an Android phone. Copy the song files into the phone's Music folder, with a USB cable and OpenMTP or over Wi-Fi. Upload the files to YouTube Music from the Mac's browser and play them in the YouTube Music app. Or, if your library lives in an Apple Music subscription, install the Apple Music app on the phone and sign in. Copying files is free and keeps the music on the phone. The other two keep it in an account you can reach from any device.

Publisher note: The Relay publishes this guide and is one of the products discussed. Details about other products come from each maker's own pages, checked on 1 October 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm before you buy.

Which way should I use?

Where are the song files on my Mac?

If you use Apple's Music app, look in the Music folder inside your home folder. Apple's guide to importing music says the app "places a copy of each audio file in the Music folder", and gives the path as Home, Music, Music. Apple also notes that, depending on your settings, the app may keep only a reference to a file that stays where it was, so some songs can live elsewhere on the disk.

Songs you ripped from CDs, bought as downloads, or collected as MP3s are ordinary files and can be copied. Songs you added from the Apple Music subscription catalogue are a different matter. Use the Apple Music app on the phone for those, as described further down.

Will Android play my files?

Most likely. Android's own list of supported media formats includes MP3, AAC in .m4a files, FLAC, WAV, and Ogg Vorbis for playback. Apple Lossless does not appear on that list, so if your library is in that format, check that the player app you plan to use supports it before copying thousands of files.

How do I copy music with a USB cable?

Google's USB help page has no Mac steps, so the Mac needs a file browser app. OpenMTP is free and copies in both directions.

1. Install OpenMTP on the Mac.
2. Connect the phone with a USB data cable and unlock it.
3. Tap the USB notification on the phone and choose File transfer.
4. In OpenMTP, the Mac's files are on the left. Go to your music.
5. On the right, open the phone's Music folder.
6. Drag albums or folders from left to right.

Why the Music folder: Android's developer documentation describes it as the standard directory "in which to place any audio files that should be in the regular list of music for the user". Copy one album first and check it shows up in your player app before you copy the rest.

A note on MacDroid, the commercial alternative: its pages say the PRO version is required to transfer files from the Mac. Mac to phone is exactly the direction you need here, so its free version will not do this job. The cable process in full is in Android to Mac file transfer via USB.

How do I copy music without a cable?

For a few albums, wireless is less fuss.

LocalSend or NearDrop. Both are free. With NearDrop on the Mac, you right-click the files in Finder, choose Share, then NearDrop. LocalSend needs its app on both devices. Steps are in transfer files from a Mac to Android wirelessly.

AirDrop, on some phones. Google's Quick Share help page says a Pixel 9 or later, excluding the Pixel 9a, and certain phones from other makers can receive from a macOS device.

Both of those have the same catch. They deliver to a downloads folder, not to Music. Google's page says files received through Quick Share appear under Downloads, in a Quick Share folder. If your player does not list the songs, open the phone's Files app and move them into the Music folder.

The Relay. This avoids the catch, because you choose the destination. The Relay puts a window on the Mac that browses the phone's storage, so you open the phone's Music folder in that window and drag albums into it over your local network. The app sets no file-size limit. It costs $19.99, paid once, and needs Android 8.0 or later and macOS 13 Ventura or later.

It is not a music manager: it moves the files you drag and does not sync playlists. If you load music onto the phone twice a year, the free cable route is all you need.

How do I use YouTube Music for my own files?

Google lets you upload your own songs to a YouTube Music library and play them on the phone. Its upload help page gives the details.

1. On the Mac, open music.youtube.com in a browser and sign in.
2. Drag the files onto any part of the page. Or click your profile picture and choose Upload music.
3. On the phone, open the YouTube Music app and go to Library, then Songs, then Uploads.

What Google's page says about it:

• Supported formats are FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, and WMA.
• You can upload up to 100,000 songs.
• Uploads cannot be done from the YouTube Music mobile app. You need a computer, which suits this job.
• You can play uploaded songs "in the background, ad-free and offline", even if you are not a YouTube Music Premium subscriber.

Choose this route if you want the same library everywhere you sign in and do not mind the files being stored in your Google Account.

What if my library is in Apple Music?

Then do not copy anything. Apple makes an Android app. Apple's page on using Apple Music with Android devices says it needs an Android phone or tablet with Android 5.0 Lollipop or later and is downloaded from the Google Play Store. You open the app and sign in with your Apple Account.

To see the library from your Mac on the phone, Apple's Sync Library page explains the setting. Sync Library requires a subscription to Apple Music, or an iTunes Match subscription, and lets you stream your music library on any device signed in to the Apple Music app with the same account. To turn it on, on the Mac:

1. Open the Apple Music app.
2. Choose Music, then Settings from the menu bar.
3. Click the General tab and select Sync Library.
4. Wait for the library to finish syncing.

Apple's Sync Library page does not walk through the Android app. Once the Mac has finished syncing, sign in on the phone and look for your library there. More in Apple Music on Android and a Mac.

Questions people ask

Where do I put music files on an Android phone?

In the Music folder in the phone's internal storage. Android's documentation describes it as the standard place for audio files that should be in the user's regular list of music.

Can I transfer my iTunes library to an Android phone?

The song files, yes. Apple's guide says the Music app keeps copies in the Music folder in your home folder. Copy those files to the phone's Music folder with OpenMTP or a wireless tool. Playlists and play counts are not part of the files.

Is YouTube Music upload free?

Google's help page says you can play uploaded songs ad-free and offline even without a Premium subscription. It lists casting and smart speaker playback of uploads among the benefits for Premium members.