Spotify Premium Unlocks Lossless Audio for a Richer Listening Experience

Spotify has officially rolled out its long-awaited lossless audio feature for Premium subscribers, promising a significantly more detailed and immersive listening experience. This highly anticipated update, which began its gradual rollout on September 10, 2025, brings CD-quality sound to the platform at no additional cost to existing Premium members. The move marks a significant step for the audio streaming giant, addressing years of user demand and bringing its audio fidelity offerings in line with competitors.

Gustav Gyllenhammar, VP of Subscriptions at Spotify, expressed excitement about the launch, stating, "The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers. We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step." This indicates a deliberate approach to ensure the feature is not just high-fidelity but also user-friendly.

The Technical Details: What Lossless Means for Your Ears

At its core, lossless audio means that music is streamed without any compression that degrades sound quality. Spotify's implementation delivers tracks in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC format. For the uninitiated, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a file format that preserves all the original audio data, unlike compressed formats like MP3 or AAC, which discard some information to reduce file size. This preservation means listeners can expect to hear nuances and details in their music that were previously lost.

This higher fidelity comes with a trade-off: larger file sizes. Spotify notes that lossless tracks can consume more data, approximately 145MB per hour compared to about 72MB per hour for their previous "Very High" quality setting. This is an important consideration for users with limited data plans or slower internet connections. However, the company has also introduced granular control over quality settings, allowing users to choose between Low, Normal, High, Very High, and the new Lossless options for Wi-Fi, cellular, and downloads, offering flexibility to manage data usage.

Rollout and Device Compatibility: Getting Lossless to Your Ears

The rollout of lossless audio is happening in stages, with over 50 markets slated to receive the feature by the end of October 2025. Initial access has already begun for Premium subscribers in countries like Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US, among others. Users will receive an in-app notification once lossless audio becomes available to them.

Spotify is also working to ensure broad device compatibility. The feature is already available on mobile, desktop, and tablet devices, and is supported on many devices that utilize Spotify Connect. This includes popular brands such as Sony, Bose, Samsung, and Sennheiser. Further support for devices from Sonos and Amazon is expected to arrive next month, expanding the reach of this enhanced audio experience.

It's worth noting that for the optimal lossless experience, Spotify recommends using wired headphones or speakers and a non-Bluetooth connection, like Spotify Connect. Bluetooth technology, at present, doesn't offer sufficient bandwidth to transmit lossless audio without compression, meaning the signal would still need to be compressed before reaching your ears. This is a crucial point for audiophiles looking to get the absolute best out of their music.

Enabling Lossless: A Simple Process for Enhanced Sound

Activating lossless audio is designed to be straightforward within the Spotify app. Users simply need to navigate to their profile icon, then to Settings & Privacy, followed by Media Quality. From there, they can select their preferred quality settings for Wi-Fi, cellular, and downloads, including the new Lossless option. It's important to remember that this setting needs to be enabled manually on each individual device. Once activated, a "Lossless" indicator will appear in the Now Playing view or bar, confirming that you're experiencing the highest fidelity available.

While the initial playback of a lossless track might take a moment to cache and load due to the larger file sizes, once it's ready, users can immerse themselves in the music with all its intended detail. This feature is a significant addition to the Spotify Premium ecosystem, joining other popular enhancements like DJ, Jam, AI Playlist, Mix, and Daylist, all aimed at providing a richer and more personalized audio journey for its subscribers.