Setting up
Planning Disk for Lossless Music Discovery
Turning on a lossless cutoff feels free until four Flows start fetching. This page is the arithmetic you should do first, so the choice is deliberate rather than a disk-space emergency later.
Rough per-track sizes
Actual sizes vary with duration, but these are good enough for planning. Multiply by an average track length of four minutes for a full album estimate.
| Tier | Per minute | Per track (4 min) | Per album (10 tracks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MP3 128 | 0.96 MB | 3.8 MB | 38 MB |
| MP3 192 | 1.44 MB | 5.8 MB | 58 MB |
| MP3 256 | 1.92 MB | 7.7 MB | 77 MB |
| MP3 320 | 2.4 MB | 9.6 MB | 96 MB |
| M4A 256 | 1.92 MB | 7.7 MB | 77 MB |
| FLAC standard | 6 MB | 24 MB | 240 MB |
| FLAC hi-res (24/48) | 12 MB | 48 MB | 480 MB |
| FLAC hi-res (24/96) | 18 MB | 72 MB | 720 MB |
| FLAC hi-res (24/192) | 36 MB | 144 MB | 1.4 GB |
What actually drives the growth
Not the cutoff. The Flow size and the schedule are the dominant variables, because Flow files are temporary but they are downloaded fresh on every run unless the tracks already exist.
A 30-track weekly Flow at FLAC standard fetches roughly 720 MB per run. Rotate weekly over a year and that is about 37 GB of transfers, but not 37 GB of retained files, because Flow tracks rotate out and are cleaned up once no playlist references them.
The exception is anything you keep. Every track you promote into the library is permanent, and with four weekly Flows running you can accumulate far more than you intended.
- Flow files are temporary and rotate out on schedule.
- Tracks added to the library are permanent.
- Reused files are not downloaded again.
- Upgrade downloads temporarily hold two copies of the same track.
Bandwidth, which is often the real constraint
Downloads compete with everything else on the connection, and a lossless upgrade search can quietly consume a lot over months. A Flow at FLAC hi-res pulling 30 tracks is over 1.4 GB per run before any upgrade traffic.
If your connection is metered or slow, capping the cutoff at MP3 256 and leaving automatic upgrades off is a legitimate configuration rather than a compromise. You can raise it later and let upgrades improve what you already have.
A sensible way to start
Start at FLAC standard with the default upgrade interval. That gives you transparent audio for almost all listening, keeps first-fill downloads at a reasonable size, and lets the upgrade queue improve lossy files gradually rather than demanding everything up front.
Move to FLAC hi-res only if you are certain your playback chain resolves above 48 kHz. Otherwise the extra storage buys nothing you can hear, and the Flow fill times get noticeably longer.
| Profile | Retained per 10k tracks | Weekly Flow download |
|---|---|---|
| MP3 320, upgrades off | roughly 96 GB | about 290 MB |
| FLAC standard | roughly 240 GB | about 720 MB |
| FLAC 24/48 | roughly 480 GB | about 1.4 GB |
| FLAC 24/192 | roughly 1.4 TB | about 4.3 GB |
Frequently asked questions
Does a Flow delete its own files?
Yes, when tracks rotate out and no playlist on a connected playback server still references them. If a server is unreachable, cleanup is deferred rather than risking a deletion.
What happens to disk during an upgrade?
The existing file stays available while the better one downloads, so briefly two copies exist. The original is removed only after the replacement passes verification.
Is FLAC standard enough?
For most people listening on headphones or a decent interface, 16/44.1 is transparent. The difference is audible mainly on hi-res content played without resampling.
Ready to set it up
One container and one media path is genuinely all it takes. Everything else in this page is something you add when the need appears.