Music streaming services like Spotify are now the main way people listen to music, including on Linux distributions like Ubuntu.
Which is why I figured any Linux-using Spotify Premium subscribers reading who possess a keen ear for audio quality may be pleased to hear Spotify has just added support for lossless audio long after rivals like TIDAL and Apple Music did.
The feature begins rolling out to users across 50 countries from 10 September, 2025, including the US, UK, Australia, Germany and the streaming giant’s home country, Sweden.
What’s surprising is the lack of additional cost: all Spotify Premium subscribers get lossless for free
What’s surprising about the announcement is the lack of extra cost: all Spotify Premium subscribers get lossless audio as part of their plan. It’s not an add-on or a separate tier (as had been rumoured).
“The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers,” gushes Gustav Gyllenhammar, vice-president of subscriptions at Spotify in the official press verbiage.
“We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step, so you always know what’s happening under the hood. With Lossless, our premium users will now have an even better listening experience.”
Spotify Lossless offers up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC streaming, per the company press release. This lets users stream in “greater detail across nearly every song available on Spotify” — assuming they have good enough speakers to notice, eh ;).
Does Spotify’s Linux App Support Lossless?
The big question is whether the official Spotify Linux app will allow users to listen to lossless music. The answer is… Probably.
Spotify’s Linux, macOS and Windows clients all use Chromium Embedded Framework. This is why most new Spotify features (like those annoying, trippy looping ‘canvas’ videos added recently) are available on Linux the same time as Windows and macOS.
Thus, it is likely you will be able to listen to lossless audio in the official Spotify Linux app on desktop, in addition to the service’s other official apps on other platforms and devices, including Spotify Connect-compatible speakers, smart TVs, etc.
It may require an app update first. While Spotify hasn’t updated its Linux app since June (per the Snap Store) many updates arrive in-app (since it’s a big fat web app, effectively) without the need for any under-the-hood upgrades.
The web player hasn’t been mentioned, and Spotify’s API isn’t as third-party-client-friendly as that of TIDAL (there’s no official TIDAL Linux app, but High Tide is a GTK4/libadwaita alternative and it supports lossless streaming).
Lossless is lossy on timeframe
Lossless audio is rolling out to Spotify Premium subscribers in the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden from today. Over 50 countries will have access by the end of October.
Not that everyone in a supported locale gets access straight away, but an in-app notification will notify users when it is.
After that, users need to manually switch to Spotify Lossless like so:
- Click on your profile icon
- Go to Settings
- Go to Media Quality section
- Set quality to lossless audio
- Optional: enable for audio downloads
Once enabled, a lossless indicator is said to be shown in the Now Playing view:
Lossless audio is data-heavy, so enabling it on an internet connection subject to data restrictions isn’t the best idea. Similarly, playing lossless audio through tinny built-in laptop speakers or over Bluetooth is a little redundant since you won’t hear the full benefit.