Premium users in 50 markets will get 24-bit FLAC lossless streaming without price hikes

After years of speculation, delays and false starts, Spotify is finally rolling out lossless audio to its subscribers. The long-awaited feature, teased as far back as 2017, will now be available to Premium users in select countries without any additional cost.

The streaming giant confirmed that lossless audio will be offered in FLAC format at up to 24-bit / 44.1 kHz. That places Spotify behind rivals such as Apple Music, Tidal and Qobuz, which support Hi-Res FLAC up to 24-bit / 192 kHz. Still, for the vast majority of listeners—and their headphones or speakers—the difference is unlikely to be noticeable.

Most importantly, Spotify will not be launching a separate HiFi or premium-plus tier, nor will it be raising prices for existing Premium subscribers. The company says the feature is included as part of the existing package, a move that could help reassure users frustrated by recent experiments with unwanted features such as direct messaging.

The rollout begins this month across 50 markets, including the UK, US, Germany, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Sweden. Spotify says the process will take around two months to complete. Subscribers will receive an in-app notification once lossless becomes available on their account.

Enabling the feature is straightforward: users can head into settings and toggle lossless from the media quality menu. Once activated, an indicator will appear in the Now Playing bar to confirm that the stream is running in lossless. Compatible devices listed so far include models from Sony, Bose, Samsung and Sennheiser, with Sonos and Amazon hardware to follow in October.

The arrival of lossless places Spotify back on level terms with most of its major competitors—except YouTube Music, which remains the only big streaming service without a lossless option. For Spotify, this rollout is about catching up rather than pushing ahead, though the company may still hold back Hi-Res support for a potential “deluxe” tier in the future.

Critics note that the feature comes years after the company first promised it. In 2021, Spotify publicly announced “Spotify HiFi”, saying it would arrive before the end of that year. By May 2024, executives were still insisting it was “almost ready”. Against that backdrop, some users doubted the latest rumours when they began circulating this summer.

Now, however, there’s no doubt. The company says the feature is live and expanding, representing a significant change in its approach. While audiophiles may still look elsewhere for the highest possible sample rates, Spotify’s decision to include lossless at no extra charge could prove popular with its 600-million-strong user base.

In practical terms, lossless audio means tracks are streamed without the compression that reduces file size but removes some of the finer detail. For listeners with high-quality equipment, it should provide richer sound with greater clarity. For those listening through Bluetooth earbuds on a commute, the difference may be marginal—but the psychological boost of knowing the option exists should not be underestimated.

As music streaming continues to evolve, Spotify has faced increasing competition not only from Apple and Tidal but also from niche platforms appealing to serious audiophiles. With this announcement, it takes a step closer to meeting those demands, while leaving space to expand further if the appetite for higher-resolution tiers grows.