Audiophiles prefer the FLAC losless format over mp3 when it comes to listening to music. That’s fine if you have enough storage space to store the larger FLAC files, but not so much if you do not have enough storage space to store files that take up five times as much space as mp3 files.
Many users like to keep FLAC files on their desktop computer and mp3 files of the same songs on their portable mp3 player or mobile phone. But how can you convert FLAC to mp3? Lets find out.
There are a lot of tools out there that promise free conversions but do not keep up to the promise. Some convert only 50% of the files while others nag you into buying the full version before they let you convert flac files to mp3.
A free solution is Koyotesoft’s Free Mp3 Wma Converter which supports the FLAC format among others. You need to pay attention to the program’s setup though as it tries to install additional programs that you may not need. This includes a CD Ripper or a trial version of a shareware program. Additionally, it tries to install the Dealio toolbar and change the default search engine to Yahoo. All of those options can be disabled during installation.
You can drag and drop Flac files to the program interface or use the plus icon to add songs from the local hard drive.
Make sure mp3 is selected as the output format. You can change the default quality setting of 128 Kbps up to 320 Kbps there as well. A click on convert converts the FLAC files to mp3.
Please note that you can select a different output format, supported are for instance ogg or wav as well (but not aac). The program uses Lame to encode the music into different formats. A click on the settings button opens the options window with many different settings.
You can add as many FLAC files as you want from the local hard drive, and all of them will be batch converted once you hit the convert button. File names will be retained, only the file extension changes to the selected format.
You can download the program from the developer homepage.
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There are vague hints that the free version is time-limited or lacks functions. The site offers a “Plus” version for $24. What does the Plus version have that the free version does not. (The site doesn’t say.)
I have no idea where the difference is, there is zero information on the homepage or the application. There have been no restrictions so far.
I’ll stick with BonkEnc/fre:ac cause it’s full featured, open source, and doesn’t have a “pro/plus” version. It can even rip CDs.
Thanks for the info! I like fre:ac a lot!
I’ve been using Format Factory for ages. It offers many different audio, video and image conversions, as well as some more advanced functions, and is available, free, from http://www.formatoz.com/.
Roger -
The Format Factory site doesn’t mention converting FLAC files. Have you done this?
Yes, I’ve converted downloaded FLAC files to mp3 for my iPod, and Archos media players, when the files are not available as mp3.
Thanks very much.
Even Gigabytes of space fill up fast if you use flac instead of mp3. Plus, not every mp3 player or mobile phone supports the flac format.
KRS I just checked, the program supports FLAC.
Hey what about Audacity?
Free, never nag, open source goodness.
Audacity is overkill if you just want to transcode audio. While it can convert between formats, its primary function is as an audio editor. It also takes awhile for the program to launch and audio files to load.
Martin,
Could you have a look at Pazera Free Audio Extractor?
See: http://www.pazera-software.com/products/audio-extractor/
Quote from their site:
The most important features:
– Video conversion: AVI, DivX, XviD, MPEG, MPG, WMV, ASF, MOV, QT, FLV, SWF, MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, RM, RMVB, MKV, VOB, VCD DAT, OGM, AMV to MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC, OGG Vorbis, OGG FLAC or WAV.
– Audio conversion: WAV, MP3, AC3, AAC, M4A, MPC, MPA, MP2, WMA, FLAC, SHN, APE, OGG, WV, AMR to MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC, OGG Vorbis,OGG FLAC or WAV.
– The possibility of extraction/conversion any audio track from video files containing multiple audio tracks.
– Many predefined profiles. The users can create custom profiles.
– Don’t need any installation. Just extract ZIP archive and click AudioExtractor.exe file.
– Portability. This program doesn’t use system registry and can be run from portable devices. All settings are written to INI file.
– Supported languages: english, polish.
– 100% freeware! – for private and commercial use. There are no limitations, watermarks, adware, spyware etc.