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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thanks a bunch! worked great! too bad it’s only a 21 day trial of dBpoweramp… but I got what I needed. thanks.
Ha foobar wins hands down!
thank you very much for this
clear instructions are always appreciated!
thanks again
OH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
You have no idea — or maybe you DO! — how much crap is out there. I found your site on the 8th try. I got FLAC files of Joe Sample, Ray Brown & Shelly Manne “The Three” (1975) from a friend a year ago and couldn’t convert them. This Direct-to-Disc album is a rarity indeed. It’s beautiful. I couldn’t listen to it ’til now. I’m listening to the tracks as I write this. Fantastic! Thank you again, so very much.
THANK YOU! I’m a total idiot when it comes to this stuff and this was SUPER easy to understand
Thanks David V. !!
+1 for foobar2000.
I just used it to convert about 6 gigs of FLAC to 320 bit. Average speed is about 30x. Super fast, super easy and free!!
1) Download and install Fubar2000
2) Drag and drop the folders containing the FLAC media or any other compatable formats
3) Highlight/select all the tracks once they are loaded in Foobar2000
4) Right-click anywhere on top of the highlighted tracks and select “Convert” from the popup menu
5) Set your parameters (mp3, bitrate, destination folder choice, etc)
6) Start the conversion!
It’s that easy.
Note : The first time, as mentioned by Dave, you will have to point foobar2000 to the location of the lame.exe file for mp3 conversion. If you don’t have that installed just download it for free here :
http://lame.sourceforge.net/download.php
That’s it and your set for lossless-to-mp3 conversion from here on in…easy!!
Good luck!!
…and if you’re too lazy to google for foobar here is the link…
http://www.foobar2000.org/download
again both foobar2000 and lame.exe are both open-source and/or free so no trial periods, no surprises and no limitations. It just works.
talk about a product shilling whore!
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/
it’s a free downlopad and it converts ONLY 90 seconds of a song unless you buy it. Thanks for useless info, jerk.
try to search for magicvideo torrent
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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/
Not free! Free trial is useless.
This is awesome! Thanks for the step by step!
Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with future post. Thanks a million and please keep up the fabulous work. http://www.mediaconverter.biz/
Thanks a ton, you’re awesome man!
http://www.favorite-album.us/
reading 🙂
Here is a detailed review about video conversion software , really helpful.
http://www.best-video-converter.net
you could try flacmp3converter.com. it’s an online converter that lets you convert flac to mp3
Jobs a good un’ ….worked first time …. excellent tutorial ….. many thanks.
I dont like to listen to mp3 music.Because its tone is so poor.
http://www.macdvdripper.biz/
Just another a useful converter.
If all video format can supported by all player, we’ll not need this any more.
pdf to epub converter
You might wanna add this site also to your list of free converters. http://www.flacconvert.com/
It will let you convert FLAC files to MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA, M4A, and WAV.