are itunes songs lossless?

is there an option to purchase songs using apple's latest lossless codec?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Nov 2, 2022 3:21 PM

Similar questions

Is lossless only available through streaming Apple Music? How to buy lossless music from Apple Itunes?
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ALAC Lossless not available for some iTunes purchases Apple Music will not 'upgrade' most of my tunes I bought from the iTunes store. I've written two 'feedbacks' about this nonsense. We'd have to delete what we paid for just to get the lossless version, and that is as wrong as it is stupid. Has anyone had success 'upgrading' all their iTunes purchases to ALAC Lossless - with an Apple Music subscription, of course? Thank you.
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Is Apple’s ITunes Store Lossless? Answer - NO. In an earlier post - iTunes lossless, too? - Apple Community It states that although the iTunes Store doesn’t offer lossless downloads you can purchase these elsewhere at places like Bandcamp.com & upload them to Apple Music (if you also pay for Apple’s iTunes Match subscription). It’s here I wanted to clarify things for readers - iTunes Match is fantastic in so many regards except for perhaps in one area where it really lets you down. In ITunes Match, lossless audio is only available (given to uploads) of songs/ albums that already exist in the Apple Music Streaming catalog. If your song or album is not in the catalog - your lossless album is downgraded to Apple’s AAC/256kbps file format during the matching process (this is the format Apple previously used for Apple Music). And whilst, AAC is in fact an excellent music format, one far superior to say Spotify’s MP3 320kbps format - it is still a large step down from lossless, which is recorded at 1,144 kbps. Nevertheless, for the vast majority of music users - who listen to music on contemporary music players like phones or iPads using wireless speakers; and AirPod like headphones, the truth is that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever be able to tell the difference. Unless music is a real passion or hobby of yours, one that you’ve willingly invested a considerable amount of time and money in; for example, I listen to music on a headphone system worth over $10,000US - the difference is noticeable. The truth is, the sound from a HiFi system like mine and a normal telephone & AirPods setup is like night and day. Both are extremely enjoyable but both offer very different experiences.
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4 replies

turingtest2

Level 10

277,879 points

Nov 2, 2022 5:35 PM in response to rxbartolo

rxbartolo wrote:

ok, what if after I purchase & download from iTunes store, I then click File | Convert | Create Apple Lossless version? thx for quick response...

Converting a 256k AAC file to Apple Lossless makes a larger file with no improvement in quality.

tt2

ed2345

Level 9

63,488 points

Nov 2, 2022 5:28 PM in response to rxbartolo

rxbartolo wrote:

is there an option to purchase songs using apple's latest lossless codec?

Yes, but not from the iTunes Store. You can purchase lossless tracks from many retailers, including Beatport, BandCamp, HDTracks, etc. Download them and add them to your iTunes/Music library.

turingtest2

Level 10

277,879 points

Nov 2, 2022 4:55 PM in response to rxbartolo

No. See About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support.

tt2

rxbartolo Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 2, 2022 5:08 PM in response to turingtest2

ok, what if after I purchase & download from iTunes store, I then click File | Convert | Create Apple Lossless version? thx for quick response...

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are itunes songs lossless?