What is iCloud Music Library?
iCloud Music Library allows you to access your music collection across all your devices that are signed into your Apple ID (https://www.imore.com/icloud-music-library-ultimate-guide). It matches the songs in your personal library to songs in the Apple Music catalog to make them available everywhere. With iCloud Music Library enabled, you can stream any song in your library even if it’s not downloaded locally on that device.
Any music you purchase from the iTunes Store or add to your library on one device will be automatically available in your library on all your other devices too. According to Apple Support, iCloud Music Library can store up to 100,000 songs (https://support.apple.com/guide/itunes/icloud-music-library-itnsa3dd5209/windows).
Does Uploading to iCloud Music Use Storage Space?
Uploading your music library to iCloud Music Library does use storage space on your iCloud account. When you enable iCloud Music Library, it will upload any songs in your library that aren’t already matched by Apple Music or iTunes Match. According to Apple Support, “These songs are uploaded and stored in iCloud” (1). So any music you have that isn’t available on Apple Music will count against your total iCloud storage quota.
It’s important to note that it takes up space on your personal iCloud storage plan, not Apple Music storage. Apple Music and iTunes Match subscriptions allow you to access matched songs without using storage, but any uploads still use your iCloud space. iMore notes, “You can store up to 100,000 songs with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription; it doesn’t count toward your iCloud storage costs” (2).
In summary, enabling iCloud Music Library allows you to access your music library from any device, but does require using some of your available iCloud storage for any songs that need to be uploaded.
How Much Space Does iCloud Music Use?
The amount of storage space used by iCloud Music Library depends on how many songs you have uploaded to it. When you enable iCloud Music Library, it will scan your music library and match your tracks to songs already in Apple’s catalog. Any tracks that are matched do not take up extra storage space. However, any tracks that are uploaded and stored in iCloud do use your iCloud storage quota.
According to Apple, the average size of an uploaded music file is around 3-4MB. So if you have 10,000 songs uploaded to iCloud Music Library, it would use around 30-40GB of your total iCloud storage space. The maximum number of songs you can store in iCloud Music Library is 100,000, even if you have more available iCloud storage. At 4MB per song, 100,000 uploaded tracks would use around 400GB of space 1.
Of course, this is just an estimate and the actual storage used will depend on the length and encoding of your individual tracks. But in general, the more music you have stored solely in iCloud rather than matched, the more space it will occupy.
Tips to Save iCloud Storage Space
Here are some tips to help save storage space used by iCloud Music Library:
Use Apple Music streaming instead of uploading your own music library. Songs streamed from Apple Music do not count against your iCloud storage quota. Consider upgrading to an Apple Music subscription which gives you access to over 90 million songs without using any of your iCloud storage.
Only download full resolution songs when you need to listen to higher quality audio. iCloud Music Library automatically uploads your songs at full resolution, which uses more space. You can download lower quality versions suitable for everyday streaming to save space. Go to Settings > Music > Audio Quality and select a lower quality.
Delete any duplicate copies of songs. iCloud Music Library can sometimes upload multiple copies of the same song. Check your library for duplicates and delete any extras.
Turn off “Sync Library” if you don’t need your full music library available on all devices. This will prevent unnecessary song copies from being uploaded.
Use “Optimize Storage” on your iPhone or iPad. This automatically removes downloaded songs you haven’t played in a while, while keeping them accessible via streaming.
Advantages of iCloud Music Library
Using iCloud Music Library offers several advantages over manually managing a music library across devices. The key benefits include:
Access your music collection on all your devices – With iCloud Music Library, you can access your entire music library from any device where you are signed into your Apple ID. This includes iOS devices like iPhone and iPad, Mac computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Windows PCs. Your music is available instantly without needing to sync or transfer files manually.
