iTunes is one common tool for iDevice users to store data, purchase songs and videos. It can also be used to manage music files in the playlist. However, what can you do when you find your favorite playlists are lost for a certain reason? This issue is not uncommon at all. Most iTunes users have encountered the same issue. Luckily, you don’t have to be panic when faced with missing playlists. Actually, you still can get back the iTunes lost playlists. With the aid of this guidance, you will be able to make it easily. Here I would show you three great methods to cope with this problem successfully.

Why Does iTunes Sometimes Lose Playlists Accidentally

You may wonder “Why does iTunes lose my playlists”. This may happen in different cases. Some major reasons for this issue are listed in the following contents for you to refer to.

1. When you upgrade your iTunes to the latest version, your iTunes playlists, videos, songs and other content may disappear due to improper operation. You’d better back up iTunes data before you update its version.

2. When you delete a song from iTunes playlists, you may accidentally remove the whole playlist instead of a certain song. This careless operation often happens.

3. If you delete a playlist on your iDevice and then sync it to iTunes, the playlist you remove on iDevice will also be erased.

4. If your computer crash suddenly, most of your computer data will be lost, including your favorite playlists in iTunes.
There are also other causes for losing iTunes playlists. No matter what the reason it is, you can continue to read the contents in this tutorial to find proper method to get rid of this trouble at ease.

Method 1: Restore iTunes Lost Playlists from iPhones/iPads/iPods

When you find your iTunes playlists are lost, you may desire to know how to recover them successfully. If your iTunes lost playlists exist on your iPhones/iPads/iPods, you can make use of Leawo iTransfer to restore them to iTunes from your iDevice. Leawo iTransfer can transfer 12 kinds of files among iTunes, iDevices and computers quickly and accurately. For example, you can transfer non-purchased music from iPhone to iTunes with ease. It is a perfect iDevice file management tool, which is professional and easy-to-use. It is quite proper for beginners to make use of as well. Follow the steps shown below and you will grasp the method to use Leawo iTransfer to fix how to recover lost iTunes playlists from iPhones/iPads/iPods conveniently.

iTransfer

Leawo iTransfer 

☉ Transfer files among iOS devices, iTunes and PCs with ease.
☉ Transfer up to 14 kinds of data and files without iTunes.
☉ Support the latest iOS devices like iPhone X, iPhone XR, etc.
☉ Play back, view, and delete data and files on iOS devices.

Step 1. Run Leawo iTransfer and Insert iDevice
Find a proper USB cord to connect iDevice with your computer and then launch Leawo iTransfer. It will detect your iDevice automatically and show its icon in the top left corner of the window. Your iDevice info will be displayed in the right part of the main interface.

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Step 2. Choose Playlists to Transfer
In order to deal with the problem of iTunes lost playlists how to restore, you need to click on iDevice icon and then navigate to the menu of “PLAYLIST” and then hit on a specific playlist that you have lost in iTunes. The songs in the playlist will be shown in the right part of the window. Check all songs in the playlist and then right-click on one of them to tap on “Transfer to > iTunes” in the pop-up pane to initiate the transfer process.

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Step 3. Wait for Transferring
A percentage bar will show in the window, and you need to wait for the end of the transferring procedure. In a few seconds, your playlist on iDevice will be recovered to iTunes.

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If you need to restore another playlist from iDevice to iTunes, you can repeat the steps stated in the above to finish the task. Leawo iTransfer makes the transfer between iTunes and iDevices quite convenient. You can download the trial version to deal with this issue properly. If you find it quite useful, you can upgrade it to the paid version to help you in daily life.

Video Demo of How to Use Leawo iTransfer

Method 2: Restore iTunes Lost Playlist from iTunes Backup

When it comes to how to recover lost iTunes playlists, you can make use of your iTunes backup to get this work done. It is really a good habit for you to back up data regularly on your computer. Thus, it will be quite simple for you to recover lost iTunes playlists. Refer to the following steps and you will know how to make it clearly with this method.

1. Fire up iTunes on your computer and then hit on the option of “File” in the toolbar.
2. After that, you need to click on “Library > Import Playlists…” from the drop-down menu.

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3. A panel will direct you to locate the iTunes playlists file that you have backed up on your computer beforehand and then you need to click on the file to import it to iTunes library directly.
This method is quite simple for you to make use of. However, the precondition is that you have backed up the iTunes playlists before you lost them. If you do not have any backup on computer, you may have to resort to other solutions to help you.

Method 3: Restore iTunes Lost Playlists from an Old iTunes Music Library XML File

It is also feasible for you to restore iTunes lost playlists from an old iTunes music library file. This is also not so hard for you with the assistance of detailed step-by-step instructions shown below. Now let’s begin to have a look at it.

1. First, you need to run iTunes on your computer and then click on “Edit> Preferences> Advanced” tab successively. Thus, you will see the option of “iTunes Media folder location”. Copy the directory under this option and then navigate to Windows Explorer to paste it in the address bar.

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2. Hit on the “Enter” key on your keyboard and the iTunes media folder will be shown in the interface and then you need to locate the Music library.xml file and drag it to your desktop for later use.

3. After that, you need to click on “File> Library > Import Playlists…” successively to navigate to the xml file that you have saved on desktop to add it to iTunes library. Thus, iTunes lost playlists will be back quickly for you to enjoy listening.

You can choose to use this way to help you to restore iTunes lost playlist when you have an old iTunes music library XML file stored in your local computer folder.

Extra: How to Back up iTunes Playlist to Computer

To back up iTunes data is a good habit that you should develop, which can benefit you a lot when you want to restore lost iTunes files. It can save you much time. In order to back up iTunes playlist to computer in case you need, you can still apply Leawo iTransfer to help you. Moreover, you can backup apps, music, movies, etc. from iTunes/iDevice to computer. Its powerful functions have been introduced in the first method to restore iTunes lost playlists briefly. Now you can continue to see how to use it to transfer iTunes playlist to computer for backup.

Step 1. Run Leawo iTransfer
Kick off Leawo iTransfer on your computer and then you will see your iTunes categories in the left sidebar of the software.

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Step 2. Choose iTunes Playlist to Transfer
Click on iTunes icon and then navigate to “PLAYLIST” tab to hit on. You will see several playlists listed in this menu. Choose one of them and then right-click on it. Select the option of “Export Playlist” to click on.

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Step 3. Set Output Location and Transfer Playlist
A panel will pop up for you to set the location to save the exported iTunes playlist. After you choose the target folder, you need to click on “Save” button to begin to transfer playlist from iTunes to computer. Just in a few seconds, the transfer process will complete. Thus, you can see the iTunes playlist file in the folder on your computer that you have just set.

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If you need to back up other playlists from iTunes to computer, you can repeat the steps shown in the above to help you to get this work done. You can also use Leawo iTransfer to transfer iTunes files to iDevices. If you desire to know the detailed steps, you can visit the official website of this program to see how to make it smoothly.

All the methods mentioned above to restore iTunes lost playlists are not hard to handle. Leawo iTransfer is the best tool for you to solve this problem efficiently. Download and install it on your computer. After you use it for several times, you will know how convenient and powerful it is.