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 🙂 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 😉
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Just download this…it’s free and there is alot more you can do with this program.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Thanks, it was useful.
This is the MOST USLESS converter. It took 1hr:35:45 to convert a singfle .flac file. On top of it all the converted file was useless too!
I was surprised to see that it used both my duel cores efficiently, it did 2 songs at a single time. Output quality was good too.
Wow, you couldn’t have made converting flac files to mp3s any easier. Thanks so much for your tutorial!!
Thank you!
Macintosh users have a very easy option. And it’s totally free. Downoad MAX (Google Macintosh file converter), drop it into your dock, and it converts FLACS into mp3s without you even thinking about it. No tutorial required, no cash required, and it’s quick and 100% reliable. I even use it to transform “troublesome” mp3 files into usable ones.
PC users, as usual, struggle on with their creaky old apps on their dim-bulb old pcs. Sigh!
Great job dude. Thanks.
That was awesome! Worked like a charm. Thanks for the walkthrough!!
That was super easy. Thanks for making complicated computer stuff easy for us non-tech savvy people.
Worked perfectly. Utilized my dual-core processor well, putting each CPU to work on a different audio file. Sweet software, great walkthrough. 😀
Brilliant! I made it! 🙂
Hey, I was wondering what is the best idea to use for the quality settings? I saw it goes up to 320, does that make it the best choice. I downloaded a live metallica album from their website and want to make it the best quality possible.
Thanks so much. Great free converter that actually converts the whole song.
AWESOME TUTORIAL and AWESOME PROGRAM! easy and SUPER QUICK! i’m one of those people that hunts and hunts to find the perfect program, and this.is.it.!
AwEsOmE
Awesome tutorial, thanks a lot!
Is it really free? The free version says it only some basic converts but no MP3 encoding.
Hmm, interesting. Nevertheless, the trial version still works for converting to MP3.
Thanks!!! Now I can listen to Rick Ross