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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Good article. I will use it. I want to automate the process with biterscripting scripts. (http://www.biterscripting.com) Can you post how to use dbpoweramp thru batch or biterscripting ? That will be very useful. Thanks.
Why not try magic flac to mp3 converter? FLAC/CUE files are supported.
http://www.magicvideo.net/flac-to-mp3
Nice article, saved me a lot of work and searching. Thx a lot =)
Please reread the 3rd paragraph on this page. dBpoweramp may have been free when the author first created this page; but it is no longer free for the FLAC to MP3 conversion capability. The free version of dBpoweramp is what I call “cripple-ware”. After a 21 day trial of the full set of capabilities, it will no longer be able to create MP3 files. This is actually a pretty silly way to cripple the program since dBpoweramp itself does not even include an MP3 encoder. It externally invokes the (free) Lame encoder (which is included in the installation). Personally, I find this blocking of access to a program that they did not even write to be rather reprehensible way for the dBpoweramp folks to behave in order to induce you to send them money.
OTOH, the foobar2000 program, also mentioned in the 3rd paragraph, is no longer in beta, is totally free, and will never cripple itself. It can also do FLAC to MP3 conversion in a single step (as opposed to the 2-step process I mentioned with (free) Winamp and (free) EAC in an earlier posting here).
I have actually tried both dBpoweramp and foobar2000 at converting FLAC to MP3. With both doing VBR at about 190kbs, dBpoweramp was slower by a factor of 3:2. On my machine, for 14 files it was about 90 seconds for dBpoweramp and 60 seconds for foobar2000. (They both seem to be able to use both processors in my dual core machine.)
With foobar2000, the conversion capability can be accessed directly in the player. There are no separate conversion programs as with dBpoweramp. In foobar2000 you create (or use) a playlist including the files you want to convert, select the files to be converted, right click, and select “convert”. foobar2000’s installer does not install Lame; so you have to tell it where there is a copy of Lame (which is easily obtained if you do not already have it).
The only advantage I can see to dBpoweramp is its batch conversion capability. However, I think you would have to be converting an awful lot of stuff before you would consider the interactive conversion interface of either to be excessively cumbersome.
Why wouldn’t you just use Audacity, for free, instead?
Somehow Audacity didn’t come up when I was researching audio converters, but I imagine it would also work.
dude this was really really heplful like it helped a lot even though u gotta pay pretty soon but man this help a lot …
Eric wonders, “Why wouldn’t you just use Audacity, for free, instead?” I think one answer to that question would be that Audacity is not aimed primarily at such a purpose. What it can do is much more sophisticated than what dBpoweramp or foobar2000 can do – with the result that learning how to use it to do anything is going to be more cumbersome. (Just check the size of the documentation for it!) For those already familiar with Audacity, it is a good solution; but such persons are not likely to be looking at tutorial on how to convert FLAC to MP3.
I think a more mundane solution should be offered in this context. But I do agree with Eric that the solution offered should be free, since good and easy free solutions do exist. That is why I have tried to suggest foobar2000 or the combination of Winamp and EAC, all of which are free. (BTW – Both Winamp and EAC are free programs that I personally think are more valuable to have than any others mentioned here (with the possible exception of Audacity).)
nice dude! so mother fucking helpfull i just dl’s a fukload of black sabbath and i was like what th fuck??? right zus its all in flac so di this totally helped yo thanks alot brothaaaa
very awesome! Thank you 😀
Very good program. Very fast. The CPU 1 & 2 thing is there because your computer is dual core. I converted an entire album at 320kbps constant is about 5 mins. Cheers for the blog 🙂
Thanks for the review, works awesome.
It’s not free.
You really should update this blog. This software isn’t free and unless you’re a product shilling whore (in which case most of us should punch you in the face in the streets) then it does people a disservice to peddle a product that is no longer free.
THANKS. you were a great help 😉
+1 for audacity if you already have it.
What a NICE piece of software i cant believe I lived without this on my computer.
So easy to use, install it! and just right click the mpe, flac, or whatever and choose Convert TO and you’ll get the option screen.
hit convert – woala! you got your files convereted
Hi! I think this way is quite complicated…I use MediaConverter123 and it converts the whole flac library simultaneously after I just click “Convert” )))
You can try it http://mediaconverter123.com/
ololo suggests yet another non-free program. There are very good free solutions for ALL these conversions! You don’t need to pay money to the dBpoweramp folks, the MediaConverter123 folks, or anyone else to solve these conversion problems. The non-free programs are typically based on open source underpinnings anyway. They add a non-free GUI, but free GUIs exist also.
Why not just use “FLAC FrontEnd”?
http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html
1. “Decode” to .WAV files in FLAC
2. Use iTunes to convert them to MP3
Both are free and the 2 step process is relatively painless.