Spotify Lossless: What It Is and How to Turn It On

Spotify Lossless is the setting Premium subscribers waited on for years after Spotify first announced "HiFi" in 2021. It streams music as FLAC at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz instead of the usual compressed 320 kbps, and it doesn't cost anything extra. Whether you'll actually hear it comes down to what you listen on. Here's what it is, how to turn it on, and when it's worth the data.

What Spotify Lossless Actually Is

Spotify announced Lossless on September 10, 2025 and rolled it out to Premium in more than 50 markets by October, starting with the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia and a handful of others. It sits at the top of the quality menu, above "Very high".

The difference is the codec. Every other Spotify setting is lossy: the audio is squeezed with Ogg Vorbis (or AAC in the web player), and some detail is thrown away to keep the stream small. Lossless uses FLAC, which compresses without discarding anything, so what reaches your device matches the master file Spotify received from the label. According to Spotify's support page, that's "quality up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz."

Setting	Format	Approx. quality	Who gets it
High	Ogg Vorbis	~160 kbps	Free and Premium
Very high	Ogg Vorbis	~320 kbps	Premium
Lossless	FLAC	Up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz	Premium
Web player	AAC	256 kbps max	Premium (128 kbps on Free)

For the full list of settings, see our Spotify bitrate and audio quality guide.

Who Can Use It

You need three things:

A Premium plan. Lossless isn't available on the free tier. It's included in every Premium plan at no extra charge.
An up-to-date app. Spotify lists version 9.0.58 or later for mobile and 1.2.67 or later for desktop. The web player doesn't offer it; its ceiling is 256 kbps AAC.
Music, not other content. Lossless covers songs only. Podcasts, audiobooks and music videos stay at their normal quality.

How to Turn On Spotify Lossless

Open the Spotify app and tap or click your profile picture.
Go to Settings and privacy (just Settings on desktop).
Open Media quality.
Choose Lossless for Wi-Fi streaming, cellular streaming, downloads, or all three.

Setting them separately is the smart move. Lossless on Wi-Fi and for downloads, with Very high on cellular, gets you the quality at home without chewing through your data plan on the go.

What You Need to Actually Hear It

This is where most people lose the benefit without realizing it. Spotify says plainly that the way you connect to headphones or speakers "can impact quality as some methods may not support lossless quality," and it singles out Bluetooth. Most Bluetooth codecs re-compress the audio on the way to your earbuds, so a lossless stream ends up lossy anyway. Apple says the same thing about its own service: "Bluetooth connections aren't lossless."

The setups that do carry it:

Wired headphones, plugged into a computer, or into a phone with a headphone jack or a USB-C/Lightning DAC.
Spotify Connect speakers and receivers. At launch Spotify named Connect devices from Sony, Bose, Samsung and Sennheiser, with Sonos and Amazon devices following.
A desktop or laptop feeding a USB DAC or a decent pair of powered speakers.

If you listen on AirPods, most other wireless earbuds or a car's Bluetooth connection, Lossless mostly just uses more data. Very high will sound the same.

How Much Data and Storage It Uses

Spotify recommends "a steady internet connection of 1.5 to 2 Mbps" for lossless. Worked out per hour, that's roughly 675 to 900 MB of streaming, compared with about 144 MB an hour at 320 kbps. In other words, Lossless uses around five to six times the data of Very high.

The same goes for downloads. An album saved in Lossless takes several times the space of the same album at Very high, so check your free storage before you set downloads to Lossless and grab a few big playlists. Downloaded tracks stay inside the Spotify app, and they need your account to go online at least once every 30 days to keep working.

Can You Hear the Difference?

Honestly, a lot of people can't, and that's fine. At 320 kbps, Ogg Vorbis is already very good, and in blind tests most listeners struggle to pick it out from a lossless file on everyday gear. Where Lossless tends to show up is on a good wired setup, with well-recorded acoustic, jazz or classical music, at a volume where you're paying attention. Cymbals and reverb tails sound a little cleaner, and busy passages hold together better.

A fair way to test it: pick a track you know well, put on wired headphones, and switch between Very high and Lossless a few times. If you can't tell, save the data. If you can, you've got your answer.

Spotify Lossless vs Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon

Spotify was the last big service to add lossless, and it stops at 44.1 kHz. Apple Music offers ALAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz, Tidal Max streams HiRes FLAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz on its Individual and Family plans, and Amazon Music Unlimited goes to 24-bit/192 kHz in Ultra HD. Those higher sample rates usually need an external DAC to play properly, though, and none of them survive Bluetooth either. For most listeners, Spotify's 24-bit/44.1 kHz tier is enough, and it's included in the plan you may already have. YouTube Music is the one service with no lossless option at all, topping out at 256 kbps. Our audio quality guide has the full comparison table.

Spotify Lossless and Converting to FLAC

People sometimes assume that converting a Spotify song to FLAC gets them the Lossless version as a file. It doesn't. Spotify's Lossless stream is encrypted and only plays inside the app. Our converter doesn't record that stream: it matches your Spotify link to the same recording on YouTube and converts that audio, which is lossy to begin with. Saving it as FLAC keeps everything that source contains without further loss, which is handy for archiving or editing, but it won't match what you hear with Lossless switched on in the app.

So the two do different jobs. Spotify Lossless is the best way to listen while you're subscribed. A converted MP3 or FLAC is a file you keep, that plays on any device, like a SanDisk or other MP3 player or a USB stick in your car, and that doesn't stop working if you cancel.

Want files you can keep? Paste a Spotify link and save it as MP3, FLAC, WAV or AAC.

Open the Spotify to MP3 converter →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Spotify Lossless free?

It costs nothing extra, but you need Spotify Premium. Lossless is included in Premium plans and isn't available on the free tier.

What quality is Spotify Lossless?

FLAC at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz. That's CD quality or slightly better, compared with about 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis on the Very high setting.

Why don't I see the Lossless option?

Check three things: that you're on Premium, that your app is up to date (9.0.58 or later on mobile, 1.2.67 or later on desktop), and that you're not using the web player, which doesn't offer Lossless.

Does Spotify Lossless work over Bluetooth?

Not in full. Spotify warns that Bluetooth may not support lossless quality, because most Bluetooth codecs re-compress the audio. Wired headphones or a Spotify Connect speaker get the full benefit.

How much data does Spotify Lossless use?

Spotify recommends a steady 1.5 to 2 Mbps connection, which works out to roughly 675 to 900 MB per hour of streaming. That's about five to six times more than the Very high setting.

Can I download Spotify Lossless as FLAC files?

You can download Lossless tracks for offline listening, but they stay locked inside the Spotify app. Converted FLAC files from a web converter come from a different, lossy source, so they aren't the same as Spotify's Lossless stream.