Bluetooth compression ruining quality

Connorj9000 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:45:50 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

United states

Device

IPhone 14 pro

Operating System

Latest IOS (but been an existing issue for years)

My Question or Issue

I understand that Spotify uses AAC codec already on certain platforms. But you’re choosing not to on the ios app. This means audio is converted and compressed before it can be streamed out through Bluetooth. The quality is diminished significantly. I understand AAC comes with licensing fees and whatnot, but the second anyone tries Apple Music, even when using lossless and maxing out quality settings on Spotify on iOS, it’s impossible to justify staying with you guys. On the same Bluetooth speakers or headphones, Apple Music is just so so SO far ahead. It’s like a different song sometimes. Dynamic range and spacial effects are MILES ahead. And I’m not talking about their Spatial Audio, just the basic spatial effects that are supposed to be in music, which Spotify just makes disappear. And as far as I have been able to find out, it all stems from Spotify’s decision not to use AAC codec because of costs. I’m just voicing this directly to you guys because I know several people who have switched once they use a free trial for Apple Music and see the drastic difference. And we’re considering switching out family plan now too. Considering that you guys are investing so much in lossless to keep up, if you’re just losing all that quality anyway with 95%+ of daily users because of a simple codec decision, it seems like a worthwhile investment to just switch the mobile app to AAC codec like other platforms you already have. Thanks.

Re: Bluetooth compression ruining quality

norman89till — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 04:00:02 GMT

Hello,
I hear your frustration; it's a known gap where Spotify's use of Ogg Vorbis on iOS requires a second compression step for Bluetooth, whereas Apple Music streams AAC natively to your iPhone. While Spotify hasn't committed to a codec change yet, your feedback on how this "transcoding" kills dynamic range is a powerful argument for the HiFi/Lossless tier they've been developing adptotalsource com

topic Re: Bluetooth compression ruining quality in iOS (iPhone, iPad)

Bluetooth compression ruining quality

Re: Bluetooth compression ruining quality