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Ever wondered how much data Spotify uses? I did, so I took a look into just how much data the world’s most popular music streaming service actually uses.
As you’d expect, Spotify’s data use depends on the audio quality you stream. Better quality means more data. But in a world of unlimited smartphone contracts and fiber connections, does it really matter? And more to the point, how does Spotify’s data use compare to its competitors?
How Much Data Does Spotify Use?
Spotify has four different sound quality options: Low, Normal, High, and Very High. There is also an Automatic option that chooses the best audio quality based on your network connection, which is handy if you’re in and out of reception in a low-coverage area.
Quality Level
Data Usage per Hour (MB)
Time to Reach 1GB (hours)
Low (24kbps)
Normal (96kbps)
High (160kbps)
Very High (320kbps)
How to Check How Much Data Spotify Is Using on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS
you’re able to check how much data Spotify is using in your operating system, which is useful for monitoring limited internet connections.
The easiest way to check Spotify data use in Windows is in the Settings panel.
The Data Usage view shows the total amount of data used by each app over a 30-day period. As you can see, I’ve used nearly 19GB of data in the past month streaming Spotify.
The macOS Activity Monitor is one way to track how much data Spotify is using. However, the Activity Monitor only tracks your data during your current period, and if the app is open. Given Apple’s typically extremely useful functionality elsewhere, the lack of an integrated per-app data tracker is somewhat frustrating.
As you can see in the image above, Activity Monitor only tracked Spotify’s data from the moment it was opened on the system, which doesn’t give you a very good idea of how much data it’s using. Furthermore, alternatives likeTripModeandDataCeverare good tools for monitoring the data usage of individual apps but they come at a cost.
On Android, it takes just a few steps to see how much data a specific app is using.
Given the different iterations of Android, the steps may vary slightly, but it’ll be roughly the same process for everyone.
It’s a similarly easy process on iOS (so why not macOS, Apple?!).
Check how much data you’ve used for the specified period.
How Does Spotify’s Data Use Compare?
Spotify’s Very High quality streaming uses around 144MB per hour, taking just under seven hours to use a full gigabyte of data. It’s Low quality streaming uses just 10MB per hour, which is quite impressive, especially if you’re on a limited data plan.
But how does that compare to the other big streaming services, like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and so on?
Service Name
Low Quality (kbps)
Data Usage per Hour Low Quality
Medium Quality (kbps)
Data Usage per Hour Medium Quality
High Quality (kbps)
Data Usage per Hour High Quality
Very High Quality (kbps)
Data Usage per Hour Very High Quality
Apple Music
Amazon Music
YouTube Music
Up to 9216
Up to 4147MB
As you’re able to see, Spotify is the best option for limited data plans. Data consumption gets a little more interesting at the other end of the scale, especially as not all services have matching names.
Furthermore, as Hi-Res streaming services, Tidal and Qobuz distort the results a little more, but it’s good to see the differences. Both streaming services offer a super high-end service that allows you to hear music at the highest quality, though you’ll need equally high-end hardware to fully appreciate it.
For most folks, a regular Spotify subscription (or one of its competitors) does the job just fine.
