Soundcloud Reportedly Reduced Its Audio Quality By Half

BYAron A.Updated on September 26, 20228.6K Views

Caroline Drucker of Soundcloud,Katie McMohan of SoundHound, Kathryn Moreadith of UJAM, Shakil Khan of Spotify and DLD founder Marcel Reichart attend the Digital Life Design women conference (DLDwomen) at Bavarian National Museum on June 30, 2011 in Munich, Germany. The conference features discussions, case studies and lectures and brings together an extraordinary group of international high-profile speakers and more than 500 participants from business, media, technology, society, health, education, politics and science.

Soundcloud has dropped their bitrate for sound quality by half.

While services like Apple Music, TIDAL and Spotify dominate streaming market, Soundcloud still remains as a unique platform for creators to freely upload their own sounds, from music to podcasts, in order to reach wider audiences. However, in comparison to other streaming services, the audio quality may not be up to par. In a recent report, it turns out that they've decreased their sound quality in recent times to about half.

Soundcloud's audio quality bitrate has dropped from 128kbps mp3 to 64kbps Opus, according to Pigeons & Planes report. As discovered by Twitter user, @DirectOfficial, the new bitrate can "drastically reduces the audio quality and can introduce strange artifacts." However, he's gone on to clarify that Opus 1.2 at 64kbps should be of equal or even better sound quality than 128kbps mp3 but on Soundcloud, it is not. The issue apparently even occurs for users with a Soundcloud GO account as well.

https://twitter.com/_/status/948584457405128704
https://twitter.com/_/status/948913187918962688

At this point, no one is exactly sure why there's been a decrease in sound quality and Soundcloud has yet to make an official comment on it. However, there have been several plugins that have been created to restore the sound back to 128 kbps mp3.

This news comes a few months after Soundcloud was saved from their downfall due to financial issues. Back in August, Soundcloud received a $170 million cash infusion that helped prevent the company from shutting down. The company also replaced their former CEO Alex Ljung with former Vimeo CEO, Kerry Trainer.

About The Author

Aron A.

Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.