Since 2019, Tidal has offered high-quality audio streaming support through the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format. This week they announced that they will stop supporting the MQA format and it will be replaced by 16-bit, 44.1 kbps FLAC files starting next July 24.
According to Tidal, the decision was made because FLAC is an open source format that allows artists to offer music at high quality without going through third parties. Customers who download songs in MQA format will be prompted to update the app and re-download songs in FLAC format. The process of replacing all MQA tracks is underway so tracks that do not yet have FLAC versions are temporarily inaccessible.
Tidal also stopped supporting 360 Reality Audio and replaced it with audio in Dolby Atmos format. This decision was taken because Dolby Atmos is currently the most popular spatial audio format with wider audio hardware support.