Apple Music Is About To Sound Very Different On Your Apple TV

Apple Music is one of the major music streaming providers, competing with the likes of Spotify, Amazon Music, and Google's YouTube Music. There are differences between the giant companies, which is why some users highlight its ease of use as one of the perks of switching from Spotify to Apple Music. Some listeners also like Apple's lossless audio, which arguably makes it better than YouTube music in terms of sound quality. One popular feature all of them offer is the ability to stream music to your television, playing banger tunes while you complete household chores, get work done, or simply hang out with friends. Still, Apple TV is hoping to stand out with a new feature for its Apple TV 4K 2nd and 3rd-generation devices running tvOS 27.

In September 2026, the tech company said it would transition music streaming to high-resolution lossless audio support for the Apple TV's Apple Music app, providing even more frequencies and data in the stream. Per Apple's support page, lossless audio allows listeners to experience uncompromised tracks spared from any frequency loss. "With an Apple Music subscription, you can turn on lossless audio across all of your devices and hear every preserved detail from the original recording," it says. 

Thus, if you own a newer Apple TV 4K model, but haven't yet made the switch to Apple Music, it may be worth a try to experience the sound quality, assuming your speakers are up to the task. Apple said tvOS will only compatible with Apple TV 4K devices released after 2021. Any older Apple TVs will be left behind on this update.

Apple TV's transition to high-res lossless audio for Apple Music came just five years after the service rolled it out for its entire catalog–which contains more than 100 million songs in 2026. Though some listeners may have a hard time telling the difference between hi-res and lossless audio, Mastering Engineer Piper Payne said the former produces an untouched, high quality listening sensation. "The soul and life of the mix is sitting in the extra bits of data that are stored in the lossless file," she said for a June 2021 Apple press release. 

When Apple transitioned to high-res lossless, it also added spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support for the service to generate a more immersive atmosphere. "Spatial Audio gives artists the opportunity to create immersive audio experiences for their fans with true multidimensional sound and clarity," the company wrote.

Lossless audio is designed to provide 100% of an original recording despite compression, which certain listeners find more pleasant to the ear. Some reddit users likened its sound quality to that found on CDs and, to others, even vinyl records. "[Lossless audio is] literally CD quality audio," one user wrote. "Like the same sample rate every CD has, the same dumb CDs you were playing in your Chevy Cavalier back in high school."