Spotify Finally Launches Lossless Audio After 4-Year Wait

Four years. That's how long Spotify users have been waiting since the streaming giant first announced its Hi-Fi tier in 2021. Meanwhile, Apple Music rolled out lossless audio support in 2021, and Amazon Music made its lossless streaming free after launching a paid HD tier in 2019. But here's what you need to know: Spotify is finally making good on that promise, and the rollout is happening right now.

The wait is officially over, but this gradual rollout tells a bigger story about competitive pressure, technical challenges, and what "better late than never" really means in the streaming wars.

What's actually rolling out (and what took so long)

Let's break down what Spotify is delivering: lossless streaming support for premium account holders after years of waiting. The company is releasing support for up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC quality streaming—a format that preserves the original audio quality without compression—for paid users.

Here's where the technical specs get interesting: Spotify's 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC delivers CD-quality lossless audio, which represents a significant upgrade from their current compressed format. However, it falls short of what Apple Music, Tidal, and Qobuz offer—they support up to 24-bit/192 kHz. For most listeners using typical consumer equipment though, that difference won't be audible in practice.

What's particularly significant is how the business model evolved during these four years. Spotify includes lossless streaming at no additional cost for existing Premium members. Remember all those reports about a pricier tier? The service was previously expected to be a paid-for upgrade, but competitive pressure from Apple's free lossless launch clearly changed that strategy.

The delay makes more sense when you consider the market dynamics. When Spotify first announced Hi-Fi in February 2021, they were positioned to lead the lossless streaming transition. But Apple Music launched lossless audio just months later—at no extra cost—forcing Spotify to completely rethink their pricing strategy and technical implementation.

The global rollout reality check

Lossless streaming will be rolling out to users in over 50 countries through October. Subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK are already getting access.

Here's what's smart about this implementation: users will get a notification on their app when they get access to lossless streaming, but the feature is available across devices only after users manually enable it for each device.

This isn't just a technical quirk—it's smart UX design that prevents accidental data overages. Because here's the reality: lossless music will consume up to 1GB of data per hour. Files with lossless streaming are larger, and users can keep track of how much data they have used for streaming—a necessary feature given the bandwidth requirements.

PRO TIP: Enable lossless only when you're on Wi-Fi or have unlimited data. Accidentally streaming lossless on a limited cellular plan could burn through your monthly allowance in just a few hours.

Hardware compatibility: the Bluetooth bottleneck

Here's where things get technically interesting, and it's a fundamental limitation that affects every lossless streaming service: lossless quality tracks cannot be streamed over Bluetooth due to bandwidth limitations. This isn't a Spotify problem—it's a constraint that Apple has previously complained about regarding Bluetooth's bandwidth restrictions.

Think about your daily listening habits: most people using phones are connected to Bluetooth headphones. AirPods, Samsung Galaxy Buds, Sony WH-1000XM5s—they're all going to compress that lossless audio back down to fit through Bluetooth's data pipeline. It's like buying a 4K TV and watching standard definition content.

The workaround requires Wi-Fi streaming: You can use Spotify Connect to connect to devices from companies like Bose, Yamaha, and Bluesound to stream the music over Wi-Fi. Launch partners include Sony, Bose, Samsung, Sennheiser, Denon, Marantz, Bluesound and Yamaha, with Sonos support available 'in the coming weeks.'

Bottom line: lossless is best experienced using wired audio gear, and over a stable Wi-Fi connection. If you're primarily using Bluetooth headphones during your commute, you won't get the full lossless benefit anyway—that's just the current reality of wireless audio technology.

What this means for the streaming competition

This launch fundamentally shifts the competitive landscape. For four years, Apple Music rolled out lossless music support while Amazon Music made its lossless streaming free. During this gap, Apple Music includes CD-quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) and hi-res lossless (up to 24-bit/192kHz) without any extra charge, making Apple Music a leading service regarding sound quality such as lossless audio and Dolby Atmos support.

But here's the strategic shift: nearly every song on Spotify will be available in lossless, with a clearly labelled 'Lossless' symbol. With Spotify's 100 million+ songs in its catalogue, the breadth of lossless content becomes immediately competitive.

This changes the entire value proposition conversation. For years, audio quality was Apple Music and Tidal's primary differentiator against Spotify's superior discovery algorithms and social features. Now that the quality gap is essentially closed, competition shifts back to user experience, content curation, and those AI-powered recommendations where Spotify excels.

The real question isn't whether Spotify's lossless matches competitors technically—it's whether the four-year delay permanently damaged their position with quality-focused users. Hi-res audio might satisfy some, but those who have been waiting for it have most likely switched to other streamers already.

Where streaming quality heads next

This rollout represents more than Spotify catching up—it signals that audio quality has become table stakes for premium streaming services. Streaming services like Tidal and Apple Music are actively investing in immersive audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio, setting up the next competitive battleground.

Apple Music's Dolby Atmos support gives them a head start in spatial audio, but Spotify's scale and algorithmic expertise could make them formidable competitors in personalized immersive audio experiences. The question becomes whether Spotify can leverage their recommendation engine to create smarter spatial audio playlists and discovery.

For existing Spotify users who've been waiting, this is a welcome upgrade that removes audio quality as a platform limitation. For audiophiles who jumped ship years ago, the decision to return depends on whether Spotify's other features—social sharing, playlist discovery, podcast integration—are compelling enough to outweigh the technical advantages competitors still hold.

PRO TIP: If you're getting access to Spotify lossless, test it with your current setup first. Most people cannot hear a difference between lossy and lossless audio in blind tests, especially through typical consumer headphones and speakers.

Here's my take: this launch removes audio quality as a reason to avoid Spotify, but it doesn't necessarily create a compelling reason to switch back from Apple Music or Tidal. The streaming wars aren't ending—they're just moving to new territory. After four years of playing defense on audio quality, Spotify can finally go back on offense with their core strengths: music discovery, personalized experiences, and social features.

The next phase of competition will likely center on AI-driven personalization, spatial audio implementations, and ecosystem integration. Spotify's lossless launch isn't just about catching up—it's about getting back in the game.