If YouTube Music is eventually going to replace Google Play Music, it has some locally-stored music shoes to fill. But it looks like Google is really pushing for this, despite the former still lacking some things from the latter. They have now added a small feature that would let you play audio files that are stored in your smartphone. However, it’s not yet the in-app local media playback that is most convenient but some workaround that still lets you do it.
Basically, when you open your YouTube Music app, you still can’t access your locally stored files (with Google Play Music you can do that of course). What you can do is open your audio files from within apps like file manager and then choose YouTube Music as the app that you want to open it with. The system isn’t perfect as you will still have to do that every time you want to play a file, but at least it’s there.
The app will be able to open and play audio files in the following formats: mp3, ogg, WAV, AAC-encoded M4A, FLAC and probably some other more that weren’t tested. For those who have lossless files, unfortunately, it can’t play on YouTube Music as it may need something with a better library management system.
You will need to update your YouTube Music app to the latest version in order to enjoy this new feature. You can update it through the Google Play Store or through the APK Mirror.
VIA: Android Police
