---
title: "Why is Soundcloud audio quality so poor?"
url: https://djing.com/blog/why-is-soundloud-audio-quality-not-on-par-with-other-music-streaming-platforms
markdown_url: https://djing.com/blog/why-is-soundloud-audio-quality-not-on-par-with-other-music-streaming-platforms.md
description: "Soundcloud Go+ is famous for having much lower audio quality than Spotify, Beatport or Deezer"
type: article
site: DJing.com
author: "DJing"
category: "technology"
date_published: 2023-07-28T10:09:49+00:00
date_modified: 2023-07-28T10:09:49+00:00
language: en
keywords:
  - "audio quality sound soundcloud deezer spotify tidal beatport mixcloud"
---

# Why is Soundcloud audio quality so poor?

There are a few possible reasons why SoundCloud's sound quality might be perceived as lower, even for Go+ subscribers

![Why is Soundcloud audio quality so poor](https://djing.com/img/soundcloud_audio_quality.png)

Compression: To optimize streaming and reduce bandwidth usage, SoundCloud may apply audio compression to the uploaded tracks. Compression can cause a loss of audio fidelity and detail, even if the original file was of high quality. Soundcloud is of the last platforms still using MP3 compression, for a large part of its catalog, even for new releases. Uploading practices: SoundCloud allows artists to upload their music, and the quality of the uploaded tracks can vary depending on how the artists encode their files. If an artist uploads a lower quality file, even Go+ subscribers will hear the same diminished sound quality. It's quite common for artists themselves to upload degraded versions of their work on Soundcloud (shorter edits, reduced encoding quality) Mastering: Sometimes, tracks uploaded to SoundCloud might not be mastered properly, leading to issues with sound quality. Mastering is the final stage of music production, where the audio is fine-tuned to ensure it sounds good on different playback systems. Perception and comparison: If you are used to listening to music on other high-fidelity platforms or lossless formats, you might notice a difference when streaming on SoundCloud, even with the Go+ subscription. That's why it's difficult to migrate from Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Beatport, Tidal to Soundcloud Go+

Video: [YouTube video player](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1qs85Ob38)

---

Source: [Why is Soundcloud audio quality so poor?](https://djing.com/blog/why-is-soundloud-audio-quality-not-on-par-with-other-music-streaming-platforms) on DJing.com. Free to quote and cite with attribution and a link to the source URL.
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