Apple Music Will Stream at a Lower 256kbps Bitrate, But Will Likely Use Better AAC Codec

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Posted June 9, 2015 at 10:10pm by iClarified

Apple's recently announced Apple Music streaming service is set to make its jump into the complex music streaming industry. Apple did leave out some details from its announcement yesterday, including the streaming quality of the music.

Chris Davies of SlashGear is reporting that Apple Music will stream at 256kbps -- the same as iTunes Match and most iTunes Store tracks. The report does not mention which codec Apple Music will be using. However, it's likely that it will be 256kbps AAC (which is what iTunes/Apple current uses). That's generally better sounding, or equal to 320kbps MP3.

For comparison, Beats Music streams at 320kbps MP3 or HE-AAC 64kbps on mobile. Spotify uses a variety of different bitrates, encoded through Vorbis: 96kbps for mobile and 160kbps for desktop. If you're a Spotify Premium user, you get 320kbps on any platform. Jay'z Tidal music service offers 320kbps for $10/month and HiFi Lossless streaming for $20/month.

Regardless, it is highly unlikely that the human ear can hear the difference between any of these services with standard audio equipment.

Apple Music, featuring Beats 1 Radio, Connect, and more, will launch June 30 with the release of iOS 8.4.

Apple Music Will Stream at a Lower 256kbps Bitrate, But Will Likely Use Better AAC Codec

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James Cameron - June 10, 2015 at 5:08pm

PiedPiper rules!

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Miguel - June 10, 2015 at 1:37am

There is a typo at the end of the article. You wrote Appel instead of Apple. :)

Pplpa - June 10, 2015 at 1:12am

Apple, when will you let me park my napstar collection in the cloud.

Connor - June 9, 2015 at 11:07pm

How much data will Apple Music use for streaming?

gamerscul9870 - June 9, 2015 at 11:08pm

No one knows, but it's going to go at a slow rate to count mb the way cellular data works.

slybacon - June 10, 2015 at 1:30am

With T-Mobile, all music streaming is included free; it doesn't count against LTE usage. Check them out if you want to stream high-quality. Also, with offline playback, you should be able to download on wi-fi and play it from your phone anytime.

Ali - June 9, 2015 at 10:49pm

call Pied Piper