Does Lossless Streaming Change How You Should Master?
TL;DR: Lossless streaming is now available on Spotify, joining Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal, which means a large share of listeners are hearing genuinely lossless audio instead of a compressed, lossy file. Your mastering process does not need to change in any fundamental way. What changes is the stakes. Mistakes that used to get quietly smoothed over by lossy compression, harsh limiting, sloppy dither, quantization noise, are now more audible than they used to be. Master carefully, deliver a high quality file, and let each platform handle its own encoding from there.
Does Lossless Streaming Change How You Should Master?
Not fundamentally, no. Your mastering chain, your loudness decisions, and your overall approach stay the same. What lossless streaming actually changes is how forgiving the final listening experience is. Lossy formats like the old standard MP3 or compressed AAC streams used to smooth over small mistakes without anyone noticing. Lossless formats do not do that favor anymore. If something was slightly off in your master, more listeners than ever are now in a position to actually hear it.
What Lossless Streaming Actually Means
A lossy file, like a standard MP3 or a compressed streaming file, throws away some audio information to save space. Most of the time you cannot hear what is missing, but it is genuinely gone from the file. A lossless file, like FLAC or WAV, keeps all of the original audio information intact. Nothing is discarded to save space.
Spotify rolled out lossless streaming to its Premium subscribers, offering up to 24-bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC in a large number of markets. That puts it in line with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal, which had already offered lossless tiers for a while. In practical terms, a meaningful share of your listeners are now hearing your master closer to how you actually finished it, not a compressed approximation of it.
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What Actually Changes for a Mastering Engineer
Your day to day process stays close to identical. You are still gain staging properly, still building a mastering chain that suits the track, still checking loudness and dynamic range, still exporting a high quality file at the end. Nothing about lossless streaming asks you to throw any of that out.
What does change is how much room there is to hide behind the format. A slightly harsh limiter setting, some noise from a poorly applied bit depth reduction, a touch of unwanted distortion, these things used to get partially masked by lossy compression on old streaming delivery. On a lossless stream, more of that detail survives all the way to the listener’s ears. The bar for a clean, careful master is effectively a little higher than it used to be, simply because more people can hear the difference.
More of your listeners can hear the real thing now. Is your master ready for that?The Mistakes That Are Now More Audible
- Harsh or careless limiting. Pushing a limiter too hard creates distortion and pumping that used to blend into the noise floor of a lossy file. On lossless, it stands out more clearly.
- Sloppy dither or a skipped bit depth reduction. Quantization noise that was once buried under compression artifacts is now more exposed. I cover exactly where dither belongs in your chain in my guide on what is dither.
- Unchecked harshness in the high end. Small EQ mistakes around the presence and air frequencies come through with more clarity on a lossless stream than they did on a heavily compressed one.
- Inconsistent low end. Phase and mono issues in the bass are easier to hear on a clean, uncompressed stream. My guide on mono compatibility covers how to catch this before it becomes a problem.
Should You Deliver Different Masters for Lossless vs Lossy Platforms?
No. You do not need a separate master for lossless platforms and a separate one for everything else. Deliver one high quality master, typically a 24-bit WAV file, and let each platform handle its own encoding and normalization from there. Streaming platforms are built to take a high resolution source and convert it down for whatever tier a given listener is on. Your job stays the same either way: deliver the best possible version of the track once.
This is also a good moment to double check your bit depth habits. If you are still recording or mixing in 32-bit float, the same rules apply whether the final listener is on a lossless tier or not. I cover the details in my guide on 32-bit float recording.
What You Should Actually Do Differently
A short list, and none of it is dramatic.
- Be a little more careful with your limiter. Push for loudness, but keep an ear out for distortion and pumping that you might have let slide before.
- Get your dither and bit depth reduction right, every single time, since that detail no longer gets smoothed over by lossy encoding.
- Check your master on genuinely good playback gear at least once before calling it finished, since that is closer to what a growing number of your listeners will actually hear.
- Do not chase loudness targets blindly. A well-built master with healthy dynamics still translates better than a flat, over-limited one, lossless or not. My guide on why the -14 LUFS rule does not hold up anymore covers this in more depth.
Common Misconceptions About Lossless Streaming
“Lossless means I can master louder and it will be fine.” Not true. Lossless does not protect you from over-limiting. If anything, distortion from an aggressive limiter is easier to hear on a clean stream, not harder.
“I need a special master just for lossless platforms.” Also not true. One properly finished high quality master works across every tier a platform offers.
“My old MP3-era mastering habits still apply exactly the same way.” Mostly, but not entirely. Habits that were built around hiding small flaws behind lossy compression are worth revisiting, since that safety net is smaller than it used to be for a growing share of listeners.
Key Takeaways
- Lossless streaming is now available on Spotify, joining Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal.
- Your mastering process does not need to fundamentally change, but the room for small mistakes to hide has gotten smaller.
- Harsh limiting, sloppy dither, and unchecked high-end harshness are all more audible on lossless streams than they were on lossy ones.
- Deliver one high quality master, usually a 24-bit WAV file, rather than separate versions for lossless and lossy platforms.
- Focus on careful limiting, correct dither, and healthy dynamics rather than chasing a specific loudness number.
Related Articles
- What Is Dither? Why getting this final step right matters more on lossless streams.
- 32-Bit Float Recording. How this format fits into a workflow built around high quality delivery.
- How to Use a Limiter in Mastering. The settings that keep loudness from turning into distortion.
- Why the -14 LUFS Rule Does Not Hold Up Anymore. Why chasing a number matters less than healthy dynamics.
- Mono Compatibility. Catching phase and low-end issues before a clean stream exposes them.
Ready to Go Deeper?
Mastering for a world where more listeners hear the real thing is still mastering. It just leaves less room for shortcuts. If you want my complete mastering workflow, including exactly how I handle limiting, dither, and loudness so a master holds up on any platform, lossless or not, the Pro Audio Mastering Course walks you through the entire process.
Learn more about the Pro Audio Mastering Course →
📥 Your Free Resources: Do not forget to download your free Mixing & Mastering Cheat Sheet. The same download also includes my free Complete Audio Mastering guide, covering the export settings and mastering chain order this post builds on. Download both here →
About the Author
Adrian Milea is a Mixing and Mastering Engineer, Music Producer, and Educator with over 25 years of experience. He has releases on Armada Music, features in DJ Mag, and teaches producers worldwide through his courses at adrianmilea.com.
Until next time, Stay Cool and Make Great Music,
Adrian Milea
Last Updated: July, 2026
Not fundamentally. Your mastering process stays the same, but mistakes that used to be masked by lossy compression, like harsh limiting or sloppy dither, are now more audible, so it is worth being more careful with those specific steps.
Lossy formats like MP3 discard some audio information to save space, and most of the time it goes unnoticed. Lossless formats like FLAC or WAV keep all of the original audio information intact, with nothing discarded.
Spotify added lossless streaming for Premium subscribers, joining Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal, which already offered lossless tiers. Spotify’s lossless option streams up to 24-bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC in many markets.
No. Deliver one high quality master, typically a 24-bit WAV file, and let each platform handle its own encoding and normalization for whatever tier a listener is using.
No, and this is a common misconception. Lossless streaming does not protect against distortion from over-limiting. If anything, that distortion is easier to hear on a clean, lossless stream than it was on a compressed one.
Yes. Quantization noise from a poorly handled bit depth reduction used to be partly hidden by lossy compression. On a lossless stream, that noise is more exposed, so getting dither right matters more than it used to.