Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Several new prompts and UI elements related to Spotify Hifi were spotted recently, indicating that the feature is still being worked on.
- Spotify announced Hifi in 2021, but the lossless music feature has not been released yet, even though rivals have offered the same feature for some time now.
Spotify has been staring at an upgrade to lossless music for what feels like ages, but the update has still not arrived. Announced back in September 2021, Spotify HiFi was going to be a new lossless streaming tier launching by the end of 2021. We’re in May 2024, and HiFi is clearly not here. Rumors pointed to a rebrand of HiFi to a $20-a-month “Supremium” plan that would be an upgrade over Spotify Premium, but we’re not there either. If you are still hopefully holding onto the dream of lossless audio from Spotify, Spotify HiFi continues to be spotted in UI leaks, indicating that it’s still alive.
Redditor OhItsTom has shared screenshots that show a few dialog prompts and system settings related to Spotify HiFi. The HiFi feature is not available yet, but some of the UI elements could be forcefully surfaced.
The first set of screenshots are from Spotify on desktop, and we’ve cropped the images to show only the relevant information.
As we can see from the screenshot, lossless music on Spotify will come with a compatibility checker, letting you know the compatibility status of your listening device, your connection, and your bandwidth. We can see several advisory panes informing users about the ability to listen in Lossless when offline, and that listening to Lossless over Bluetooth won’t get them the best experience.
The file streaming quality that you can expect with Lossless can be up to 1,411kbps, which is significantly higher than the Very High setting, which streams at 320kbps. Further, you can go up to 2,117kbps, clocking in as much as 15.9MB per min with Lossless. Spotify also mentions that even 24-bit lossless is available on limited songs playing through the FLAC audio format.
The next set of screenshots are from the feature introduction screen on the mobile app. The prompts say you can stream wirelessly in “up to 24-bit” on compatible devices through Spotify Connect. A “Lossless” label will indicate when you are streaming lossless music.
Speculating based on how it is presented in these screenshots, it appears that the feature could see a rebranding to “Lossless.” Lossless could then be a part of the Supremium plan alongside some other perks, while the Hifi branding could be retired and the delays hopefully forgotten.
It remains unknown if and when Spotify will launch HiFi/Supremium/Lossless to consumers, but these screenshots will rekindle hope in those who remain optimistic. One of the comments on the Reddit thread speculates that Spotify could launch it during the HIGH END Munich 2024 trade show that focuses on audio products, though we aren’t holding our breath on this.
At this stage, if you really do care about lossless music as a hardcore enthusiast, you are already consuming it from elsewhere.
