Lossless audio has been one of the most anticipated features and now, finally, it’s rolling out to Premium listeners. With Lossless, you can now stream tracks in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, unlocking greater detail across nearly every song on Spotify.
The first community request for lossless was lodged in 2014. 1,661 days after Spotify announced it was coming — it's finally landed!
I've personally been following the development of this feature since it was called HiFi... if not before then.
Now all those @Apple Music fanbois can no longer claim that their service has a monopoly on audio quality! 😛
Lossless is 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 get access.
Lossless overview:
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.
Note: Some Connect-enabled devices don't support Lossless quality
Only music is available in Lossless audio quality. Podcasts, audiobooks, and music videos are not available in Lossless quality.
Lossless uses a lot more data and requires a strong internet connection. Lossless also uses more storage for downloaded songs. WiFi is the recommended connection for streaming music and downloading songs for offline listening.
Lossless is not always recommended for use on cellular, metered, or weaker internet connections. When you enable Lossless for the different quality settings, there will be a few different prompts. These prompts will ask you to acknowledge that for smooth playback, you'll want a strong WiFi or cellular connection and that Lossless will use a lot more data and storage. This is to ensure that you understand Lossless uses more data and it helps to prevent unexpected charges on capped data plans.
It is recommended to stream Lossless music on WiFi using wired headphones or speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection, like Spotify Connect. Currently, Bluetooth doesn't provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio, so the signal has to be compressed before being sent.
When Lossless is activated, the app makes it clear that it's activated and which device you are streaming from. In the desktop and mobile app, look for the green Lossless label on the Now Playing view or bar.
Once you have activated Lossless for streaming, the quality changes for the next song, it does not change mid song.
Note: Downloaded songs will be played in the quality that they were originally downloaded in, even if you are currently on a WiFi connection. If you want your Offline Backup and downloaded songs to be in Lossless, you will need to clear them first and then re-download them. If you change the streaming quality, song files that were already cached in a higher quality than the selected quality will be preferred.
Everyone listens differently, so there are custom settings for WiFi, cellular, and downloads. Choose between Low, Normal, High, Very High, and now Lossless music quality to provide maximum flexibility and control. You'll be able to see how much data each of these requires to make choosing easier.
The first community request for lossless was lodged in 2014. 1,661 days after Spotify announced it was coming — it's finally landed!
I've personally been following the development of this feature since it was called HiFi... if not before then.
Now all those @Apple Music fanbois can no longer claim that their service has a monopoly on audio quality! 😛
Lossless is 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 get access.
Lossless overview:
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.
Note: Some Connect-enabled devices don't support Lossless quality
Only music is available in Lossless audio quality. Podcasts, audiobooks, and music videos are not available in Lossless quality.
Lossless uses a lot more data and requires a strong internet connection. Lossless also uses more storage for downloaded songs. WiFi is the recommended connection for streaming music and downloading songs for offline listening.
Lossless is not always recommended for use on cellular, metered, or weaker internet connections. When you enable Lossless for the different quality settings, there will be a few different prompts. These prompts will ask you to acknowledge that for smooth playback, you'll want a strong WiFi or cellular connection and that Lossless will use a lot more data and storage. This is to ensure that you understand Lossless uses more data and it helps to prevent unexpected charges on capped data plans.
It is recommended to stream Lossless music on WiFi using wired headphones or speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection, like Spotify Connect. Currently, Bluetooth doesn't provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio, so the signal has to be compressed before being sent.
When Lossless is activated, the app makes it clear that it's activated and which device you are streaming from. In the desktop and mobile app, look for the green Lossless label on the Now Playing view or bar.
Once you have activated Lossless for streaming, the quality changes for the next song, it does not change mid song.
Note: Downloaded songs will be played in the quality that they were originally downloaded in, even if you are currently on a WiFi connection. If you want your Offline Backup and downloaded songs to be in Lossless, you will need to clear them first and then re-download them. If you change the streaming quality, song files that were already cached in a higher quality than the selected quality will be preferred.
Everyone listens differently, so there are custom settings for WiFi, cellular, and downloads. Choose between Low, Normal, High, Very High, and now Lossless music quality to provide maximum flexibility and control. You'll be able to see how much data each of these requires to make choosing easier.