According to Apple’s support page, “Your iCloud Music Library can keep the following available in the cloud: Up to 100,000 songs, not including songs (or music videos) purchased from the iTunes Store or Apple Music.” (https://support.apple.com/guide/itunes/icloud-music-library-itnsa3dd5209/windows)
No need to manually manage your music – With iCloud Music Library enabled, any new music you add on one device will automatically upload and be available on your other devices. You don’t have to worry about manually keeping your music in sync across devices.
Overall, iCloud Music Library provides a seamless way to access your music collection from anywhere and eliminates the hassle of manual music management.
Disadvantages of iCloud Music Library
While iCloud Music Library offers convenient access to your music across devices, there are some potential downsides to consider:
Uses iCloud storage space – Uploading your music library to iCloud will count against your available iCloud storage quota. Large libraries may require purchasing additional iCloud storage to avoid running out of space (1).
Uploading can take time – Depending on your library size and internet connection speed, it may take hours or days for your full music collection to upload to iCloud (2). This can be disruptive if you want to access your music immediately.
Potential matching errors – iCloud Music Library attempts to match the songs in your library with songs in the Apple Music catalog. Sometimes mismatched songs can appear under the wrong album or artist name (3). Fixing incorrect matches can be a tedious process.
Turning off iCloud Music Library later can also be problematic if you lose your original music files. Overall, it’s a good idea to carefully evaluate if the benefits outweigh the potential hassles.
(1) https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250412451
(2) https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/yhhvyk/enable_cloud_music_library_sync_library_what/
(3) https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/annoying-icloud-music-library-issues/
Alternatives to iCloud Music Library
There are a few alternatives for storing and syncing your music library without relying on iCloud Music Library:
Store music locally – You can store your music library on your device’s internal storage or external storage like an SD card or external hard drive. You’ll then need to manually sync music between devices using a cable, WiFi transfer, or an app like iMazing.1
Use other cloud storage services – Services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive allow you to store files in the cloud and sync between devices. You can manually upload your music files to cloud storage and access them on different devices logged into the same account.2
The downside to these alternatives is you lose the integration and streaming offered by iCloud Music Library. But they do allow you to avoid using iCloud storage space for your music.
Turning Off iCloud Music Library
If you need to disable iCloud Music Library to save storage space, here are the steps:
On an iPhone or iPad:
– Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage
– Tap on Music, then Disable and Delete.
This will turn off iCloud Music Library syncing and delete any songs that were uploaded to iCloud rather than stored locally on your device. Any music purchased through Apple Music will still be available to stream, but not saved for offline listening.
According to The Verge, turning off iCloud Music Library can recover significant storage space on your device.
Reclaiming iCloud Storage Space
If you find your iCloud storage space is still full after reviewing and optimizing all of your content, there are a few more things you can do to reclaim space:
Review and delete unused apps
Go through your purchased apps in the App Store and delete any apps you no longer use. This will delete the app data stored in iCloud as well. Just keep in mind you may lose data associated with that app.
Offload unused apps
Instead of deleting apps entirely, you can offload them to free up space while keeping the documents and data associated with the app. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see a list of apps that can be offloaded.
Manage and delete photos
You can free up a significant amount of space by deleting photos and videos from your iCloud storage. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Photos to delete photos you no longer need. You can also turn off iCloud Photo Library entirely if you don’t want photos and videos automatically saved.
Additionally, you can optimize your photo storage by turning on Optimize iPhone Storage, which keeps full resolution versions in iCloud only while smaller versions are on your device. Learn more at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204247
Summary
To recap, uploading your music library to iCloud Music does use your iCloud storage space. How much space it uses depends on the size of your music library. A library of 10,000 songs could use around 25GB of your iCloud storage. There are a few ways to reduce how much space iCloud Music uses, such as enabling high efficiency formats, uploading lower quality files, or removing music you no longer listen to from your iCloud Music library. Overall, while uploading your music to iCloud does take up iCloud storage space, for most users with average sized libraries, it’s unlikely to be a major issue.