In a significant update for its Premium subscribers, Spotify has announced that it will be making a new high-fidelity ‘Lossless’ audio tier available at no extra cost.
The feature will be rolled out to users over the next two months, and subscribers should receive an in-app notification once it becomes available on their account. To enable it, users can navigate to the media quality menu within their settings.
When actively listening to a lossless track, an indicator will be displayed in the Now Playing bar and within the Connect Picker for compatible hardware. Initial device support includes products from Sony, Bose, Samsung, and Sennheiser, with support for Sonos and Amazon devices anticipated to be added next month.
Technically, Spotify’s lossless streams will be delivered in FLAC format, with a quality topping out at 24-bit/44.1 kHz. For the optimal experience, the company recommends streaming on a Wi-Fi connection using wired headphones or speakers via a non-Bluetooth connection like Spotify Connect. This is because current Bluetooth technology lacks the necessary bandwidth to transmit a full lossless signal without compression.
This upgrade will be made available to all Premium subscribers across 50 markets, including the UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, and the US. Spotify has confirmed that its subscription pricing will not change as part of this feature rollout.