Google Play Music Gets New Playback Quality Options For Streaming and Offline Listening - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Google Play Music Gets New Playback Quality Options For Streaming and Offline Listening

by

Google has updated its Play Music app with new options to control the quality of music playback over wireless networks and choose the compression level of downloaded tracks.

Previously, users of the streaming service could only adjust the quality of music when listening over their mobile connection, but the additional options offer the same control over WiFi and when listening offline.

Google Play stream quality
The options to adjust streaming and download quality are listed simply as Low, Normal, and High, so it's unclear exactly what bitrate Google is referring to, but it's safe to say any increase in quality will eat further into any data caps, or use more storage in the case of downloaded tracks.

For comparison, Spotify offers a streaming choice of 96kbps, 160kbps, or 320kbps, while Tidal offers 96kbps, 320kbps, and Apple Lossless (Hi-Fi). Apple Music streams at 256kbps by default, but does include a 80kbps option for cellular connections.

(Via Engadget.)

Top Rated Comments

JaySoul Avatar
118 months ago
Love how as a Google Play Music user on an Android phone, I only find out about this on MacRumors :D
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sMiK Avatar
118 months ago
I have the option, fun fact is that you cannot actually select it. I can select the other three, but not this one. It's not greyed out or anything, the tick just doesn't move to it when you tap it. Eh Google...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Col4bin Avatar
118 months ago
Not a Google Play Music user by any stretch, but I would have assumed that the better listening quality/compression options would have been available to users streaming over WiFi first, before the same functionality being made available to users via mobile data. Not that it matters but it seemed a little backwards, right? (But what do I know.)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
118 months ago
Love how as a Google Play Music user on an Android phone, I only find out about this on MacRumors :D
Yeah I don't go to any other website for tech-related stories. I really dig this place.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
Related Apple News: Iphone | Mac | Motoring | Buyers Guide | Lifestyle