Spotify to get lossless music streaming capability soon
Spotify lossless audio | Spotify HiFI | Spotify Music Pro subscription
Spotify might bring the feature with a new “Music Pro” subscription tier. (File Photo)
It’s been a couple of years since Spotify announced its plan to offer lossless music streaming. It might finally happen in 2024. The feature is already available on rival music streaming platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal.
According to an updated UI of the Spotify app version 1.2.36, as posted on Reddit by a user named ‘OhItsTom’, Spotify has updated the UI to include music streaming options with up to 1,411kbps, which was limited to 320kbps.
Spotify
Spotify is testing lossless music streaming options (Image credit: OhItsTom/Reddit)
Lossless music streaming uses high bit-rate audio, enabling listeners to experience uncompressed music as intended by the artist. However, it also consumes a lot more data, and according to the screenshot, streaming a minute of audio in lossless format can consume up to 15.9MB of data, especially when streamed at a 2,117kbps bitrate. If the internet bandwidth is slower, Spotify will highlight the same.
While some users have received the new UI, these options are disabled at the moment. Spotify is said to be rolling out these new options and updated UI on both desktop and mobile versions of the app, and this indicates lossless audio streaming is just around the corner.
Initially, the feature could be limited to select users, possibly premium subscribers alone, with up to a 24-bit/44.1kHz bit rate using the popular FLAC audio format.
It also looks like lossless music, marketed as Hi-Fi music on Spotify, could be limited to select devices, possibly due to hardware compatibility. One will also be able to listen in offline mode. Spotify clearly mentions that listening to lossless music on a Bluetooth device can affect the listening experience and recommends Spotify Connect speakers or wired audio devices.
Right now, it’s also inconclusive if Spotify will offer lossless streaming to every premium subscriber, or if the platform will announce a new subscription tier, which could be called ‘Supremium’ as per a leaked information in 2021.
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