Spotify appears to be making progress on its long-promised high-quality audio feature.
As reported by TechCrunch, citing reverse engineer Chris Messina, new code has emerged suggesting the streaming giant may deliver lossless music to subscribers after years of delays.
Developers behind Spicetify, a third-party customization tool for Spotify, also uncovered mentions of “lossless” audio functionality within Spotify’s latest software update, according to an X post on Thursday (June 19).
The findings include user interface elements that weren’t previously visible, suggesting active development of the feature.
Screenshots shared by Spicetify on X show “lossless” appearing as a streaming quality option in Spotify’s settings menu. Additional references appeared in the “Connect to the device” sidebar and under the artist in the “Now Playing Bar.”
According to Spicetify’s analysis, the lossless feature will support audio quality up to 24-bit/44.1KHz (FLAC + Widevine). The developer also posted a screenshot of what appears to be Spotify’s Premium offering lossless audio across devices, with the wording: “Use the magic of Spotify Connect to play in lossless on compatible devices. No wires needed, unless you’d like them.”
The discovery comes over four years after Spotify first announced plans for high-quality audio. In February 2021, the company announced that it was adding a Hi-Fi audio subscription option to its platform. Three months later, Apple Music announced that it was adding both Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos, all bundled in free of charge with its streaming subscription.
While Apple Music rolled out these new features in June 2021, Spotify’s lossless audio feature never materialized. Another rival, Amazon Music, also launched HD music listening options for its $9.99-per-month Music Unlimited Service “at No Extra Cost,” while Spotify has repeatedly pushed back the timeline for its lossless audio offering.
In June 2024, Bloomberg reported that Spotify is planning to launch a pricier Premium music tier later this year that includes access to high-fidelity audio. A month later, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek pretty much confirmed that Spotify will be launching a new, pricier “Super-Premium” tier as part of its efforts to differentiate its paid subscription plans.
Ek described the new tier as being for “huge music lovers who are primarily looking for even more flexibility in how they use Spotify and the music capabilities that exist on Spotify.”
He continued: “The plan here is to offer a much better version of Spotify. Something like $5 above the current Premium tier… sort of a deluxe version of Spotify that has all of the benefits that the normal Spotify version has, but a lot more control, a lot higher quality across the board, and some other things that I’m not ready to talk about just yet.”
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