Technology is disclosed for synchronizing audio files from a computing device of a user to an in-vehicle computing device, such as an audio system, installed in an automobile. In one example, when the user plays an audio file on the in-vehicle computing device from the computing device, the audio file is copied at the in-vehicle computing device. After copying the currently playing audio file, the in-vehicle computing device can also copy at least some of the audio files from the computing device. The in-vehicle computing device computes a popularity score of each of the audio files based on an access pattern of the audio files, and categorizes them into priority files and low-priority files based on their popularity score. While the in-vehicle computing device copies the priority files, it copies metafiles of the low-priority files. The metafiles can include information such as a title, artist, etc. of the audio files.