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Qobuz ends streaming offer in MP3 and advocates pay-per-use remuneration

According to the French streaming provider Qobuz, the company sees it as an initiative for a high-quality music experience when it announces that it will no longer offer streaming services with data-reduced MP3 and will rely solely on streaming in CD quality and hi-res audio.


Qobuz is one of those providers that not only offer music downloads, but also a streaming service. Founded in 2007, the company has so far offered a subscription among its various options, which alone provides MP3 content for music streaming. This is now to end.

Since its founding, the company has been committed to artistic creation and qualitative music, and Qobuz is now putting this on record, and wants the decision to do without MP3 in the future to be understood precisely in this context. Good music means first and foremost that the sound of the studio should be accurately reproduced, and MP3 is not suitable for this. From now on, content should therefore be available at least in “CD quality”, as should, of course, content in hi-fi audio.

Why this realization is only now being reached, however, remains open. The explanation that Qobuz now cites as the basis for the abandonment of MP3 is not necessarily new. Qobuz itself now speaks of MP3 as a format that offers a poor sound experience, as audio quality is sacrificed in favor of a reduction in file size.

“Qobuz strives to offer a sound that respects the work of the artists, and therefore decided to no longer offer streaming subscriptions in MP3 format. From now on, all subscriptions offered will provide access to a streaming quality superior to that of MP3: HI-FI, a streaming offer that delivers lossless sound in a quality comparable to that of a CD, and STUDIO, a subscription that offers unsurpassed sound quality with streaming in Hi-Res quality, nine times better than MP3”.

As described above, all this is not new, so Qobuz’ move towards higher quality is actually quite late, especially since other providers have long since proven that it is possible to successfully establish a streaming offering based solely on Hi-Res audio. Well, be that as it may, better late than never, especially since Qobuz is now also concerned about fair remuneration for artists.

“To love music is first and foremost to love those who make it. We are committed to uncompressed music that respects the work and the artists, and to a model of music consumption that guarantees fair remuneration for artists and rights holders. We want to be an ally of musical quality, to offer only the best to our subscribers”.

Denis Thébaud, CEO of Qobuz

Qobuz is committed to supporting a remuneration model that is sustainable and effective for artists, and therefore promotes subscription to streaming and the downloading of music on a pay-per-use basis, whereby download and streaming are understood as two complementary types of music consumption that enable fairer remuneration for artists and rights holders.

Qobuz’s streaming offering now begins with Qobuz HiFi, which provides users with audio data in FLAC at 16 bit and 44.1 kHz and thus in “CD quality”. The second option is Qobuz Studio, where users can also access content in Hi-res Audio in FLAC at 24 bits and up to 192 kHz. Qobuz Sublime+, which offers Hi-res audio streaming and also offers discounts on downloads, continues to lead the way.

Getting to the point

Since its founding, Qobuz has been committed to artistic creation and qualitative music, and this is now on record, and the decision to do without MP3 in the future is to be understood precisely in this context. Good music means first and foremost that the sound of the studio should be accurately reproduced, and MP3 is not suitable for this. From now on, content should therefore be available at least in “CD quality”, as should, of course, content in hi-fi audio.

Manufacturer:Qobuz
Distribution:Qobuz
Price:Qobuz HiFi € 19.99 per month or € 199.99 per year
Qobuz Studio € 24.99 per month or € 249.99 per year
Qobuz Sublime+ € 299.99 per year
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Michael Holzinger

Michael Holzinger, founder and editor-in-chief of HiFi BLOG and sempre-audio.at, has been working for years as a journalist in the fields of IT, photography, telecommunications and consumer electronics.

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