In today's digital age, a variety of streaming services are available worldwide. When you choose a streaming platform to listen to music, what factor do you consider first? Subscription fee? Free trial? Sound quality? Or something else? As one of the most popular streaming platforms, many people are also curious about Spotify sound quality. So, how is Spotify sound quality? Today, this article will uncover the answer to this question and compare the sound quality of several popular streaming platforms. At the end of the article, we will also introduce how to download Spotify songs with original sound quality.
Part 1: How Is Spotify Audio Quality?
Spotify has long been one of the worldwide leading music streaming platforms, loved by users for its personalized recommendations and free streaming capabilities, available on almost any device. Spotify audio quality is often a topic of discussion among users, and for those who pursue high audio quality, Spotify audio quality is not as satisfactory as competitors that provide HD or lossless streaming services. This part will take a look at Spotify's audio quality, compare the differences in audio quality between different Spotify accounts, and how to improve Spotify audio quality with some simple adjustments to enhance your listening experience.
Part 1.1: Overview of Spotify Audio Quality
While most streaming music services use lossless or AAC encoding, Spotify only uses AAC encoding on its web player and still uses the Ogg format on the app, which usually refers to the audio file format Ogg Vorbis. Different devices, accounts, and even networks will affect Spotify audio quality.
Spotify Free Account | Spotify Premium Account | |
---|---|---|
Spotify Web player | 128kbps, AAC | 256kbps, AAC |
Spotify App: Windows / Mac / iOS | 24kbps - 160kbps, Ogg Vorbis | 24kbps - 320kbps, Ogg Vorbis |
Spotify App: Android | 96kbps - 160kbps, Ogg Vorbis | 96kbps - 320kbps, Ogg Vorbis |
📕 You might also be interested in: How Good is YouTube Music Quality?
Use TunePat Spotify Converter to download Spotify music with the best audio quality.
Part 1.2: How to Change Spotify Audio Quality?
When you are not satisfied with the Spotify audio quality, can you change it by adjusting some Spotify settings? Yes. We have prepared three methods for you. Let’s take a look!
Adjust Spotify Sound Quality
Step 1 First, please open the Spotify app on your device. Then click your profile picture in the upper right corner, and then click "Settings".
Step 2 Next, in the "Audio Quality" module, find "Streaming quality". You can choose "Automatic", "Low", "Normal", "High", or "Very high" from the button on the right. Please note that only premium users can choose "Very high" (320kbps), and free users can only choose "High" at most, which means 160kbps.
Normalize Volume Level
Sometimes we will find that when playing a new song, the volume will be much louder than the previous one. If you want to avoid this and get better Spotify sound quality, you might as well try this adjustment.
Step 1 Open the Spotify app and find the settings button in the upper right corner.
Step 2 Find "Normalize volume" under "Audio quality". If you don't have it turned on, turn it on first.
Step 3 Find "Volume level" and click the button on the right. You will be able to choose between "Loud", "Normal", and "Quiet".
Use Spotify Equalizer
You can also enjoy the best sound quality by adjusting the Spotify equalizer. The ideal Spotify equalizer settings will vary depending on the device, music type, and even a single song. For example, if you are using laptop speakers, it is usually recommended to increase the bass and reduce the mids. In contrast, if you are using speakers with strong bass, you can choose to increase the treble to balance the bass.
Step 1 Go to your settings on Spotify and scroll down to "Playback".
Step 2 You can drag the dots of different frequencies up and down to customize.
📕 You might also be interested in: Top 8 Spotify Equalizers
Part 2: Comparison Between Spotify and Other Streaming Services
There have been many popular streaming services on the market, and this section will compare these streaming services in terms of sound quality.
Audio Quality | |
---|---|
Spotify | Free: Up to 160 kbps MP3 Premium: Up to 320 kbps MP3 |
Apple Music | ALAC, up to 24-bit, 192 kHz 📕 Download ALAC Files from Apple Music |
Amazon Music | Amazon Music Prime: up to 320 kbps Amazon Music Unlimited: HD (850 kbps), Ultra HD (3730 kbps), and spatial audio 📕 Download Any Music from Amazon Music |
YouTube Music | Low: 48 kbps AAC Normal: up to 128 kbps AAC High: up to 256 kbps AAC 📕 Download YouTube Music in AAC Format |
Tidal | Low: Up to 320 kbps High: 800-1411 kbps, 16-bit 44.1 kHz, CD quality Max: Up to 9216 kbps, 24-bit, 192 kHz, Dolby Atmos HiRes FLAC, potentially up to 24-bit, 192 kHz 📕 Download Tidal Hi-Res Music |
Deezer | Standard: 128 kbps MP3 High quality: 320 kbps MP3 High Fidelity: 1411 kbps FLAC |
SoundCloud | 256 kbps AAC |
Pandora | Free: 64 kbps AAC+ Premium: 192 kbps MP3 |
Part 3: How to Download Spotify Music With Original Quality?
