To do this on a Mac, open the Apple Music app, and then click on Music > Preferences in the menu bar. If you don’t see the option, you might need to Under “Audio Quality,” toggle “Lossless” on or off, and choose between a 48kHz sample rate or a 192kHz sample rate (known as “Hi-Res Lossless”). First, launch Settings, and then tap on “Music.” On an iPhone or iPad, you can enable lossless playback under the Settings app. Enabling lossless audio playback for Apple Music is easy and comes at no extra financial cost, but there’s more to lossless than simply flipping a switch. Support ranges from 16-bit/44.1 kHz CD quality to more modern 24-bit/192kHz recordings. That “the difference between AAC and lossless audio is virtually indistinguishable,” the company now offers lossless compression that uses ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) instead.ĪLAC is an open-source format that uses around 50% of the space of uncompressed audio.

Until recently, Apple Music could only be streamed using “lossy” AAC (Advanced Audio Codec) compression. When you choose a higher bitrate, you will also consume more bandwidth (streaming) or space on your device (downloading). The bitrate of a particular file or stream determines the quality of the music, with more bits generally meaning better quality. Music is compressed to save on space, particularly when it comes to streaming. The good news is that lossless playback is available to all existing subscribers at no extra cost.įormat except for broadcast radio, live and on-demand content, and music videos. Apple Music now supports lossless playback, but it comes with a few caveats.

Apple music lossless windows