How To Convert FLAC to MP3
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless audio compression format. It’s often used to digitally store and transfer music without any loss in quality. The files tend to be rather large though – for example, 3 minutes of audio could take up around 18 Mb.
On the other hand, MP3 is a lossy compression format that is supported by pretty much any audio player (plus the files tend to be smaller). Sometimes you need to convert FLAC to MP3, e.g. to be able to play it on your iPod. In this post I’ll describe how you can do that.
I tried out several free FLAC to MP3 converters prior to writing this tutorial. According to my testing, dBpoweramp seems to be the best choice. So that’s what I’ll use here. However, if this converter doesn’t work for you, there are certainly other viable alternatives, e.g. Foobar2000.
Okay, on with the tutorial ๐ Here’s the step-by-step guide for converting FLAC to MP3.
- Install dBpoweramp Music Converter. You can download it here.
- Install the FLAC codec for dBpoweramp.
- Start up the dBpoweramp Batch Converter. Usually you can find the converter here : Programs -> dBpoweramp Music Converter -> dBpoweramp Batch Converter
- Locate the FLAC files you want to convert using the built-in navigator and tick their checkboxes. You can also select an entire folder (or several) by clicking the boxes near them. Click “Convert”.
- A conversion settings window will pop up. There’s a lot of options here, but don’t worry – in most cases you will only need a few of them. First, select “MP3 (Lame)” from the Converting To dropdown. Then set the quality and bitrate according to your preferences. And finally, choose where you want the MP3 files to be placed. Then click “Convert >>”.
- dBpoweramp will then convert the FLAC files to the MP3 format. Depending on how many files you’re converting, and the quality settings, this could take a few minutes.
- Congratulations! Now you can put the converted MP3’s on your iPod, or whatever ๐
Subscribe via RSS
Get Updates by Email
Thanks! Most helpful!
Wow, this is great. The program you recommended is absolutely amazing. Uses each core on my PC to do a file and goes from one file to the next seamlessly. I converted around 50 FLAC files to 320KBPs 48KHz MP3s in less than 10 minutes.
Thanks,
-Ex
http://www.brothersoft.com/flac-to-mp3-192853.html
Please Download MY software and Create a review or tutorial for this .
Download Me and create a review for me !
@Download Me – Flac to MP3 – Nope.
I don’t just review software. In this case, I wrote a tutorial about solving a particular problem. I used dBpoweramp because it seemed like the right tool for the job, not because I wanted to “review” it. Why would I write another tutorial that says basically the same thing, but uses a different program? (this is of course a rhetorical question)
@White Shadow –
Thank you for reply
But Also I have some other applications ,If you like You can review or create a tutorial for them , Also I will get you register code for free :
MP3 Converter http://www.fullmm.com/mp3-converter/
WMA Converter http://www.fullmm.com/wma-converter/
Convert WMA TO mp3 http://www.fullmm.com/convert-wma-to-mp3/
Flac Converter http://www.fullmm.com/flac-converter/
Why not try “Magic FLAC to MP3 Converter” ?
You can download it at:
http://www.magicvideo.net
Thank you so much for this guide and program referral. You’ve taken something I knew was going to be a pain and made it so easy.
Sonata Arctica, woo! =]
Thanks for the tutorial.
@Carrie – Yeah, that’s one of my favorite bands ๐
WOW! This is an awesome program! Thanx alot.
I like how it uses both cores to do 2 songs at once. And conversion is VERY fast!
Thanx again!
O, and just a note – CONVERTED 15 SONGS IN 1MINUTE 17SECONDS
What was your files size ( or Length in seconds ) !
Hey, I just got an ipod and I had a bunch of .flac songs. This really helped me out. Thanks. Happy new year.
Great tutorial and software. Thanks.
Great tutorial, very easy to follow – thanks a lot!
P.S. I tried Magic convertor, and it’s only a trial version so it only converts half the song – wtF?
You’re welcome ๐
Regarding the Magic converter – wow, that’s a nasty limitation.
Hah nice music collection
Thanks for the turorial, I spent some time downloading crappy converters that didn’t work, but with your help I just finnished converting a very nice collection of jazz that I thought I would have to download again in another format. So thank you for taking the time to create this tutorial.
Glad to help ๐