Apple Music: What is lossless audio and how to use it on iPhone?

Apple Music has undergone a major upgrade in 2021, launching lossless audio to present music files or songs in their purest version. Thanks to this feature, iOS users can now listen to music in its original form on their devices. Lossless audio represents a media file that collects all parts of the analog wave into its grooves. This means listeners will be able to enjoy the audio exactly the way the producer intended.

Most audio compression methods result in a certain amount of data being lost in the source file. Most of the music we listen to these days is heavily compressed to reduce mobile data usage during streaming. This compression can significantly reduce audio quality.

If you want to listen to the best quality music, Apple Music’s lossless audio might be the best answer. Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) is a unique, seamless audio compression technology built in-house. The complete Apple Music library is now encoded in ALAC at resolutions ranging from 16-bit/44.1 kHz (CD quality) to 24-bit/192 kHz (high resolution).

iPhone users are recommended to use Wi-Fi network to download lossless audio from Apple Music as these files consume more data than normal files. Apple AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max support this feature. Beats wireless headphones also offer the highest quality, thanks to the Apple AAC Bluetooth codec. To enjoy ultra-low latency, iPhone users need to pair AirPods Pro with Apple Vision Pro.

iPhone users can choose different audio quality settings for cellular data, Wi-Fi, and downloads.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to enable lossless audio on iPhone:

1. Go to the Settings app and click on Music.
2. 2. In “Audio quality”, click on the option “Lossless audio” to activate or deactivate it.
3. You can now choose the audio quality of files you stream and download from Apple Music.
4. Choose the maximum resolution of 24-bit/48 kHz to enjoy lossless music.
5. For high-resolution lossless, select the maximum resolution of 24-bit/192 kHz.
6. If any song has been downloaded in normal quality, the user needs to delete it first before re-downloading the lossless version of the same file from Apple Music.