Whither Spotify HiFi? Great question.
Announced more than three (!) years ago, Spotify HiFi was supposed to finally bring lossless audio to the world’s biggest streaming-music service.
Pop stars were trotted out to promote the new feature, experts detailed the benefits lossless audio would bring to listeners, and a launch window was announced.
And then… nothing.
Of course, there’s been no shortage of Spotify HiFi rumors and leaks, with many of them promising that this time, Spotify lossless audio is truly just around the corner.
But the smoldering Spotify HiFi rumors just got a big gulp of oxygen thanks to no less than Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, who has been dropping hints about a new music tier that might include Spotify lossless audio–more on that below.
So, is Spotify HiFi still coming? What other rumors have there been about Spotify lossless audio? How much will it cost? And what is Spotify HiFi, anyway?
Here’s what we know–and don’t know–about Spotify HiFi, and when it might finally arrive.
Updated November 25, 2024 with details of recent comments from CEO Daniel Ek about a “higher-priced” version of Spotify, coming…soonish.
Spotify HiFi release date: Your questions answered
What is Spotify HiFi?
First announced back in February 2021, Spotify HiFi was described as a way for Spotify Premium users to “upgrade their sound quality” to a “CD-quality, lossless audio format.”
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Typically, “CD-quality” means streaming audio encoded with 16-bit depth and a 44.1kHz sampling rate.
But the key term here is “lossless,” which means that the audio stream contains exactly the same sonic detail as its source.
The main selling point here is that you’d be hearing the music in the precise way the artist intended–and indeed, Spotify posted a video (which has since been marked “private”) in which Billie Eilish and Finneas extolled the virtues of lossless audio streaming.
As it stands, Spotify streams audio at 320Kbps in the “lossy” Ogg Vorbis format, which means the audio stream has been compressed and is losing a fair amount of detail in the interest of conserving bandwidth.
When was Spotify HiFi supposed to come out?
Spotify never gave a precise release date for Spotify HiFi, but during its 2021 announcement, it said the feature would arrive “later this year” in “select” markets.
Of course, it’s fair to say that Spotify HiFi missed its launch window by a wide margin.
When will Spotify HiFi come out?
The short answer: We don’t know exactly when Spotify HiFi will arrive, but there have been plenty of recent hints that the feature is still coming.
Back in July, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told investors (during the company’s second-quarter 2024 earnings call) that “a deluxe version of Spotify” is on the way, complete with “all the benefits” of the regular Spotify plus “a lot more control, a lot higher quality across the board, and some other things that I’m not ready to talk about yet.”
This new and “much better version” of Spotify will cost extra, though. “Think something like $5 above the current premium tier,” said Ek, “so it’s probably around a $17 to $18 price point.”
When will the “deluxe” Spotify–complete with lossless audio, we’re guessing–finally arrive then? Ek didn’t say, although he noted that the new Spotify offering is “in its early days.” Huh.
Fast forward to mid-November, with Ek once again assuring investors that this “higher-priced” tier with “better sound quality and a bunch of other things” is still on the way. But when? “I can’t get into specifics,” Ek said.
In any case, this new “much better version” of Spotify sure sounds like the purported add-on for Spotify Premium users that was recently detailed by Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg’s reporting, the add-on will cost an extra $5 each month (check) and will include Spotify lossless audio, along with “new tools for creating playlists and managing [a user’s] song libraries,” according to Bloomberg’s anonymous sources.
And when’s the launch date for this new Spotify lossless audio add-on? “Later this year,” Bloomberg says.
Sigh.
What were the earlier rumors about Spotify HiFi?
Of course, this isn’t the first time Bloomberg has written about Spotify’s lossless audio plans, and previous stories have painted a decidedly different picture (perhaps reflecting Spotify’s own changing strategies surrounding HiFi).
According to this June 2023 report from Bloomberg, Spotify was prepping a new and pricier tier that would “likely” including Spotify HiFi, along with “expanded” access to audiobooks.
The new tier, which Spotify reportedly called “Supremium” behind closed doors, would become Spotify’s priciest plan, albeit in “non-U.S. markets” to start, the Bloomberg report said.
The Bloomberg story also noted that this so-called “Supremium” plan would likely arrive by the end of 2023. Clearly, that didn’t happen.
Later, in September 2023, a Spotify user poking around the official Spotify app said they found code that appeared to back up the Bloomberg report, including evidence that Spotify HiFi might actually offer high-resolution (i.e., better than 16-bit/44kHz) as well as lossless tracks. The code didn’t offer any details on when Spotify HiFi might actually arrive, however.
Then, in April 2024, the same Spotify user found code in more recent versions of the Spotify app hinting that that the (never unveiled) Supremium tier “is dead.” In its place: a “Music Pro” add-on (sound familiar?) that would offer up to 24-bit/44.1kHz lossless playback plus a headphone “enhancement/optimization” feature.
Music Pro could also include “advanced mixing” tools similar to those detailed in this Wall Street Journal article, the Reddit user said.
Prior to Ek’s 2024 comments about a “higher-priced” Spotify tier with “better sound quality,” Spotify had little to say about Spotify HiFi, aside from insisting it was still coming.
Speaking with The Verge in March 2023, Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström said that the company is “still going to do” Spotify HiFi, but that “we’re going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners,” adding that “the industry changed and we had to adapt.” (We’ll discuss exactly how the industry changed in a moment.)
At the time, Söderström didn’t offer a timeline for when Spotify HiFi might finally arrive, beyond a vague “at some point.”
