Spotify is about to sound better for millions of people.
Four years after Spotify originally planned to introduce higher-quality audio, the audio streamer is at long last rolling out HD lossless audio to Premium subscribers in select markets. As Spotify notes in something of an understatement, it’s been a highly requested feature. The feature won’t be available on the free, ad-supported version of Spotify.
Premium subscribers will receive a notification in the Spotify app once lossless audio becomes available to them. Lossless is rolling out gradually to more than 50 markets through October. Spotify’s Premium subscribers in the U.S. have already started to get access to the feature, along with those in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the U.K., according to the company.
Spotify’s lossless audio feature will allow users to stream tracks encoded in up to 24-bit depth at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz via FLAC (free lossless audio codec), an open-source compression algorithm that provides playback without losing any data from the original recording. The company says lossless audio is available “across nearly every song available on Spotify.”
Until now, the highest-quality audio offered by Spotify used the lossy Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec with a bitrate maxing out at 320 kbps. FLAC-encoded audio eats up much more bandwidth; for example, Amazon says its audio in FLAC format at a 24-bit depth and 48 kHz sampling rate averages 1,600 kbps.
In 2022, Spotify put HD audio on indefinite hold — and since then it had not provided any significant updates prior to Wednesday’s announcement.
Spotify is playing a years-long catch-up on this front: Apple Music introduced lossless audio in May 2021, while Amazon Music did so in 2019. Other music services like Tidal also offer lossless HD audio.
“The wait is finally over,” Gustav Gyllenhammar, Spotify’s VP of subscriptions, said in a statement. “We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step, so you always know what’s happening under the hood. With Lossless, our premium users will now have an even better listening experience.”
Spotify’s lossless HD audio is available on mobile, desktop and tablet apps, as well as on many third-party devices that support Spotify Connect, including those from Sony, Bose, Samsung, Sennheiser, Denon and Marantz, Bluesound and Yamaha. Support for additional devices, including those from Sonos and Amazon, will launch in October.
Spotify users will be able to set lossless audio listening — which consumes more bandwidth — for Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, as well as downloads for offline listening. Customers also can choose between Low, Normal, High, Very High and now Lossless music quality “to provide maximum flexibility and control,” with Spotify’s app showing how much data each of option requires.
Spotify users will need to enable lossless audio manually on each device. Once it’s activated, a Lossless indicator will appear in the Now Playing view or bar, and via the Connect Picker. For the best listening experience, the company recommends streaming lossless music on Wi-Fi using wired headphones or speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection. According to Spotify, Bluetooth currently doesn’t provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio, so the signal has to be compressed before being sent.
To turn on lossless audio in the Spotify app (if it’s available on your account), follow these steps:
- Tap your profile icon on the top left
- Go to Settings & Privacy → Media Quality
- Select where you want to enable lossless audio: Wi-Fi, cellular, downloads
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