Share your iTunes library over your home network

Use Home Sharing or Music Sharing to share your iTunes library between computers or devices.

Home Sharing and Music Sharing are two ways that you can stream music from your computer to other devices or computers over your home network.

If you want to share your music collection across all of your devices, learn about your options. You can also share purchases with other members of your family if you use Family Sharing.

Home Sharing

Home Sharing allows you to transfer content to another computer or stream content to other devices. To see your library and its contents on a different computer, you must be signed in with the same Apple ID and password.

Learn how to use Home Sharing to share music from your iTunes Library to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, another Mac or PC, or your Apple TV.

Apple Music content can't be shared using Home Sharing.

Music Sharing

Music Sharing allows you to stream music to other Macs or PCs on your network using iTunes. You must have iTunes open on your computer for other people to see your shared library and playlists.

If you don't put a password on your shared iTunes library, anyone on your network can see your iTunes library, the library name, and its contents. Sharing is for personal use and only works with computers on the same home network with Digital Rights Management (DRM) free content.

Apple Music content can't be shared using Music Sharing.

Turn on Music Sharing

Open iTunes.
Mac: From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen, choose iTunes > Preferences.
Windows: From the menu bar at the top of the iTunes window, choose Edit > Preferences.
Click the Sharing tab.
Select "Share my library on my local network." You can share your entire library or only specific content types or playlists.
If you want to restrict access to your library, you can password protect it. Select "Require password," then enter a password in the box.
Click OK.

Customize your library

You can set a custom name for your library, which other iTunes users on your network will see.

Mac: From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen, choose iTunes > Preferences.
Windows: From the menu bar at the top of the iTunes window, choose Edit > Preferences.
On the General tab, enter your preferred library name in the box next to Library Name.

View shared libraries

Open iTunes.
In the upper-left corner, click Music, then Edit Menu.
Select Shared Libraries, then click Done.
Libraries of people who are on the same network as you and have iTunes open on their computer appear. Click [their library's name] to view their library. Click to disconnect from a shared library.