What is lossless audio and is it worth it?

What is lossless audio?

Lossless audio is a larger stored audio file that doesn’t discard any audio data. It uses other ways to compress files and keeps in all the good stuff so you don’t miss a single note of what the original artist intended you to hear. It gives you all the audio from the original recording so you can hear every instrument, every vocal, and every essential part of the sound design from your favorite music, movies, and video games.  

 

Most file types, such as MP3 or AAC, shrink the file size by discarding parts of the music. These are called lossy file formats. This means there is a loss of audio data (and therefore quality) from the original recording. 

 

Here’s a table comparing lossless and lossy audio files:  

 

	Lossless audio	Lossy audio
Format	FLAC, ALAC, WAV	MP3, AAC
File size	Up to 10MB-per minute (average)	1MB-2MB-per minute (average)
Bit depth	16-bit — 24-bit	16-bit
Sample rate	44.1kHz — 192kHz	44.1kHz
Streaming services	Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, Idiago	Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify
Best for	Wired headphones and wired or internal speakers	Bluetooth connected speakers or headphones

 

Losless audio formats

 It can be easy to get confused in discussions of file formats, bitrates, codecs, and so on. To put it simply, listening to a lossless audio file means getting the complete audio experience.  

 

Just look out for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), or WAV (Waveform Audio Format) files to hear high-resolution tunes with exceptional quality. 

 

If getting the highest-possible audio experience sounds like music to your ears, then lossless is more than worth it. You owe it to yourself to try it. 

Dolby Atmos vs. lossless audio vs. spatial audio

For the music lovers, cinephiles, or elite gamers out there who want only the best sound quality, let’s break down the difference between lossless audio vs Dolby Atmos so you know what’s what. 

 

All audio files need to be compressed and digitized so you can enjoy your music, games, movies, and TV shows from any device through a streaming service or via Bluetooth. Some formats discard more data than others in this process, making the files small enough to be easily uploaded, stored, and transferred by sacrificing certain elements and the quality of the original audio. Lossless audio streaming, however, provides high-resolution, CD-quality audio by not discarding any of the actual audio data. Most lossless streams can actually go beyond CD quality, reaching an even higher level of performance with up to 24-bit quality and sample rates up to 192kHz, meaning you get a listening experience as close to being in the club or concert hall as possible. 

 

Due to its larger file size, it isn’t possible to get the full experience of lossless audio via Bluetooth. This is because of Bluetooth’s codec and bandwidth — any lossless audio played through it needs to be downsampled and compressed in order to be transmitted to your Bluetooth headphones or speaker. Although some Bluetooth players support formats that scale to lossless such as MQA, and Qualcomm’s aptX lossless codec does claim to be capable of delivering lossless audio via Bluetooth, many devices do not yet support it. 

 

There are still plenty of other ways to join the lossless crowd with players such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz hosting a catalog of tunes in lossless audio. 

 

Never miss a beat as every song delivers a complete sound experience with fully realized audio and sound design. Whether it’s live music or a studio recording, lossless delivers every note originally intended for your listening pleasure. 

 

Then there’s spatial audio. Spatial audio forgoes the traditional mono and stereo method of using one or two channels to deliver sound from just left and right channels by adding another layer of data to deliver sound all around you, creating a 3D sound environment that mimics the location or setting of the original piece. 

 

Dolby Atmos delivers a spatial sound experience and builds a multidimensional sound space around you, including above and below, whether you’re on the go or sitting back with some popcorn in your home theater. 

 

Unlike lossless, you can get high-quality audio over Bluetooth by using devices that support Dolby Atmos such as headphones, laptops, internal and external speakers, smart speakers, or soundbars. Dolby Atmos has been widely adopted by the entertainment industry and can be enjoyed in TV shows, movies, music, games, and live sports. And the good news is that you can find this content on the streaming platforms you probably already use like Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Just double-check with your service provider to make sure that your subscription supports Dolby Atmos and that the content you are watching is in Dolby by looking for the logo. Then, wherever you are, you can fire sound all around and place yourself in the heart of it all with Dolby Atmos. 

 

Lossless is a great way to get the highest quality audio at home, from a home theater, internal speaker, or external audio system. While you can listen on the go over Bluetooth, with lossless audio, you will lose some quality. In that case, consider Dolby Atmos, because that can be enjoyed at home or on the go.  

How to listen to music in lossless audio

If you remember grabbing your favorite artist’s newest CD and rushing home to dance around your bedroom to it, then lossless is here to restore that feeling with its CD-quality audio. You just need to know how to stream music in lossless audio, and how to enable lossless audio. 

 

You can listen to lossless over a Bluetooth connection, but this would require some compression and downsampling, reducing the quality from its true lossless sound. We’d recommend a good set of wired headphones, wired speakers, or speakers that support lossless audio over WiFi to hear every note and every sound effect and enjoy the goodness of lossless audio. There are plenty of options for all budgets. 

 

Apple Music subscribers can enjoy lossless audio and enjoy Dolby Atmos optimization on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac, or through a soundbar with Dolby Atmos. Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Qobuz also offer lossless capabilities so you can immerse yourself in the sound with greater depth and quality. Simply head to the settings section on the player of your choice or contact the provider for further information. 

 

When you’re unwinding to your favorite tracks through some headphones, studying with your laptop providing musical support, or creating a concert experience in your home, get sound at its highest-possible quality with lossless audio.  

FAQs

Does lossless audio take up more storage space?  

 

All files take up some amount of storage when downloaded or streamed in your device, however, due to it discarding less data when compressed and digitized, lossless audio does create larger files meaning more storage space will be used for it. 

 

What is the size of a lossless audio file?  

 

The size of an audio file can vary depending on the length of the audio file. On average, a lossless audio file can be up to 10MB-per minute, meaning a 3-minute audio file could be 30MB. 

 

How much data does lossless audio use? 

 

Due to its higher bit and sample rate, lossless audio can use more data than other audio files, with data usage ranging from 2GB–8GB per hour. 

 

Can you hear the difference between lossless and lossy audio? 

 

It is possible to hear the difference between lossless and lossy audio, as lossy audio discards sound data to enable storage and streaming easier, however this can vary for all audio and listeners. It can also be impacted by the services or equipment you choose to listen to the audio with.