The second-generation AirPods Pro might support Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), and could even come with a case that makes a sound to help users to find it.
According to ANI, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed this in a note to investors. There currently isn’t an AirPods model that supports lossless audio, a form of file compression that preserves all of the data in the original audio file, resulting in higher quality sound.
Each AirPods model, even the pricey AirPods Max, uses Bluetooth to deliver audio, which limits the devices to using Advanced Audio Codec (AAC), a loss-y form of audio compression.
The advantage of the lossless audio on Apple Music will include the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and Apple HomePod.
The main downside to lossless audio is that its files take up more storage space on their device, and streaming it online can quickly eat up mobile data.