diff --git a/app/api/deps.py b/app/api/deps.py
index e1a4b20..37d2565 100644
--- a/app/api/deps.py
+++ b/app/api/deps.py
@@ -167,3 +167,23 @@ async def get_current_superuser(user: CurrentUser) -> User:
 
 
 SuperUser = Annotated[User, Depends(get_current_superuser)]
+
+
+async def get_streaming_user(
+    auth: AuthServiceDep,
+    credentials: BearerDep,
+    token: str | None = None,
+) -> User:
+    """Authenticate a stream request.
+
+    The browser ``<audio>`` element cannot send an ``Authorization`` header, so
+    the access token is accepted as a ``?token=`` query param; native clients may
+    still use a bearer header. Either way it's the same access token.
+    """
+    raw = token or (credentials.credentials if credentials else None)
+    if not raw:
+        raise AuthenticationError("Missing access token.")
+    return await auth.authenticate_access(raw)
+
+
+StreamUser = Annotated[User, Depends(get_streaming_user)]
diff --git a/app/api/v1/streaming.py b/app/api/v1/streaming.py
index 3e45323..9584e0e 100644
--- a/app/api/v1/streaming.py
+++ b/app/api/v1/streaming.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from typing import Annotated
 from fastapi import APIRouter, Header
 from fastapi.responses import StreamingResponse
 
-from app.api.deps import StreamingServiceDep
+from app.api.deps import StreamingServiceDep, StreamUser
 
 router = APIRouter(prefix="/stream", tags=["streaming"])
 
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ router = APIRouter(prefix="/stream", tags=["streaming"])
 async def stream_track(
     track_id: uuid.UUID,
     service: StreamingServiceDep,
+    _user: StreamUser,
     range_header: Annotated[str | None, Header(alias="Range")] = None,
 ) -> StreamingResponse:
     result = await service.open_stream(track_id, range_header)
diff --git a/tests/test_upload_stream_api.py b/tests/test_upload_stream_api.py
index a5a5a3f..2d28b70 100644
--- a/tests/test_upload_stream_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_upload_stream_api.py
@@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ async def test_stream_full(api: AsyncClient) -> None:
     assert up.status_code == 200
     track_id = up.json()["track_id"]
 
-    resp = await api.get(f"/api/v1/stream/{track_id}")
+    # Browser <audio> can't send headers — auth rides on the ?token= query param.
+    resp = await api.get(f"/api/v1/stream/{track_id}?token={token}")
     assert resp.status_code == 200
     assert resp.content == audio
     assert resp.headers["content-type"].startswith("audio/mpeg")
@@ -164,7 +165,7 @@ async def test_stream_range(api: AsyncClient) -> None:
 
     resp = await api.get(
         f"/api/v1/stream/{track_id}",
-        headers={"Range": "bytes=0-9"},
+        headers={"Range": "bytes=0-9", "Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
     )
     assert resp.status_code == 206
     assert resp.content == b"0123456789"
@@ -173,10 +174,18 @@ async def test_stream_range(api: AsyncClient) -> None:
 
 
 async def test_stream_not_found(api: AsyncClient) -> None:
-    resp = await api.get("/api/v1/stream/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000")
+    token = await _login(api)
+    resp = await api.get(
+        f"/api/v1/stream/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000?token={token}"
+    )
     assert resp.status_code == 404
 
 
+async def test_stream_requires_auth(api: AsyncClient) -> None:
+    resp = await api.get("/api/v1/stream/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000")
+    assert resp.status_code == 401
+
+
 async def test_upload_requires_auth(api: AsyncClient) -> None:
     resp = await api.post(
         "/api/v1/upload",