
Spotify Lossless is CD-quality streaming, up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, that Premium subscribers get at no extra charge. It launched in September 2025 and finished rolling out to every market by late 2025, so it is now live for Premium listeners everywhere. For producers and mix engineers, almost nothing in your workflow changes: you deliver the same high-resolution master and Spotify still normalizes everyone to about -14 LUFS. What changes is the ceiling on playback quality for listeners who switch it on.
Until now, Spotify's top tier was 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis, a lossy codec that discards audio data it predicts you will not notice. Lossless uses FLAC, which compresses the file the way a ZIP does: smaller on disk, but mathematically identical to the source when it plays back. The app labels it Lossless 16-bit or Lossless 24-bit depending on the file, both at a 44.1 kHz sample rate, which is the CD standard.
In practice that means the bits leaving Spotify's servers now match the bits in the file your distributor delivered, with no codec sitting in between. For how lossy and lossless formats differ at the file level, see our .
| Quality setting | Format | Approx. bitrate |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Ogg Vorbis | 24 kbps |
| Normal | Ogg Vorbis | 96 kbps |
| High | Ogg Vorbis | 160 kbps |
| Very High (Premium) | Ogg Vorbis | 320 kbps |
| Lossless (Premium) | FLAC 16/24-bit, 44.1 kHz | ~850-1,400 kbps |
For reference, that puts Spotify level with Tidal, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Qobuz and Deezer on the CD-quality tier. Spotify caps at 44.1 kHz, where Apple Music and Qobuz go further into hi-res (up to 24-bit/192 kHz), but for streaming over real-world gear the 44.1 kHz ceiling is rarely the limiting factor, the playback chain is.
Short answer: no. Loudness normalization is format-agnostic, so Spotify applies the same gain to the lossless stream as it does to the lossy one. A master that integrates at -8 LUFS still gets turned down to about -14 LUFS on playback, and a quiet -18 LUFS master still gets turned up. Going lossless does not let a louder master win, and it does not move the target.
What does change is exposure. A 320 kbps codec smears fine detail and can mask small problems: a slightly crunchy limiter, a harsh de-esser, low-level noise in a tail. FLAC hands the listener exactly what you printed, artifacts and all. The cleaner your master, the more lossless rewards you; the sloppier it is, the more it exposes you.

Before you upload, check where your master actually sits. Our LUFS meter shows integrated loudness, true peak, and loudness range, so you can confirm you are near the -14 LUFS zone with a -1 dBTP ceiling, the same targets whether the listener is on the lossy or the lossless stream. For the full picture on the unit itself, read what LUFS means.
Lossless is opt-in and set per device, so enabling it on your phone does nothing for your laptop or your Connect speaker. You need Spotify Premium; it is not on the free tier.
Lossless needs roughly 1.5-2 Mbps of bandwidth, about 0.7-0.9 GB per hour of continuous listening, so it is worth leaving the cellular switch lower if you are watching a data cap.
Honestly, often not. Hearing 320 kbps versus FLAC takes a quiet room, a decent DAC and headphones or monitors, and material with real dynamic range and high-frequency detail. Over standard Bluetooth the audio is re-compressed by the codec (SBC or AAC) after it leaves Spotify, which caps the quality before it reaches the earbud regardless of the lossless setting.
The practical upside for you is on the production side: you can now A/B your own master in the same fidelity an engaged listener gets, instead of judging it through a lossy proxy. If you mix on monitors, reference your master on a wired lossless chain before you sign off.
If you hand finished masters to clients or labels, this is a good moment to tighten how you deliver them. A streamable preview plus a gated final download in a delivery Room keeps the high-resolution file controlled until the track is approved.
Yes, it is included with Spotify Premium at no extra cost. It is not available on the free, ad-supported tier.
No. Spotify generates the lossless stream from the high-resolution file you already delivered through your distributor, so your existing catalog becomes lossless automatically.
No. Spotify still normalizes playback to about -14 LUFS regardless of format, so loudness is unchanged between the lossy and lossless streams.
Up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, which is CD quality. The effective bitrate varies with the music but typically runs from about 850 to 1,400 kbps.
Both stream lossless. Spotify caps at 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, while Apple Music offers higher hi-res tiers up to 24-bit/192 kHz plus Dolby Atmos. For the vast majority of listeners and material, the 44.1 kHz difference is inaudible.
Phones, tablets, desktop, and many Spotify Connect speakers and Sonos systems support it; check for the Lossless badge in the now-playing bar. Over Bluetooth the stream is re-compressed by the Bluetooth codec, so a wired connection or a lossless-capable Connect device is needed to actually hear the full quality.