I’m not saying that Spotify Lossless has taken far too long to arrive.
I’m just saying that in the time between Spotify announcing it as “coming later this year” in February 2021 and Spotify actually delivering it this month, in September 2025, Taylor Swift recorded three original albums, released a live album, released Taylor’s Versions of four more albums, did one of the most lucrative world tours in music history, made eleventy billion dollars, found Mr Right, released a live concert movie and quite possibly discovered the ultimate answer to Life, The Universe and Everything.
So it’s fair to say that Spotify’s higher quality tier has taken its sweet time to arrive.
From today, customers with Premium subscriptions in over 50 regions including the US, UK and Australia will begin to be automatically upgraded to Spotify Lossless. That’s good news when you consider that the service was previously expected to be a paid-for upgrade.
And it’s an important upgrade, because the way people use Spotify – and music streaming more widely – has changed dramatically in the seven centuries since Spotify Hi-Fi was first promised to its fanbase.
Why Spotify isn’t charging more for Lossless
I think you can blame Apple for that. My Apple Music subscription gives me lossless (and by that I mean CD-quality) audio as standard, with two extra resolution tiers beyond it that are also free. And Amazon was quick to follow Apple’s lead when Apple’s Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless offering was rolled out. MusicAlly suggests that Spotify might also have done its homework and discovered that there aren’t enough people willing to pay extra for the lossless tier. And if that’s the case, what’s left for Spotify’s planned paid-for “Supremium” tier to offer?
Let’s face it, they’ll be putting the Premium price up again soon enough, because that’s what streaming services do.
Why Spotify needs to offer a Lossless service
I spend most of my work time writing about high quality audio kit, and it’s impossible not to notice that even eye-poppingly expensive audiophile hardware is increasingly based not just on connecting high-end turntables, but on streaming hi-res audio too.
From integrated streaming in soundbars to dedicated streaming transports for the highest of high-end hi-fi system, the industry understands that streaming – and our internet and Wi-Fi connectivity – is now capable of delivering high quality sound without having to compromise. That’s why my record collection is largely unplayed: it’s so much easier for me to Hey Siri up some hi-res music than haul myself off the couch to rifle through my records.
Why lossless music matters
The difference between normal streaming and lossless isn’t really noticeable when you’re listening to cheap headphones on the train or subway, but it’s very apparent in a quiet room with hardware that costs more than some people’s apartments.
But you don’t need to be an affluent audiophile to want the best possible sound from your system: the best wireless headphones are capable of much higher quality streaming than even a few years ago, and whether you’re listening on good quality headphones, on speakers or on a home cinema setup there’s an airiness and space to hi-res audio that you don’t get with more compressed audio formats.
When it comes to high quality streaming, Tidal, Apple Music and Qobuz are absolutely killing it in the more serious audio market right now, so the arrival of slightly better than CD quality audio for Spotify customers – Spotify Lossless is 44.1kHz, the same sampling frequency as CD, but it’s 24-bit rather than CD’s 16-bit so it delivers more data – is very welcome.
How does Spotify Lossless compare?
How good is good enough when it comes to sound quality? That’s the sort of thing that keeps audio forum users fighting for days on end, but objectively speaking it’s fair to say that Spotify Lossless doesn’t deliver the same streaming data as some key rivals. Apple Lossless is either 48kHz or 192kHz depending on whether it’s Lossless or Hi-Res Lossless; Qobuz goes up to 192kHz too; and Tidal’s Max format also goes up to 192kHz.
Whether that’s a difference you’ll actually notice, however, really depends on your hardware (and to some extent, the age of your ears: we lose hearing as we get older, especially in the higher frequencies). And streaming data rates don’t necessarily correlate with sound quality, either.
What to watch out for with Spotify Lossless
If you’re a Spotify Premium subscriber, there are a few things to consider when it comes to Lossless – and the first thing is your mobile data plan.
If you’re on a capped data contract, Spotify Lossless will use more data at the highest possible quality setting than before: where Spotify’s Very High quality setting uses about 2.4MB per minute, a lossless CD-quality track will burn about 36MB of data in the same 60 seconds. So if you’re not on an unlimited plan, it’s wise to download any Lossless listening over a wired or Wi-Fi connection, rather than streaming them on demand on the commute.
The second thing to watch out for is the quality of your audio kit. If you’re streaming over bog-standard Bluetooth, then streaming Lossless – on any service, not just Spotify – is pointless, because the basic Bluetooth codecs don’t deliver sufficient sound quality: they compress the audio before transmitting it to your active speakers or headphones. Even my beloved AirPods Max (1st gen) don’t do fully lossless audio over Bluetooth – although they can now do it via their USB-C wired connection that enables them to deliver 24-bit, 48kHz lossless.
There are also minor issues with higher resolution wireless codecs such as aptX HD and LDAC, which have slightly different noise floors and cut some of the higher frequencies at certain bit rates. It’s all very technical and for many of us, on many systems or smartphones, the differences are inaudible.
If you want to understand how higher-res audio codecs work, or if your hi-fi system is so precise that you can hear what the artist is thinking as well as what they’re playing, check out our aptX Unpacked explainer, our guide to hi-res audio, our breakdown of the various audio file formats you’re likely to come across – or there’s a brilliant analysis and explanation on the Sound Guys website. But if you’re looking for the tl;dr version, it’s this: for fully lossless audio, whether it’s Spotify Lossless or any other high-res sound source, you must (must!) listen on wired headphones and hi-fi kit.
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