TIDAL has decided to focus exclusively on FLAC for stereo sound, so this is the format the music streaming service will support going forward. Another reason FLAC was chosen is that it’s open source, so artists can provide their music in high-quality directly to TIDAL without any third-party being involved.
When it comes to immersive sound, TIDAL announced that it has chosen Dolby Atmos as the format it will continue to support going forward. This was an easy decision to make considering the number of compatible devices, catalog availability, and artist adoption of the format.
Now, those of you who have an MQA track or album in your Collections (playlists too), the track will automatically be replaced by the highest quality FLAC version that has been distributed to TIDAL.
However, if you have an MQA track or album downloaded for offline access, you’ll have to update to the latest version of the app on July 24 to be able to redownload these tracks in FLAC format.
It’s important to note that TIDAL says that while they have at least 16-bit, 44.1 kbps FLAC versions of nearly all MQA tracks in its library, it might not have a replacement for every single one. Still, the company says it’s working hard to ensure that all existing MQA tracks will be replaced with a FLAC version after July 24.
On the other hand, TIDAL customers with 360 Reality tracks or albums will see these grayed out and unavailable for streaming if they try to select it.