Spotify has finally launched a feature users have been screaming for for years: Lossless audio. That means a new, higher-quality streaming option is getting added to already available tiers like Low, Normal, High, and Very High. Spotify claims the feature will be available for nearly every one of the 100 million songs on the platform, streaming in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC.
This comes about four years after the platform"s biggest competitor, Apple Music, launched its own lossless feature. Back in June 2021, Apple dropped lossless audio and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos on all its subscribers with no additional charge, making its entire over 75 million song catalog available in its own ALAC format.
Even Spotify admits that Lossless audio is one of its most requested features, and in a blog post, the company"s VP of Subscriptions, Gustav Gyllenhammar, justified the wait. He said the team took their time with the feature to "prioritize quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step".
To enable Lossless, you have to dig into the settings in the Spotify app. Under "Media Quality", you can select Lossless for Wi-Fi, cellular, or downloads. One potentially annoying thing is that you"d have to do this for every device you use.
Spotify recommends using a solid Wi-Fi connection and non-Bluetooth hardware like wired headphones or speakers that use Spotify Connect. The reason is that standard Bluetooth just does not have enough bandwidth to stream true lossless audio; the signal gets compressed, and you lose the very quality you are trying to get.
Lossless is "rolling out gradually" to Premium subscribers in over 50 countries through October. If you"re in any of the following countries, you should start seeing the option soon:
- Australia
- Austria
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Germany
- Japan
- New Zealand
- The Netherlands
- Portugal
- Sweden
- The US
- The UK
The feature is available on mobile, desktop, and tablet apps. It also works with many devices that support Spotify Connect, including ones from Sony, Bose, Samsung, and Sennheiser. Support for Sonos and Amazon devices will have to wait till next month.