“Spotify Soon to Introduce Lossless Music Streaming Feature”

Spotify may soon join the ranks of Tidal, Prime Music, and Apple Music by introducing a lossless audio streaming service. After years of anticipation since Spotify first announced its plans for lossless streaming, 2024 might finally be the year it becomes a reality. This feature is already available on competing platforms like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal.

According to a Reddit user named ‘OhItsTom,’ who posted screenshots of the updated UI of Spotify app version 1.2.36, Spotify seems to have revamped its interface to include music streaming options with bitrates as high as 1,411kbps, a significant jump from the previous limit of 320kbps. Lossless streaming delivers uncompressed audio, offering listeners the purest form of music as intended by the artist. However, it comes with higher data consumption, with streaming a minute of lossless audio potentially consuming up to 15.9MB of data, especially at a bitrate of 2,117kbps. Spotify will notify users if their internet connection is too slow for lossless streaming.

While some users have already glimpsed the updated UI, these high-quality streaming options are currently inactive. Spotify is expected to gradually roll out these features and UI updates across both desktop and mobile versions of the app, signaling the imminent arrival of lossless audio streaming. Initially, this feature may be accessible to a select group of users, possibly limited to premium subscribers, offering up to a 24-bit/44.1kHz bitrate using the popular FLAC audio format.

It appears that access to lossless music, branded as Hi-Fi on Spotify, may be restricted to certain devices, potentially due to hardware compatibility issues. Users will also have the option to listen to lossless music offline, although Spotify advises against using Bluetooth devices for the best listening experience, recommending Spotify Connect speakers or wired audio devices instead.

As for pricing, it remains uncertain whether lossless streaming will be available to all premium subscribers or if Spotify will introduce a new subscription tier, possibly named ‘Supremium.’