How do I transfer iTunes music from PC to Mac Music while retaining playlists, album order, and metadata?

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Level 1

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How do I transfer iTunes music from PC to Mac Music while retaining playlists, album order, and metadata?

Hi. I want to copy the music in iTunes on my HP laptop running Windows 11 to a new Macbook Pro's Music software. I know this isn't hard, but I'm afraid if I just drag and drop the content of my PC's music folder I will lose things such as playlists (and smart playlists), the order in which the albums were added (this is actually important to me) and various other metadata.

I know itunes uses the database file on PCs. Can this be transferred to a Mac?

Thanks for helping!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on May 4, 2025 12:40 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

277,729 points

May 4, 2025 03:11 AM in response to MattL2

It somewhat depends on what build of iTunes you are moving from and what version of Music you are moving to. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community for general advice. It was relatively straightforward when iTunes was updated in sync across Mac & Windows. Music can sometimes open a .itl library from Windows but I don't have a compatibility chart for you. Alternatives are to edit an XML file but that won't retain Date Added. A temporary subscription to Apple Music may allow you to clone the PC library to the Mac complete with Date Added values, but at the potential risk of some mismatches. You can always replace the physical files with those from your PC should that occur.

tt2

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Answer 2

MattL2 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 13, 2025 01:01 AM in response to MattL2

I solved my own problem. While setting up the Mac, I was asked if I wanted to import files from my PC via Bluetooth. Doing it this way transferred everything the way I wanted it to!

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How do I transfer iTunes music from PC to Mac Music while retaining playlists, album order, and metadata?

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