Extreme quality no longer available for streaming--only "Very High"

[dgg5]

Plan - Premium

Phone: Verizon Galaxy Note 8

OS: Android 8, May 1, 2018 security update

Spotify Android player v8.4.55.521 armV7

Under Music Quality > Streaming > there is no longer an option for "Extreme Qualtiy".

The options are now Low..Normal..High..Very High.

Under Download, the quality options remain as before...Normal...High..Extreme Quality.

What is the bit rate for "Very High" streaming quality?

Why was this change made?

Thx!

Premium subscriber

DGG5

[cg4yf_t-7e53a]

Very recently discovered the same thing when Spotify support kindly helped me switch everything over to a non Facebook linked account.

When I inquired about the missing extreme setting, I was told that the very high setting is the equivalent to the extreme setting.

That Spotify is rolling this out to random users.

[dgg5]

Thank you. I hope they are equal.

I'd like to hear Spotify verify that "Very High" is 320 kbps bit rate.

dgg5

[cg4yf_t-7e53a]

Well I certainly hope they are equal too.

Best you can do (right now at least) is contact Spotify support yourself if it's still bothering you. Essentially take their word for it.

[Joe]

This might be connected to their lossless trials although, if they plan to call "lossless" "extreme", that's a bit silly.

[RockNRollStar80]

I noticed this on my Android device this morning (here in the UK).

Has anyone had anything confirmed by Spotify? If its just a case of renaming 'Extreme' to 'Very High' whilst keeping the same sound quality (320kbit/s), then fine. If however, it turns out that 'Very High' has a lower sound quality then I will cancel my Spotify subscription.

[dgg5 · Accepted solution]

I posted the original question. I asked Spotify support for the bit rate for "Very High" and got this response...

>>SpotifyCares
Hey there, help's here. The bit rate for Very High streaming is 320kbps. Give us a shout if you need anything else /EX<<

--

dgg

[f_-g5rmnwdgfo]

What are the other three and why 4 settings for streaming and 3 for download? Also what codec?

[cg4yf_t-7e53a]

---

@Joe@L wrote:

This might be connected to their lossless trials 

Oh how I wish upon a star that it was!!

Unfortunately that's not the case. At least, that's what Spotify support told me. 

"Thanks for updating us with the requested details.

We've looked into the streaming quality you mentioned and it seems like you're seeing one of the changes that we rolled out to random users. Don't worry though, this is just a wording change but it is essentially equivalent to Extreme. In case the app gives you a different quality than what you used to have with Extreme, please do let us know!"

---

[xelaglen]

I'm really thinking this is related to a possible rollout of Lossless...

[watson728]

I recieved the following answer when chatting to a s upport agent yesterday:

G: What sound quality is very high then?

Menchie: The sound quality for Android devices is equivalent to approximately 160kbit/s same as High.

G: That makes no sense, what is the sound quality of high then?

Menchie: It's the same quality with Very High with 160kbit/s.

G: Are you saying that for premium subscription the best quality I can get on the android app is 160kbs?

Menchie: Extreme quality is still available for download but for streaming you can only select High quality.

G: And what about for my device using Spotify connect

Menchie: Standard quality for streaming Spotify with Spotify connect and Chromecast is AAC 128kbit/s, and 256kbit/s for Premium.

G: So, the only way I can get extreme is to download? Not even on my Cambridge audio cxn?

Menchie: Yes!

G: Why would Spotify do that?

Menchie: This is because if the limitation of our streaming system.

G: But I'm paying you guys money for 320kbs...

Menchie: I perfectly understand where you're coming from.
Menchie: I know you're a paying customer, however, it's currently available for downloading.

[xelaglen]

I guess that's why they keep offering me 3 months for $9.99...

[AeroZ]

What the **bleep**!?

[Joe]

Hey watson728 it looks like you got someone new who was making it up as he went along. I suggest you give the support team another go and see what someone else says.

[Grasshopperuk]

No need to take their word for it, use your ears! If you can't tell the difference it hardly matters.

[dazone75]

How is this solved when one user says Spotify support says very high quality is 320bps and another support person says it's 160bps? I notificed a significant drop in sound quality on my Android phone. If it's 160bps, and you don't get a decent Spotify app on the Roku soon, I will be cancelling my subscription after any years.

[Ontario1]

For me, with the iOS Spotify App on my iPad, the highest music quality selection option for playback and for downloading switched from Extreme to Very High, but the quality description text under the option list included Extreme and not the Very High option.  When I requested an explanation from Spotify Tech Support (via online chat), the rep went away for quite a while and then came back and provided me with an answer to a question that was completely unrelated — about Loudness Level options.  I was not able to get an answer.  I hope that others have better luck in getting to the bottom of this and sharing in this forum.

[Archon810]

It's settled.

https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/system_settings/high-quality-streaming/

You can choose from the following audio quality settings:

• Low - Equivalent to approximately 24 kbit/s (HE-AACv2 format).
• Normal – Equivalent to approximately 96kbit/s (Ogg Vorbis format).
• High – Equivalent to approximately 160kbit/s (Ogg Vorbis format).
• Very high – Equivalent to approximately 320kbit/s (Ogg Vorbis format).
• Automatic – Dependent on your network connection.