Artyfile Stream vs YouTube Music
Artyfile Stream vs YouTube Music
YouTube Music combines a huge song-and-video catalogue with generous free uploads in lossy 256 kbps; Artyfile Stream plays its own label recordings and your uploaded files losslessly, and guarantees rights holders at least €0.03 per stream.
Many people pick YouTube Music because it comes with YouTube Premium and lets them upload their own collection. If sound quality or a clear payout rule matters to you, the comparison looks different.
Where YouTube Music is stronger
More than 100 million songs plus videos and live performances, a free ad-supported tier, and uploads of up to 100,000 of your own songs (FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, WMA) that play even without Premium. Premium costs €11.99 a month in Germany and adds offline and background listening.
| Artyfile Stream | YouTube Music | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €9.90 / €14.90 / €19.90 a month for 100 / 250 / 500 streams | Premium €11.99 / month; free tier with ads |
| Best audio quality | Uncompressed WAV studio master, 44.1 or 48 kHz, up to 24-bit | AAC/Opus up to 256 kbps (lossy) |
| Catalogue | 850+ recordings produced by Artyfile | 100M+ songs, videos and live performances |
| How artists are paid | User-centric pool, at least €0.03 per stream guaranteed | No figure published |
| Your own files | My Music: private locker, 10 / 30 / 50 GB (WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC) | Up to 100,000 songs, also without Premium |
| Offline | Up to 5 reserved streams per device for 24 h; no downloads | Downloads with Premium |
YouTube facts from youtube.com and support.google.com; German price from ComputerBase (secondary), identical to the price YouTube showed for Austria. See sources below.
Sound: lossy AAC/Opus vs lossless WAV
YouTube Music streams at up to 256 kbps AAC or Opus — both lossy codecs. Artyfile Stream plays its catalogue as uncompressed WAV masters (44.1 or 48 kHz, up to 24-bit) and plays your uploaded FLAC or WAV files in their original quality too.
Your own library, two approaches
YouTube Music’s upload limit is a number of songs (100,000); Artyfile’s My Music limit is storage (10, 30 or 50 GB by plan, up to 2 GB per file) and is included in the subscription. My Music is strictly private: files are never shared, matched or replaced by a catalogue copy, and plays do not use your stream allowance.
How artists are paid
YouTube does not publish a per-stream figure for YouTube Music. Artyfile Stream shares each subscriber’s artist pool among the recordings that subscriber plays and guarantees at least €0.03 per counted stream to the rights holders.
Questions
- Is YouTube Music lossless?
- No. YouTube Music streams at up to 256 kbps AAC or Opus, which are lossy formats. Artyfile Stream plays uncompressed WAV masters and your own FLAC or WAV uploads without re-encoding.
- Where can I upload my own music and play it in hi-fi?
- Artyfile Stream’s My Music stores your WAV, FLAC, MP3 and AAC files privately (10–50 GB by plan) and plays them on web and app in their original quality. YouTube Music allows more songs (100,000) and works without a subscription, but plays them in its streaming quality.
- Is Artyfile Stream free like YouTube Music?
- No. Artyfile has 30-second previews of every track without an account; full listening starts at €9.90 a month for 100 streams.
Sources
- YouTube Music Premium: price and catalogue, retrieved 27/09/2026
- ComputerBase: YouTube Premium prices in Germany, June 2026 (secondary), retrieved 27/09/2026
- YouTube Music Help: Audio quality settings, retrieved 27/09/2026
- YouTube Music Help: Upload music to your library, retrieved 27/09/2026
- Artyfile Terms and Conditions, §5 Artyfile Stream and §6 Artyfile for Artists, retrieved 27/09/2026
Facts checked on 27 September 2026.