Announced since 2021, the lossless audio feature could finally arrive on Spotify. But not everyone will be able to take advantage of it.
We've been talking for years about the arrival of superior sound quality on Spotify with lossless, but such a feature has never yet been introduced within the app. This absence is a notable one, as the music streaming platform had been discussing this option as early as 2021, and a number of competitors, such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal, have been offering it for some time now.
This time could finally be the right one. Several clues suggest that Spotify could launch lossless audio imminently. Software engineer Chris Messina spotted the following mention in the app's code: “Lossless music, available in Premium. Discover the best sound quality on Spotify: for music up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz”.
Limited lossless audio on Spotify?
On Reddit, a user noticed that the latest update to Spotify's PC app brings numerous changes to the menus, including the integration of several lossless-related elements. The lossless option would only be available with compatible wired headphones and FLAC format files. Dolby Atmos technology would not be supported in this mode.
The different qualities offered by Spotify would therefore be:
- Low: 24 kbps (consumes about 0.01 GB/hour)
- Normal: 96 kbps (consumes about 0.03 GB/hour)
- High: 160 kbps (consumes about 0.05 GB/hour)
- Very High: 320 kbps (consumes about 0.1 GB/hour)
- Lossless: Lossless audio codec up to 24 bits/44.1 kHz (consumes up to 1 GB/hour)
It may be surprising to see that Spotify's lossless stops at 24 bits/44.1 kHz. At Apple Music, for example, lossless starts at 44.1 kHz and can go up to 192 kHz. Settling for a maximum frequency of 44.1 kHz could irritate purists.
Spotify is clearly preparing to launch lossless audio, but it's unclear when it will be made available. Any prediction would be risky given the history of the issue. A priori, the feature would be included in the Premium offer, which could raise fears of yet another increase in the subscription price.
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