Spotify is rolling out lossless audio to its Premium subscribers.
The streaming platform will start offering tracks in up to 24-bit and 44.1 kilohertz (kHz) FLAC audio quality from today (September 10), with various different nations getting the feature in the coming weeks. Spotify’s audio quality has long been mocked as poor in the past.
“The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers,” said vice president of subscriptions Gustav Gyllenhammar, announcing the news. “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.”
Other streaming platforms have offered their subscribers lossless audio quality for a number of years. Upon launching in 2015, Tidal had a premium HiFi tier that streamed lossless CD-quality files. Amazon Music HD followed in 2019 offering a collection of 50 million songs in CD-quality and a smaller library of high-resolution (24-bit and up to 192 kHz) files for an additional monthly payment. In 2021, Apple Music started offering lossless CD quality and high-resolution streaming to all subscribers at no additional charge.