Spotify Begins Rollout Of Lossless Audio Streaming For Premium Subscribers

Spotify announced the rollout of high quality lossless audio for Premium subscribers in select markets. A press release noted that “Lossless is rolling out gradually to more than 50 markets through October.”

Markets included in the rollout are Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the U.S. and the UK. Premium subscribers will be notified in Spotify as lossless options become available to them.

Spotify has dealt with criticism of its sound quality in recent years. Executives hope that the lossless rollout will provide Premium subscribers with better listening experiences.

“The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers,” VP of Subscriptions Gustav Gyllenhammar stated. “We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes 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.”

Lossless will allow listeners to stream tracks in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, “unlocking greater detail across nearly every song available on Spotify,” the press release noted. The press materials also offered some pointers on how best listen in the lossless format:

For the smoothest and best listening experience, we recommend streaming lossless music on Wi-Fi 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.

Follow this link for information on enabling lossless audio and more.