Move music, photos and movies to your Android smartphone or tablet from Windows or Mac
Android smartphones and tablets are great content consumption devices. So here's how to transfer files like music, photos and movies to an Android smartphone or tablet.
Whether you own an Android smartphone, or tablet and a Windows PC, or laptop or an Apple Mac, there is a way of getting your content from one to the other. See also: How to manually upgrade an Android smartphone or tablet.
Here's our guide for transferring files onto an Android smartphone or tablet from a Windows PC or Mac. This guide will suit the vast majority of Android device but some do behave differently than others so your experience may vary.
For this guide we used a Samsung Galaxy Nexus connected to a Windows 8 PC.
Transfer files to Android smartphones and tablet from Mac
Note. You will need Mac OS X 10.5 or later and Android 3.0 or later.
Step One
Head to www.android.com/filetransfer and download the Android File Transfer software and install it.
Step Two
Plug your Android device into your Mac with the supplied cable.
Step Three
Open the Android File Transfer software by double clicking on it. Browse folders and files on your Mac and transfer files to your Android device.
Transfer files to Android smartphones and tablet from Windows
Step One
For starters you'll need to plug your smartphone or tablet into the laptop or PC which has the files you want to transfer. Do this with the cable supplied with your device, most likely a microUSB cable.
Visit Group test: what's the best Android phone?
Step Two
Once you've plugged in your device, you should get a popup menu of options. Here you can choose different ways of transferring content, most of which are perfectly good options for Android smartphones and tablets.
For videos and photos, choose the 'Import' option and for music in Windows Media Play pick the 'Sync'. Otherwise we suggest the 'Open device to view files' option; this will make the device show up in the Windows file explorer as a removable storage drive.
We recommend this last option, as long as you know where the files are located on your machine. It makes the Android smartphone or tablet act like any USB memory stick or external hard drive.
Note. If you're phone doesn't show up properly, go to the settings and select 'Connect as media device (MTP) or similar. This is normally accessible from the drop down notification menu if the device is plugged into a PC.
Step Three
Depending on which option you've chosen, either follow the instructions to import or sync your device with your PC or drag and drop the files from your machine onto your Android smartphone or tablet with the Windows File Explorer.
Android devices have specified folders for music, movies and pictures so it's advisable to place the content in the corresponding folder.
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Comments
wayne kennedy said: How do I transfer files from my xp pc to my new samsung note with android
gracemary said: i did exactly as above but the pop up menu of option is empty Im using windows xp for my pc and Toshiba AT300SE for my tablet
mary grace viloria said: any advice when i plug my toshiba AT300SE tablet into my pc with windows XP as my OS My windows explorer doesnt show as shown in the example above there is no option to choose from but just a blank
ade said: if you use winamp both on your computer and phone it can auto sync your phone over wifi and youll never need to connect your phone to the PC surely the tutorial should mention this as once its set up which isnt hard it is the far easiest option
Filip said: This nazi controlled lock down os what you talk about is doing it for me without plugging my device to macpc I dont remember the last time I contected it for different reason then battery recharge I dont diss your preferred environment but yours accusations are just silly
Inixonable said: whats the process by using google playnewbie in android
Chris Martin said: Thanks
MaST MaX said: well explained
Others368 said: I think the easiest n fast connection is super beam
Marijke Groothuis said: app doesnt work on my ainol thats whats wrong - have transferred mp3s to my android and none can be found
feedback vmusic said: The BEST MUSIC APP for ANDROID herehttpsplaygooglecomstore
Billy said: Just had a firmware update to My Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Now when I plug in to the pc nothing happens Nothing shows up on the pc to show connection MTP is selected on the phone USB sticks still show up fine on pc so no problem with usb connection Now it feels just like an iphone bloody useless for file transfers
Marcellrichardson said: Theres a program called WinFF And what it does is it converts ANY FILE YOU WANT into ANY FILE YOU NEED Quite simple too You can either google it or you can go thru CNET Either way it goes ITS FREE TOO USE1 LUVPEACE
Blahblahblah said: how do you do it using windows xp
Kostas Georgas said: why my samsung galaxy s2 doesnt play wma music files ive got a lot of them and cant make them all mp3 if anyone knows something help
Carlhen said: File Transfer did not work on my Mac with Mountain Lion and my Galaxy Note tablet Just keeps giving errors
Lldesch said: when i plug my tablet into the computer it tells me to install driver software via a software cd but the tablet didnt come with a disc Ive enabled the MTP but nothing pops up on my computer I have a D2 Android tablet Any help would be appreciated
Myles Monkey said: Google Play Music Why not use the interface Google made for your android device Articles like this are the reason why people can get scared away my android Yes one can manually transfer all their music but whats wrong with Google Play
hiren patel said: its really great tutorial on using smart phone is it also possible to transfter files using bluetooth hiren patelrenruhakorg
Denny Craneftw said: Im glad this article at least MENTIONS drag and drop since thats all that needs to be done By default Android devices act as an external storage device when connected to a PC Open your music folder on the phone and PC drag amp drop and youre done No other steps are required