How much data does Spotify use? It depends on the sound quality you choose. The higher it is, the more data the streaming service will burn through. In any case, Spotify uses way less data than video streaming services (more on this later) and probably less than most people think.
Free Spotify Premium service has been added to AT&T’s list of premium add-ons that the carrier’s Unlimited & More plan subscribers can access. This offer starts on August 6th, and subscribers can. I activated the Spotify Option on my T-Mobile Service Plan and then noticed, that I can not connect my existing Spotify Premium Account to my service plan, only free accounts are allowed. Then I started a service contact two days ago about downgrading my premium account to free but got no reply.
The Spotify Android app lets you choose between five sound quality settings: Low (24kbps), Normal (96kbps), High (160kbps), Very high (320kbps), and Automatic (dependent on your network connection). You can access these options by heading to Settings > Music Quality on your Android phone.
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To simplify things as much as possible, I’ve prepared an overview of how much data each setting uses per minute and hour as well as how long you’d have to stream music for to burn through 1GB of data. Keep in mind these numbers are approximate. Spotify can cache songs you’ve previously listened to, meaning they may not eat up the same amount of data the second time you play them.
Low (24kbps):
- Per minute: 0.18MB
- Per hour: 10.8MB
- How long until you reach 1GB: 92.5 hours
Normal (96kbps):
- Per minute: 0.72MB
- Per hour: 43.2MB
- How long until you reach 1GB: 23.1 hours
High (160kbps):
- Per minute: 1.2MB
- Per hour: 72MB
- How long until you reach 1GB: 13.8 hours
Very high (320kbps):
- Per minute: 2.4MB
- Per hour: 144MB
- How long until you reach 1GB: 6.9 hours
Now that you know how much data Spotify uses, let’s see how the numbers compare to video streaming. Watching HD content on Netflix uses up to 3GB of data per hour or as much as 7GB when the resolution gets bumped up to Ultra HD. Medium quality (SD) is a lot less data hungry, burning through 0.7GB per hour. Still, that’s almost five times as much as streaming music with the best sound quality available (320kbps).
Apple Music vs Spotify vs Google Play Music
What about Spotify’s competitors? Google Play Music and Deezer both offer a maximum audio bitrate of 320kbps, which uses approximately 144MB of data per hour. So does Tidal, although it also has a Hi-Fi plan with a bitrate of 1.411kbps for improved sound quality. It’s a lot more data hungry, using around 635MB per hour. Apple Music, on the other hand, has a maximum bitrate of 256kbps, which translates to around 115MB of data per hour.
An important thing to keep in mind is that Spotify — as well as other streaming services mentioned in this post — lets you download songs to your phone, which means you don’t have to use any data at all when listening to music.
How many hours per week do you listen to music on Spotify or other streaming services? Let us know in the comments!
Music Freedom™ lets you stream all the music you want from participating streaming services with your mobile device without using data.
On this page:
Plans that include Music Freedom
Magenta and T-Mobile ONE plans are unlimited so you can already stream all the music you want without worrying. The following plans automatically get Music Freedom at no additional charge:
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Plan not listed?
- Some less common plans also get Music Freedom. Check by logging in to My T-Mobile or the App, click Account, select the line you want to check, then click the name of your plan to see plan details.
- Don't get Music Freedom? Stop worrying about data limits and make the switch to Magenta where you'll get unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited 4G LTE data on your device. Learn more about Magenta.
Participating streaming services
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T-mobile And Spotify
* These services also include video and are part of Binge On.
† Some music services might download song data to your device for offline listening, counting against your data allotment. To avoid this, make sure any available offline, download, or similar option is not selected for any song, playlist, or album shown.
If there's a music streaming service you think should be part of Music Freedom, tweet us your favorite service @TMobile #MusicFreedom.
How to use Music Freedom
Music Freedom is enabled automatically if you've got an eligible plan - there's nothing you need to do! However, we've got a few tips on how to avoid using data:
- Use the specific music streaming app on your device.
- Don't stream to devices using Mobile Hotspot or tethering.
- When connected to Wi-Fi, your device uses zero data regardless of your streaming choices.
Non-music streaming data
- Most music streaming services include small amounts of non-music streaming data, such as album art and pic advertisements.
- Non-music data does count against your high-speed data bucket. The amount of data varies by streaming partner and the device being used.
- If you stream music for hours at a time, you can expect to see an increase in your data usage.
Roaming experience
My Spotify Data
- International availability of streaming services does vary, so make sure to check with your streaming service provider before you go.
- If you're roaming domestically, you're subject to roaming data limits.
- Simple Choice North America plans: Streaming with Music Freedom doesn't count against your data allotment while traveling in Mexico or Canada.
- Simple Choice plans: You get unlimited data in 210+ countries and destinations. Streaming with Music Freedom while abroad never counts against your domestic high-speed data.