What Programming Language Does Spotify Use?

Spotify is not written in one language. It has publicly described Java, Python, Scala, JavaScript and TypeScript, with Swift on iOS and Kotlin on Android. Backend services lean on Java. Data work leans on Python and Scala.

A service this size is thousands of small programs. Each team picks from a short approved list. That is why the answer is a set, not a single name.

The list below covers what Spotify itself has described in engineering blog posts, open source projects and conference talks. Anything less certain is marked as reported.

The Languages, and Where They Are Used

Does Spotify Use Python?

Yes. Python is one of the languages Spotify uses most, mainly for data pipelines, machine learning work and internal tooling.

Spotify released Luigi, a Python tool for chaining batch jobs. It also released Chartify, a Python charting library. Both came out of its data teams.

Python is not the main language for the services that stream audio. Those are mostly Java.

Spotify has not publicly described Django as a core part of its stack. Treat any claim that Spotify runs on Django as unconfirmed.

Does Spotify Use Java?

Yes. Java has been the main backend language at Spotify for a long time.

Spotify open sourced Apollo, a set of Java libraries for writing small HTTP services. It also open sourced Helios, a Java tool for running containers across a fleet.

Both projects show the same pattern. Many small Java services, each owned by one team.

The Data Side: Scala and Google Cloud

Spotify has publicly described moving its data platform to Google Cloud. Its jobs run on Apache Beam and Google Cloud Dataflow.

To write those jobs, Spotify built and open sourced Scio. Scio is a Scala API for Beam. Scala is the language of choice there because Beam pipelines read well in it.

Play events, skips and likes travel through this pipeline. They end up in storage where recommendation models can read them.

The Client Apps

The web player is built with JavaScript and TypeScript. Spotify engineers have spoken publicly about using React for it.

The iOS app uses Objective-C and Swift. The Android app uses Java and Kotlin. Spotify has published engineering posts about adopting both newer languages.

The desktop app is reported to wrap web technology inside a native shell. Lower level audio code has historically been written in C and C++.

The Official Name of the App

The app is simply called Spotify. There is no longer product name.

The operating company is Spotify AB, based in Stockholm. The listed parent company is Spotify Technology S.A.

What This Means for an Interview

Spotify does not require one language in its coding rounds. Candidates report choosing their own, and Java, Python, Kotlin and JavaScript are all common choices.

Pick the language you write fastest. The interviewer is grading your problem solving, not your syntax.

Knowing the stack still helps. It gives you specific things to ask about in the questions-for-us part of the round.

How to Prepare

• Choose one language and stay with it. Practice every problem in it until the syntax stops slowing you down.
• Learn the patterns, not single problems. Grokking the Coding Interview groups questions by the technique that solves them.
• Get the data structures solid first. Grokking Data Structures for Coding Interviews covers the ones interviewers actually use.
• Read how the pieces fit together. Our page on Spotify system architecture explains the services behind the app.
• Know the rounds before you apply. See the Spotify interview process round by round and what skills Spotify asks for.
• Prepare the story rounds. Spotify weighs collaboration heavily. See Spotify behavioral interview questions.