Apple Music will get lossless audio support at no additional cost in June

Apple Music subscriptions will be expanded in June to include support for lossless music, spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. Subscribers do not have to pay extra for these features. The highest quality will soon be 24bit with 192kHz.

The entire catalog of more than 75 million songs will be available in high quality by the end of this year, Apple writes. Initially, there are 20 million songs available according to The Verge. Apple is using its Apple Lossless Audio Codec, or ALAC, to do this and is going to add three levels of audio quality. It starts with CD quality, with 16bit at 44.1kHz. This is followed by 24bit with 48kHz. These two sound levels work with standard Apple devices.

According to Apple, the third Hi-Resolution Lossless level with 24bit and 192kHz requires external equipment, such as a USB dac. All lossless quality levels are also opt-in due to the increased bandwidth required.

With Dolby Atmos, the music is adjusted based on the device the user is listening to the music with. All AirPods and Beats headphones with H1 or W1 chip will automatically play music in Dolby Atmos. The built-in speakers of the latest iPhones, iPads and Macs will also automatically play songs in Dolby Atmos. Albums with this Atmos support will be labeled as such. It is not clear how many songs are involved.

In addition, Apple announces that “thousands” of songs will support spatial audio in June. With spatial audio, the sound changes based on the user’s head movements. For example, when the user hears sound from the left and turns his or her head to the left, that sound will come from the front. The AirPods Max supports spatial audio.

The Music features announced on Monday will be available to all Music subscribers at no additional cost. An Apple Music subscription costs five to fifteen euros per month. Apple has not yet announced an exact release date.