Going further back to January 2022, the company offered a vaguely worded statement that offered scant details about Spotify HiFi’s fate:
“We know that HiFi quality audio is important to you. We feel the same, and we’re excited to deliver a Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future. But we don’t have timing details to share yet. We will of course update you here when we can.“
There had also been earlier hints about Spotify HiFi’s arrival. According to an October 2022 post on Reddit, a longtime Spotify user who had switched to Apple Music claimed they got a survey detailed a new plan–“Spotify Platinum”–that boasts HiFi, as well as other features such as “Studio Sound,” a “Headphone Tuner,” “Audio Insights,” “Library Pro,” “Playlist Pro,” and “limited-ad” podcasts, all for an extra charge (more on that in a moment).
The Redditor said the survey asked if they would switch back to Spotify “in the nest 30 days” for “one of [those] features.”
Obviously, those 30 days came and went without any sign of Spotify Platinum actually appearing.
Even further back, a “HiFi” icon was spotted in the Spotify app back in May 2021 and a leaked “Hi, HiFi” video that made the rounds a few months later.
How much will Spotify HiFi cost?
Based on the most recent rumors and Spotify CEO Ek’s comments, it sounds like Spotify lossless audio might be available for an additional fee (probably $5) on top of your monthly Spotify Premium subscription.
Interestingly, the latest chatter squares with the wording of Spotify’s initial HiFi announcement: “Premium subscribers in select markets will be able to upgrade their sound quality to Spotify HiFi,” suggesting that Spotify lossless audio would arrive as an add-on rather than its own tier.
It’s also worth noting that Spotify tested CD-quality audio streams as early as 2017, and at that time, it charged an extra $7.50 a month for the privilege.
There have been other pricing theories over the years, however. For example, Bloomberg’s 2023 report about Spotify “Supremium” said the new tier–including HiFi functionality–would be Spotify’s priciest yet, while the purported survey cited in the “Spotify Platinum” rumor detailed above pegged the price at $19.99 a month.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Spotify user who had been digging around the Spotify app found a reference to a $19.99/month price within the app’s code, but added that “this could just be a placeholder.”
Why hasn’t Spotify HiFi come out yet?
Good question. Back in February 2022, Spotify CEO Daniel Ed blamed “licensing” issues when asked about the fate of Spotify HiFi during a company earnings call. Here’s the exact quote, as reported by TechCrunch:
“Many of the features that we talk about and especially that’s related to music ends up into licensing,” Ek told investors. “So I can’t really announce any specifics on this other than to say that we’re in constant dialogue with our partners to bring this to market.”
There is another reason that Spotify might have delayed Spotify HiFi: because it got caught flat-footed by Apple and Amazon, a development that Spotify’s Söderström referred to (“the industry changed”) earlier.
Just three months after the Spotify HiFi announcement, Amazon and Apple both announced (separately, but on the same day) that they would begin offering lossless, high-resolution, and spatial audio music tracks, all for no extra charge. (Apple was completely new to lossless and spatial audio streaming, while Amazon had previously been charging extra for lossless and spatial tracks.)
Following the Amazon and Apple announcements, the prospect of paying extra (most likely) for only CD-quality music and (probably) no spatial audio began to lose its appeal, so perhaps Spotify chose to retreat and regroup.
Will Spotify HiFi offer high-resolution music streaming?
Plenty of Spotify’s streaming music rivals, including Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Qobuz, and Tidal, offer “high-resolution” music streaming–that is, audio that’s encoded at a higher resolution and sampling rate than CD-quality 16-bit/44.1kHz audio tracks.
Most industry types agree that 24-bit/48kHz is the threshold for high-resolution audio, and those streamers that support it deliver high-res streams all the way up to 24-bit/192kHz.
But Spotify never said anything about high-resolution audio in its initial Spotify HiFi announcement; all it promised was “CD-quality” audio, which qualifies as “hi-fi” but not “hi-res.” That said, the Spotify user who previously revealed details hidden in the Spotify app noted that code made reference to “24-bit Lossless music,” indicating that Spotify HiFi might offer high-resolution audio after all.
In any event, it’s a matter of heated debate whether the human ear can actually tell the difference between CD-quality and high-resolution audio–or for that matter, whether most folks can discern the difference between lossy and lossless. We won’t dive into lossy-vs.-lossless rabbit hole here.
Will Spotify HiFi offer spatial audio?
As with high-resolution audio, Spotify never said anything about spatial audio–that is, music tracks that have been mixed with 3D surround effects–in its Spotify HiFi announcement.
Meanwhile, Spotify competitors Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal do offer spatial audio tracks in such formats as Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio.
Given the competition, Spotify likely does have spatial audio plans in the works–and perhaps that’s what the “Studio Sound” and/or “Headphone Tuner” features from earlier Spotify Platinum rumors are all about.
Will Spotify HiFi get cancelled?
Well, anything’s possible, and Spotify has been known to nix high-profile features that never quite took off.
For example, Spotify infamously pulled the plug on Car Thing, a small touchscreen display that you could install on a car dashboard for on-the-road Spotify streaming.
For its part, Spotify said that while Car Thing “worked as intended,” it chose to halt production of the $80 device due to “product demand and supply chain issues,” among other factors.
Spotify also has a history of testing, teasing, and rolling out new features that later disappear–or even reappear–without explanation.
But Ek’s latest comments have sure made it sound like Spotify HiFi–or at least, something along those lines–is still on the way.
For what it’s worth, the official Spotify HiFi announcement is still live on Spotify’s website.
Updated on November 25, 2024 to add new developments and analysis.
