Spotify HiFi Is Still Coming—Will It Truly Rival Apple Music?

Spotify HiFi, announced back in 2021, has yet to arrive. The anticipation around Spotify’s lossless music tier had nearly faded away because the company went radio silent about the feature meant to rival Apple Music Lossless. But, a few leaks previously suggested the feature was still in development. A new report corroborates that, revealing more details about Spotify HiFi based on findings from the app’s latest update.

According to Spicetify, a command-line interface tool for desktop, Spotify’s version 1.2.66 update includes mentions of Spotify HiFi alongside its consumer-ready interface for the streaming platform’s mobile app. In its post on X, Spicetify shared several screenshots of Spotify’s latest app build with multiple indications that HiFi is still in the works.

The first screenshot shows a new option, named ‘Lossless’, in the Audio quality section. It says the option will stream music at up to 24-bit/44.1kHz quality in FLAC codec and that doing so will consume up to 1GB in an hour. The onboarding page for Spotify Premium, as seen in the next screenshot, also shows access to lossless music. While these two instances are obvious giveaways for Spotify HiFi, more screenshots reveal how this new audio tier will be implemented across the platform.

For instance, lossless music is touted to offer “cleaner, more natural sound” through a compatible pair of headphones. While Spotify’s promotional material for HiFi does not show headphones recommendations, it includes a tool that checks compatibility. One of the screenshots also shows the ability to play music in lossless quality on wireless devices, such as a car stereo.

The leaked screenshots are good assurance that Spotify HiFi is not dead and is coming soon to take on Apple Music Lossless. However, the lack of other significant details like support for spatial audio and high-resolution audio casts doubts on whether it will offer the same listening experience as Apple Music, which has multiple options for listening to high-quality music at no additional cost.

When Spotify announced HiFi in 2021, it was on track to introduce what later emerged as the next era for online music streaming. However, Apple launched the Lossless tier sooner than Spotify anticipated, and without additional cost. That surprised Spotify, which was reportedly planning to charge users more for its lossless audio feature. Then came a series of delays, followed by complete silence from Spotify on HiFi. With new leaks surfacing regularly, it’s clear that Spotify HiFi is alive—but whether it can compete with Apple’s no-extra-cost model remains to be seen. 

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