What is Lossless Audio on Spotify and When Will it Be Released: Here's Everything You Need to Know

The music streaming world is buzzing with a question on everyone's mind: What is Spotify's plan for lossless audio, and when will we finally hear the difference? For years, the promise of higher fidelity has been a talking point, but the details have remained elusive.

Here is a clear and concise breakdown of what this technology is, why it matters, and when you can expect to experience your favourite tracks in their purest form.

Spotify's Long-Awaited Lossless Audio is Finally Here

Spotify is finally rolling out support for high-quality, lossless music streaming to premium account holders, a feature many have been waiting for. A hi-fi tier offering CD-quality audio was first mentioned by the company in 2021. Regrettably, the project has since faced several delays, with licensing issues being one of the reasons.

According to CEO Daniel Ek, the company was in the 'early days' of introducing lossless streaming support as of last year. For the past few years, various reports and code hints in the app have suggested that the company was getting ready to release a more costly tier for lossless audio.

Finally, the company is now introducing streaming support for up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC quality — a format that preserves the original audio without any compression — for its paid subscribers. 'The wait is finally over; we're so excited that lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers', Gustav Gyllenhammar, VP Subscriptions, Spotify, said.

'We've taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritises 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', the top executive added.

Tailor Your Listening

In a recent blog post, Spotify explained that since everyone listens differently, the company is providing custom settings for Wi-Fi, cellular and downloads. Listeners can choose between Low, Normal, High, Very High and now Lossless music quality to get the most flexibility and control.

You will also be able to see how much data each of these requires, which will make choosing a quality setting simpler. The lossless feature is accessible on mobile, desktop and tablet devices, in addition to many devices that support Spotify Connect, such as those from Sony, Bose, Samsung and Sennheiser. Support for additional devices, such as Sonos and Amazon, will be added next month.

Activating Lossless Audio

To switch on lossless audio in the Spotify app:

• Start by tapping your profile icon in the top-left corner.
• Next, navigate to Settings & Privacy, then select Media Quality.
• Finally, choose where you would like to activate lossless audio, from Wi-Fi, cellular and downloads.

It's important to note that listeners must manually activate the Lossless feature on each device. The Lossless indicator will then appear in the 'Now Playing' view or bar, and via the Connect Picker, confirming that the feature is on.

Spotify recommends streaming lossless music over Wi-Fi with wired headphones or speakers connected via something like Spotify Connect for the best and smoothest experience. This is because Bluetooth currently lacks sufficient bandwidth to transfer lossless audio, necessitating signal compression before transmission.

As lossless audio preserves every musical detail, the files can be larger. Therefore, when users enable the feature, a track may take a moment to load and cache, but after that, it is ready for playback.

Availability and Rollout

The lossless feature is being gradually rolled out to more than 50 markets and is expected to be complete by the end of October. Premium subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK have already begun receiving access.