Spotify Lossless Audio Is Here: The Complete Guide to High-Fidelity Streaming

Spotify’s lossless launch comes four years after the company first promised the feature in 2021, making it one of the last major streaming services to offer this premium audio quality.

Now available at no additional cost to Premium subscribers in select markets, Spotify's lossless streaming brings 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC quality to nearly every song in the platform's vast catalog. For context, Spotify previously maxed out at 320 kbps AAC, a compressed format that prioritized efficiency over fidelity.

Before comparing specs and competitors, it’s worth understanding what “lossless audio” actually means.

Lossless audio represents a fundamental shift from traditional streaming compression. Most streaming platforms have traditionally relied on lossy, compressed audio formats like MP3 or AAC. These formats reduce file size and make streaming efficient, but at the cost of permanently removing some sonic information in the process. The result: small files, but subtle details – like reverb tails, instrumental textures, or stereo depth – can be lost.

On the contrary, lossless audio is a type of digital audio file that preserves the full set of data from the original recording, meaning that no information is permanently discarded during compression. In real life, this is evident in a higher-quality listening experience, where the audio is identical to what the artist intended. As a result, though, the lossless audio file requires more storage space and bandwidth.

As previously mentioned, Spotify's recent implementation delivers music in FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format at 24-bit depth and 44.1kHz sample rate — the same resolution as a CD master. This means listeners can now hear audio files that contain significantly more data than compressed alternatives, resulting in:

• More depth and detail in recordings

• Clearer dynamics, especially in acoustic, jazz, and orchestral music

• Improved fidelity and stereo imaging on high-end headphones and speakers

The difference between lossy and lossless becomes most apparent in complex musical passages, subtle instrumental details, and the spatial characteristics of recordings.

It’s important to note that the impact of lossless audio depends heavily on the playback setup. On quality speakers or wired headphones, trained ears may notice details like room ambience, subtle reverb, or the separation between instruments. Meanwhile, on cheap earbuds or noisy commutes, the improvement in sound will feel far less dramatic or significant. Bluetooth connections also remain a limiting factor, since most wireless codecs still compress audio.

In other words, the benefit is most obvious for listeners with good equipment in quiet environments — but the fact that Spotify now preserves the original audio data ensures artists’ work is faithfully represented across the board.

Activating Spotify’s new lossless streaming is pretty straightforward, though the process varies slightly across devices. Premium subscribers in supported countries will see a notification in their Spotify app, after which they can manually enable the feature.

To turn on lossless audio in the Spotify mobile app:

1. Tap your profile icon in the top left.

2. Navigate to Settings & Privacy, then Media Quality, where you’ll find the new Lossless option.

3. Select where you want to enable lossless audio: Wi-Fi, cellular, or downloads.

On desktop:

1. Open Preferences from the main menu, tapping your profile icon in the top right.

2. Go to Settings, then navigate to the Audio Quality section.

3. Enable Lossless.

Notably, you’ll need to repeat this process on every device manually – enabling the feature on your phone won't automatically activate it on your computer or other connected devices. Once turned on, you’ll see the Lossless badge in the Now Playing view or bar, and via the Connect Picker, allowing you to confirm the audio quality in real time.

The feature works across mobile devices, desktop applications, tablets, and many Spotify Connect-compatible speakers and audio systems, including products from Sony, Bose, Samsung, and Sennheiser. Additional devices from manufacturers such as Sonos and Amazon are reportedly set to receive support in subsequent updates rolling out in October 2025.

Given that lossless files are larger and consume more data, Spotify advises users to stream lossless music primarily on Wi-Fi to avoid high mobile data usage and use wired headphones or speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection, like Spotify Connect, to achieve the smoothest and best listening experience. As mentioned above, Bluetooth connections do not currently provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio – even if you’re using a pair of the best wireless headphones in the world — meaning that the signal must be compressed before transmission.

As of the time of writing, Spotify Lossless is available to Premium subscribers in select countries, including Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK. According to Spotify’s announcement, the rollout will continue gradually, with more than 50 additional markets expected to gain access by the end of October 2025.

Listeners outside these initial regions may not see the option in their app yet, but it will appear automatically once the feature is activated in their market.

Spotify's move into lossless streaming places it alongside established competitors, though with some notable differences in quality, pricing strategy, and catalog coverage. Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, and Qobuz have offered lossless streaming for years, with varying quality tiers and pricing structures. It’s worth noting right away that, while Lossless at 24-bit/44.1kHz is a clear step up for Spotify, the platform still lags behind in terms of audio quality.

