Spotify Finally Delivers Lossless Audio

They’ve been hinting at it for 8 years, but the time has finally come, as Spotify announced that it was finally delivering lossless audio to its premium users. Lossless audio is reported to be rolling out gradually to more than 50 markets through October. Premium subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK have already started to gain access.

To be clear, the audio that’s supplied is 44.1kHz/24 bit in a FLAC file, so it doesn’t quite reach the realm of what platforms like Amazon Music, Tidal, or Apple Music. Those platforms provide 96kHz/24 audio in various lossless formats.

This might actually be a prelude to a new tier that does offer that higher resolution though. Many in the industry believe that this could be a marketing ploy for users to become familiar with lossless audio, then get them to upgrade to a higher-res tier later.

According to Spotify:

● Lossless is available on mobile, desktop, and tablet, as well as on many devices that support Spotify Connect, including Sony, Bose, Samsung, Sennheiser, and more. Support for additional devices, including those from Sonos and Amazon, is coming soon.

● Only music is available in Lossless audio quality. Music Videos, Podcasts, and Audiobooks are not available in Lossless quality.

● Once you have activated Lossless for streaming, the quality changes for the next song, it does not change mid song.

The company also points out that Lossless uses a lot more data and requires a strong internet connection. WiFi is the recommended connection for streaming music and downloading songs for offline listening.

To enable Spotify Lossless Audio:

1. Tap on your profile icon in the mobile or desktop app.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Open Media Quality.
4. Select where you want to enable Lossless audio quality: WiFi, cellular, downloads.

No word on the production requires yet, although most record labels supply a high-res format already.