After learning about Spotify audio quality, are you curious about how to download Spotify music with original audio quality to your device? Although Premium users can download Spotify music at 320kbps, the DRM protection makes downloaded music inaccessible to other devices. So, we will introduce a Spotify music downloader, which downloads Spotify music in plain formats with the original sound quality.
TunePat Spotify Converter is a professional Spotify music downloader. Users can convert and download Spotify music, albums, playlists, podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, radio, and audiobooks, and save them on their devices. Users can download them in MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, and ALAC formats. What's special is that TunePat can keep the original ID3 information, which makes it easy for users to organize music according to their habits after downloading it to the computer. It is also essential to retain the original sound quality. In addition, TunePat can also batch convert music at multiple times the speed, saving a lot of time for users with rich music libraries. Let's take a look at how to use TunePat.

TunePat Spotify Converter
TunePat Spotify Converter enables users to convert and get Spotify songs, albums, playlists, podcasts, radio, and audiobooks from the Spotify app or web player and then save them permanently.
Step 1 First, please click "Download" above to download TunePat Spotify Music Downloader to your computer. After downloading, double-click to launch it. When you open TunePat, you will see the following interface. TunePat supports users in downloading music from the Spotify app and Spotify web player. You can click "Spotify App" to switch the audio source.
Step 2 Then you can click the settings button on the left to enter the settings interface. Here you can switch the conversion mode, output format, bit rate, sample rate, conversion speed, etc. If you want to download the original sound quality, you can change the output format to "Auto", so that TunePat will download Spotify Music in the same format as the source audio file.
Step 3 Now go back to the Spotify App or web player. Remember to log in to your Spotify account. To download Spotify music at 320 kbps, we recommend you subscribe to Spotify Premium. Browse for the songs you want to convert and tap the blue "Click to add" button. TunePat will parse these songs automatically. When it is done, please manually tick off the songs you want, and click "Add" to add them to TunePat.
Step 4 In the following interface, you will see some buttons to choose from. If you want to add songs from different albums, you can click "Add More". If you forgot to change some settings, you can click "Settings" to return to the settings interface to modify them. Otherwise, you can directly click "Convert" to start the conversion process. TunePat will download these songs at up to 10X speed. Please wait for it to complete conversion.
After it finishes converting, the folder with the downloaded songs will automatically pop up for you to view. In addition, you can click the "History" module on the left to view the converted songs. In this interface, you will see the format of the converted music. You can also view the downloaded songs at the time of downloading. Since the downloaded Spotify music is in plain format, you can transfer it to the software you want, such as Serato DJ, djay Pro, and OBS Studio.
FAQs About Spotify Audio Quality
Q1: Does Spotify offer lossless (Hi-Res) audio?
A: Although Spotify announced the launch of Spotify HiFi in 2021, as of June 2025, it has yet to be released.
Q2: Why does Spotify music sometimes sound low-quality?
A: When using data to stream Spotify music, some settings on your mobile phone may limit the bit rate. You can turn off Data Saver on your mobile phones. Sometimes, low-quality headphones and speakers can make the music sound low-quality, too.
Q3: Can I download Spotify music at 320 kbps?
A: Yes. To download Spotify music at 320 kbps, you can use TunePat Spotify Converter.
Q4: Tips for Best Spotify Sound Quality
A: First, please subscribe to Spotify Premium to access 320kbps Spotify music. Then use professional high-quality headphones to play. Avoid playing directly with a web player.
Conclusion:
For users, sound quality is an important consideration when choosing between different streaming services. As far as Spotify is concerned, there will be differences in sound quality between different devices and different accounts. For example, premium users will enjoy higher Spotify sound quality than free users. Of course, we also recommend some methods that can allow you to slightly improve your sound quality to get the best Spotify audio quality. Then we also compared the differences in sound quality between different streaming media, so that you can give some reference when you are entangled in different streaming media.
Finally, we introduced a popular and professional music download tool, TunePat Spotify Converter to help you download Spotify Music with the highest quality. Most importantly, it can download in different formats instead of caching files. In this way, you can transfer it to different devices and different programs. If you are interested, download it and give it a try!
Olivia Anderson
Senior Writer