What formats are supported by Google Play Music?
Google Play Music is a streaming music and podcast service developed by Google. It allows users to upload up to 50,000 songs from their own music library to the cloud and stream them alongside millions of tracks from the Google Play Music catalog. The service is available across a range of platforms including Android, iOS, and web browsers. Google Play Music supports a number of audio formats for streaming and uploading.
Audio Formats
Google Play Music supports a wide range of audio formats including:
- MP3 – This is the most common digital audio format. MP3 files compress audio data to reduce file size while attempting to preserve sound quality. Google Play Music can play standard MP3 files up to 320 kbps.
- AAC – Advanced Audio Coding is an audio compression format developed as the successor to MP3. AAC generally provides better sound quality than MP3 at the same bitrate. Google Play Music supports standard AAC files.
- FLAC – Free Lossless Audio Codec is a compressed audio format that preserves the original quality. FLAC files are normally much larger than MP3s or AAC due to the lack of lossy compression. Google Play Music supports FLAC files for high-quality audio.
- OGG – Ogg Vorbis is an open-source audio coding format. It compresses audio while avoiding patent issues associated with other formats. Google Play Music can play OGG audio files.
- WMA – Windows Media Audio is a proprietary format developed by Microsoft. WMA compresses audio data while preserving sound quality. Google Play Music supports standard WMA files.
Overall, the service supports all the major audio formats used for digital music online and in portable media players. This includes both lossy formats like MP3 and AAC as well as lossless formats like FLAC for premium quality.
Bitrates
Google Play Music supports a wide range of bitrates for audio files uploaded to the service. For compressed audio formats like MP3, AAC, and Ogg Vorbis, Google Play Music can handle files encoded from 32 kbps up to 320 kbps. For uncompressed audio like WAV and FLAC files, bitrates up to 1411 kbps are supported.
When streaming music from Google Play Music’s library, the service will deliver audio at 320 kbps for premium subscribers. This is a higher bitrate than some competing services like Apple Music, which streams at 256 kbps. According to some tests, the sound quality when streaming from Google Play Music is comparable to what you’d get from a CD.
For downloaded songs that you listen to offline, Google Play Music will encode MP3 files at 320 kbps and AAC files at 256 kbps. Lower bitrates may be used for older songs in the Google library if higher quality versions are not available. But in general, offline listening bitrates are very high quality.
Overall, Google Play Music aims to support a wide range of audio bitrates so users can upload any file quality. And streaming/downloads are delivered at near lossless quality for premium members. This ensures excellent audio fidelity across the service. As noted on Reddit and confirmed through hands-on testing, Google Play Music’s bitrates lead to great sounding music (Source 1).
Sample Rates
Google Play Music supports a range of sample rates for audio files uploaded to the service. According to Reddit users, Google Play Music can play files with sample rates up to 192 kHz, allowing for high-resolution audio playback (Source). However, the maximum sample rate may depend on the device and headphones used. Standard sample rates like 44.1 kHz (CD quality) and 48 kHz are fully supported.
When streaming songs from Google Play Music’s library, the sample rate depends on the quality of the file. According to audiophile forums, Google Play Music streams at 48 kHz or lower (Source). For best quality, users can download songs for offline playback at the native sample rate of the file.
Upload Limits
Google Play Music allows users to upload up to 50,000 songs from their personal music library to the cloud. This gives users access to their full music collection across devices wherever they have an internet connection. According to one forum discussion on DigitalSpy, the 50,000 song upload limit for Google Play Music is much higher than competing services like Amazon which have more restrictive limits.
In addition to the 50,000 song limit, Google Play Music also has a size restriction of up to 300 MB per song file when uploading. This allows users to upload high quality audio files without having to compress or downsample them. According to the GearHungry article, one of the benefits of transferring libraries to YouTube Music is increased upload limits, suggesting the limits in Google Play Music are sufficient for most users’ libraries.
Overall, with a limit of 50,000 songs and 300 MB per file, Google Play Music offers generous and uncompromising upload limits compared to other cloud music services. This gives users the ability to access their entire personal music library seamlessly across devices.
Platform Support
Google Play Music is supported on multiple platforms including Android, iOS, and the web. Music uploaded to a Google Play Music account can be played across these platforms so your music library is accessible on the go from mobile devices or at home on a desktop computer.
