Option to stream in Lossless quality while keeping lower download quality

[Viggohendriks]

Dear Spotify team,

I really enjoy using Spotify, but I’ve run into a frustrating limitation with the quality settings.

At the moment, I can set download quality and streaming quality separately, but once a track is downloaded, Spotify will always play the downloaded version — regardless of the streaming quality I’ve selected.

This means that if I download my music in High Quality (to save storage space), I can no longer listen to that track in Lossless over Wi-Fi — even though that’s exactly what I’d like to do.

It would be a huge improvement if Spotify allowed:

• downloads to remain at a lower quality, but
• automatically stream the lossless version when on Wi-Fi.

This way, I could save space on my device while still enjoying the full lossless experience whenever possible.

I hope you will consider adding this feature in a future update, as it would significantly improve the listening experience.

[tunedIN]

Hi keen222

A setting that's not easy to find

Settings>Apps and Devices>Other devices then turn off  'Local audio files'

Please let me know if this solves your issue by clicking 'Accept as solution'. In my testing, turning off this setting doesn't interfere with downloaded tracks when using 'Offline mode'

[YungYuppie]

This is a necessity with the addition of lossless streaming. The files are simply too large to download by the hundreds on a mobile device, but most people have the capability to stream lossless via data or wifi. Having the ability to stream at a higher quality than what is downloaded seems like common sense and is baffling why it is not the default. 

[Daniel2222]

Yesss! I also stumbled upon this and it honestly just keeps making me angry on a daily basis. Should be easy to implement and seems like the only reasonable user experience. If it stays like this on the long run I will definitely be tempted to switch to either Tidal or Apple Music.

[iaez-a87lv_2]

Yes! Baffling that this isn't a thing already. I had more than enough storage to have all my playlists downloaded at "Very High", but definitely wouldn't be able to do this at lossless.

For now I've deleted all my downloads, stream lossless on wifi, and automatic on cellular. 

[squigglyAvo]

+1. I have a lot of Liked songs and playlists downloaded for offline use in a lower quality and being forced to re-download them all in lossless would take up double the storage space. Lower quality downloaded tracks are for offline use, why prioritise them when lossless WiFi streaming is enabled and available? It would beat the whole point of the choice. An additional setting to choose to prioritise the lossless streaming over downloads would be great 😑

[bappop]

this definitely needs to be implemented

[DESmithern]

I was so focused on the lack of Chromecast Audio support for lossless quality that I didn't even realize this massive oversight. Needs to be fixed ASAP. What a botched rollout for a feature that has been allegedly in the works for such a long time.

[9lox2_ljq-57v]

This would be fantastic! Please add Spotify! Thank you!

[starhamster]

The Lossless Option is great but not like this? How is it sensible? Most people download the music they also listen to at home. But it takes up way too much storage. Especially with the rising subscription rate they should implement that change. I'm astonished that not more people are talking about this!

[jakestyles]

Yes, this is very much needed. And I also need to add that we should be able to stream lossless not just on Wi-Fi, but over mobile network as well. Some countries like mine have unlimited data plans so it doesn't make a difference if you stream on Wi-fi or mobile.

So the online playback for offline music should follow whatever playback quality settings the user has set for Wi-Fi and mobile networks.