Apple Music, for example, provides lossless streaming at up to 24-bit/192kHz, while Tidal provides multiple tiers including both CD-quality FLAC and MQA “Master” files that can also reach 24-bit and 192 kHz. Amazon Music delivers Ultra HD streaming at similar specifications, and Qobuz has long specialized in high-resolution audio, with much of its catalog available at 24-bit/192kHz.

However, Spotify's competitive advantage lies in its pricing strategy and accessibility. Unlike Tidal or Qobuz, which charge higher subscription fees for their premium tiers, Spotify has chosen to include lossless streaming at no additional cost within its existing Premium plan. This approach mirrors Apple Music and Amazon Music, both of which also offer lossless audio at their standard subscription rate. This decision likely reflects the company's focus on user retention rather than creating new revenue streams through audio quality tiers.

Another important distinction is catalog coverage. Spotify states that "nearly every song" in its library is available in lossless format, providing broader access than some competitors who offer limited high-resolution catalogs. This comprehensive coverage ensures subscribers can enjoy improved audio quality across their entire music library rather than select releases.

While Spotify’s rollout of lossless streaming marks a major upgrade, listeners should be aware of its practical limitations. The overall experience still depends heavily on the playback chain – from internet connection through audio equipment to the listener's ears.

As previously highlighted, Bluetooth connectivity remains one of the most significant constraints, as most wireless protocols compress audio regardless of the source quality. Even advanced codecs like LDAC or aptX HD, while improved over standard Bluetooth, cannot match the quality of wired headphones or speakers for lossless content.

Moreover, internet bandwidth requirements increase substantially with lossless streaming. FLAC files consume significantly more data than compressed alternatives, which can potentially cause buffering issues on slower connections or contribute to mobile data overage charges if the music isn’t streamed through Wi-Fi.

Spotify's loudness normalization, which adjusts volume levels across tracks for consistent playback, continues to operate even with lossless content. While this maintains the user-friendly listening experience, it can reduce the dynamic range advantages that lossless formats typically provide.

Finally, many older recordings or those originally mastered at lower quality levels won't benefit substantially from lossless presentation. The format is unable to recreate or recover details that weren't present in the original recording. This means that poorly recorded or heavily processed tracks may sound nearly identical to their compressed versions.

With Spotify’s adoption of lossless audio, many artists are asking what this change means for them. The short answer is that the quality of your master recordings matters more than ever. In a lossless environment, the technical and creative details of your music are preserved with far greater accuracy. This has a few significant consequences:

• Mastering decisions — from dynamic range to EQ choices — carry even more importance, because nothing is being masked by compression.

• Subtle nuances, such as reverb, stereo imaging, and instrumental textures, are more audible.

• Over-compressed or poorly mastered tracks can sound harsher or less balanced when played back in lossless.

That said, it’s important to reiterate that lossless audio itself is not a new concept in the music industry. Many streaming platforms have been offering it for years, and industry standards already require artists to provide distributors with the highest-quality stereo masters possible, typically in WAV or FLAC formats. For example, independent musicians distributing music through iMusician are already required to submit their tracks in WAV files to ensure quality across all platforms.

The true significance of Spotify’s move is its scale. For the first time, the world’s largest streaming platform is essentially allowing listeners to experience music as it was produced in the studio – although, yes, there are still those technical limitations we discussed. Yet, this update gives independent artists the chance to present their work in pristine quality to hundreds of millions of Spotify users.

For artists, the real value comes down to authenticity. Lossless streaming allows your music to be heard as intended, preserving the subtleties such as reverb, instrument textures, and background elements that can be dulled or lost in compressed formats. By delivering high-quality masters, Spotify enables artists to focus more on the creative process, trusting that the technical integrity and quality of their masters will be maintained.

Are you new to Spotify? Check out our article on how to upload music to Spotify and get started.

Spotify's lossless launch represents more than a technical upgrade — it signals the company's renewed commitment to audio quality after years of focusing on features, discovery, and market expansion. By doing so, Spotify positions itself more competitively against platforms like Apple Music, Tidal, and Qobuz, which have long used superior audio quality as a differentiator.

The rollout of lossless streaming could also pave the way for additional enhancements in the future, such as higher sample rates or specialized content tailored to audiophile listeners. Still, given Spotify’s mass-market focus, any future developments will likely aim to balance quality improvements with broad accessibility.

For the wider streaming industry, including lossless at no extra cost raises the bar, especially compared to services that charge for premium tiers. Of course, this holds unless Spotify revisits its rumored “Super-Premium” strategy down the line.

Ultimately, while lossless audio isn’t new, Spotify’s adoption brings it to the largest global audience yet. This makes high-fidelity listening more accessible and reinforces audio quality as a standard expectation in mainstream streaming.