The Android app supports playback of songs uploaded to Google Play Music. The app allows users to download songs for offline listening when an internet connection is not available. On Android, Google Play Music comes pre-installed on many devices from manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Sony among others.
For iPhone and iPad users, Google offers the iOS app Google Play Music which enables access to the music library and streaming features. The iOS app has similar functionality as the Android version. Users can play, download, and manage their music collection.
On the desktop, users can play Google Play Music from a web browser at music.google.com. The web player provides access to all the uploaded songs and playlists in the music library. However, downloading for offline playback is not available on the web.
Overall, Google Play Music offers multi-platform support so users can enjoy their personal music collection on smartphones, tablets, and computers through the apps and web player. This allows seamless access across different devices.
Downloading for Offline
Google Play Music allows users to download songs, albums, playlists, and podcasts for offline listening when an internet connection is unavailable. This is useful for situations like airplane travel, commuting on the subway, or any other time you want to listen to music without using mobile data or relying on a WiFi connection.
To download music for offline listening on Android devices, open the Google Play Music app and tap on the download icon (downward arrow) next to any song, album, playlist or podcast episode. This will save it to your device storage. You can access downloaded content in the “Downloads” section of the app. On iOS devices, tap on the 3-dot menu next to content and select “Add to downloads.”
Google Play Music also has an “Auto-download” feature that will automatically download purchased or uploaded songs added to playlists marked for offline use. This ensures any new additions are downloaded for offline listening.
There are no limits on how many times a track can be downloaded. However, downloads are device-specific and do not transfer across devices. The downloaded files are encrypted with DRM and can only be played within the Google Play Music app.
According to Business Insider, offline downloads allow listening for up to 30 days before requiring an online check-in to verify subscription status. Downloaded content can be listened to as many times as desired during that period.
Streaming Quality
Google Play Music streams audio at different quality levels depending on your connection. When on WiFi, Google Play Music streams audio at up to 320kbps for standard quality and 850kbps for high quality (1). When on mobile data, it streams at 128kbps to save data (2).
This is generally lower quality than competing services like Apple Music, which streams 256kbps AAC audio on mobile networks. Tidal offers even higher quality streaming up to 1411kbps for lossless FLAC files (3). So while Google Play Music’s streaming bitrates are decent, especially on WiFi, competitors do offer superior audio quality.
Unsupported Formats
While Google Play Music supports a wide range of audio formats, there are a few popular formats that it does not support, such as FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), OGG, WMA (Windows Media Audio), and ALAC (Apple Lossless).
FLAC is an open source lossless audio format that compresses audio without losing any information. However, Google Play Music is unable to play FLAC files, likely due to licensing issues. This is a major downside for audiophiles who prefer lossless audio quality.
Similarly, the OGG format, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, is unsupported. OGG offers comparable audio quality to MP3 and AAC at smaller file sizes. Not being able to play OGG files limits the selection of audio files that can be uploaded to Google Play Music.
WMA and ALAC are also lossless formats developed by Microsoft and Apple respectively. But due to proprietary licensing, Google Play Music does not have decoding support for these formats. Users with libraries containing WMA or ALAC files would need to convert them to MP3 or AAC before uploading.
Overall, while Google Play Music supports common formats like MP3, AAC, WAV, and AIFF, it lacks support for certain popular lossless and proprietary audio formats. This restricts users from uploading their full audio libraries unless incompatible formats are converted first.
Conclusion
Google Play Music supports a wide variety of audio formats, bitrates, and sample rates for music streaming and downloading. While the most common formats like MP3 and AAC are fully supported, along with high-quality lossless FLAC files, some niche or legacy formats are unsupported. By sticking to open, standardized formats at reasonable bitrates, most users should have no trouble uploading their music library to Google servers and accessing it across devices. With mobile streaming capped at 320kbps and downloads supporting up to 320kbps as well, audio fidelity is quite good for a mass market music service. While Play Music may lack support for some exotic formats or extremely high bitrates, it covers mainstream use cases well and interoperates with the major music platforms and devices. For most listeners looking to bring their personal collections into Play Music and combine it with the Google music catalog, the service delivers great flexibility and quality.
In summary, Google Play Music handles common audio formats at bitrates suitable for enjoyable listening on a variety of devices and platforms. The service aims for balance between convenience, flexibility and audio quality rather than focusing on niche use cases. For the typical user with a collection of digital music purchased over the past decade or longer, Google Play Music will likely handle the bulk of their library just fine.