After years of anticipation and several delays, Spotify has finally rolled out support for lossless audio streaming to its Premium subscribers. This highly anticipated feature, offering CD-quality audio in 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC format, promises a significant improvement in sound quality for millions of users. The initial rollout encompasses over 50 countries, with Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the United States, and the United Kingdom already enjoying access. Existing Premium users will receive an in-app notification once the feature becomes available in their region.
Enabling lossless streaming is straightforward. Users can navigate to Settings and Privacy > Media Quality and select "Lossless" for streaming over Wi-Fi, cellular data, and downloads. Importantly, this setting must be activated individually for each device, as it doesn't automatically apply across all devices linked to the Spotify account. Given the larger file sizes associated with lossless audio, Spotify will provide data usage tracking to help users manage their consumption.
While lossless streaming is supported over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity is currently incompatible due to bandwidth limitations – a constraint also previously highlighted by Apple. However, users can leverage Spotify Connect with compatible devices from manufacturers like Bose, Yamaha, and Bluesound to stream lossless audio over Wi-Fi. This launch marks a significant step for Spotify, albeit a belated one. Competitors such as Apple Music (2021) and Amazon Music (2019) had previously introduced lossless streaming options. Spotify assures users that this update encompasses nearly every track in its extensive 100-million-song library; however, some tracks might not yet support lossless quality.
The arrival of lossless audio on Spotify represents a victory for audiophiles and music lovers who have patiently awaited this enhancement. While the rollout is phased, the promise of significantly improved audio fidelity across Spotify's vast catalog is undoubtedly a welcome development for Premium subscribers worldwide.
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Originally published at: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/spotify-is-finally-launching-support-for-lossless-music-streaming/
