Convert FLAC to MP3 Free Lossless Audio Codec ↔ MPEG Audio Layer III Free Online Secure
Your FLAC is decoded here in your browser and written out as an MP3 at the bitrate you pick. Nothing is uploaded, so there is nothing to delete afterwards.
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Where these formats come from
MP3 came out of years of research at Fraunhofer and was standardised in 1993 as part of MPEG-1. Its trick is psychoacoustic: it throws away the sound a human ear is unlikely to notice, mostly quiet detail masked by louder sound nearby, and it was that trick which made music small enough to travel over a modem. AAC — the thing inside an .m4a file — was designed as its successor and does the same job better at the same size. Ogg Vorbis appeared in 2000 as the patent-free answer, at a time when MP3 still had to be licensed. FLAC compresses without discarding anything, giving back the identical recording at about half the size, and WAV stores the raw samples with no compression at all.
Where you meet them
MP3 is still the format that plays on anything with a speaker, which is why it is the safe choice for sending something to a stranger. M4A is what Apple devices and most phones record and buy in. OGG travels inside games and open-source software. FLAC is for archiving a collection or ripping a CD when the original quality must be kept. WAV is the working format of recording and editing, where the file is opened and saved repeatedly and compression artefacts would accumulate.
Questions people ask
Will converting my MP3 to FLAC restore the quality?
No. FLAC will preserve perfectly whatever it is given, but what it is given here is already an MP3 — the detail removed when the MP3 was made is gone, and no later format can invent it back. You end up with a file several times larger that sounds exactly like the MP3. Converting to a lossless format is worth doing only from a lossless source; from an MP3, the honest answer is to keep the MP3.
Each time I convert, does it sound worse?
Between lossy formats, yes — a little. MP3, AAC and Vorbis each decide separately what the ear will not miss, and each conversion decodes the previous guess and makes a fresh one on top of it, so the losses accumulate. Converting once rarely matters; converting back and forth repeatedly does. Lossless formats have no such problem: WAV to FLAC to WAV returns exactly the samples you started with.
Does the file lose quality?
It depends on what the two formats can hold. Converting between formats that store the same thing — a PNG to a BMP, a WAV to a FLAC — loses nothing. Converting into a format that throws information away to save space, such as JPEG or MP3, loses a little every time, and converting back does not bring it back. Where a choice exists, this page errs towards keeping the original quality rather than making the smallest file.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion happens inside your browser, on your own machine; the file never leaves it and there is no server here that could receive it. That is why a large file is limited by your own memory rather than by an upload, and why nothing you convert can appear in anybody's logs — including ours. The audio and video tools do fetch their conversion engine from this site the first time you use them, some thirty megabytes once; after that the work still happens entirely on your machine.
Why people convert FLAC to MP3
FLAC is the format of people who care about sound. It stores music without discarding anything, so a FLAC file is a perfect copy of the CD or the studio master it came from. That perfection has a price: a FLAC of one album can run to several hundred megabytes, and a whole collection can fill a hard drive. Many portable players, car stereos and phones with limited space cannot handle such files, or can hold only a fraction of them. MP3 is the format that plays on everything and takes a fraction of the room. That is why people convert FLAC to MP3: they keep the lossless collection at home and make light copies for everything that moves.
The situations are familiar to anyone with a music library. A car stereo that reads only MP3. A phone with 64 gigabytes and a collection of 300. A friend who asks for an album by email. A player that does not recognise FLAC. A website that accepts only MP3 uploads. In each case the FLAC is the master and the MP3 is the copy you carry or send, and converting FLAC to MP3 is the standard step between them.
This page converts FLAC to MP3 in your browser. Your music is not uploaded to a server, so there is nothing to delete afterwards, which matters for unreleased recordings and private collections. Below you will find how the conversion works, what is kept, what is permanently discarded and how to choose a bitrate that suits your ears and your equipment.
How the conversion works
Decoded here, written as MP3 at the bitrate you pick
Your FLAC is decoded in your browser, which means it is turned back into raw sound, and then written out as an MP3 at the bitrate you choose. The bitrate decides how many bits are used for each second of sound: a lower number gives a smaller, rougher file; a higher number gives a larger, cleaner one. You pick the balance that suits the music and the device.
Nothing is uploaded
The whole process happens on your own device, so your music never leaves it. There is no copy on a server and nobody else who could hear it. For a private collection or unreleased work, that is the right way to convert FLAC to MP3.
Choosing a bitrate
For everyday listening on earphones or in the car, 192 kilobits per second is a sensible default. For music you care about, listened to on good equipment, 256 or 320 leaves very little to complain about. For spoken recordings, such as audiobooks and lectures, 96 or 128 is plenty. Because FLAC is the full-quality source, you have the freedom to choose any of these.
What is kept
The full length and the sample rate
When you convert FLAC to MP3 here, the full length of the recording is kept, and so is its sample rate, which is how finely the sound was sampled. A track of five minutes stays five minutes. Nothing is cut or sped up.
Both channels, mixed down properly if there are more
Both channels of a stereo recording are kept. If the file has more than two channels, as some surround releases do, it is mixed down properly into stereo, so nothing in the middle goes missing. That matters for film music and surround albums, where a careless conversion would lose the centre channel.
What "mixed down properly" means
A FLAC can hold many channels, but a standard MP3 holds two. A careless conversion would keep the first two and discard the rest. Here the extra channels are blended into the left and right, so that every sound is still present.
Opens anywhere
The MP3 you get opens on practically any device and in any program: phones, computers, car stereos, players and websites. That universality is the purpose of the conversion.
What is permanently discarded
MP3 is lossy and FLAC is not
Here is the one thing you must understand. FLAC keeps everything; MP3 does not. To make the file small, MP3 discards some of the sound, mostly details the ear is least likely to notice. At a good bitrate the difference is hard to hear, but it is real, and no later conversion brings it back. Once a FLAC has become an MP3, the discarded detail is gone from that copy.
Keep the FLAC if it is your only copy
That is why the golden rule is simple: keep the FLAC if it is your only copy. The FLAC is your master. The MP3 is the copy you carry. If you ever want a different bitrate or format, or a copy for better equipment, you will want the FLAC to start from.
Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over
Only the sound itself is read. Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over, so the MP3 appears under its file name without tags. For a music collection, add the tags afterwards with a tag editor, so that your player shows the title, artist and cover.
A note on tagging
Tags make a collection usable. Without them, a player shows file names and no cover art. After you convert FLAC to MP3, name the files with the track number and title, and use a music manager to fill in the artist, album and year for the whole album at once.
What FLAC and MP3 are
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It compresses sound like a zip file compresses a document: the file gets smaller, typically to about half the size of the raw recording, but when you open it, every bit comes back exactly as it was. That is what lossless means, and it is why collectors treat FLAC as the right way to store music they love. MP3 works differently: it permanently discards the details the ear is least likely to notice, and packs what remains. The file is far smaller, but what was discarded cannot be recovered.
When you convert FLAC to MP3, you trade exactness for lightness. For listening on the move, the trade is excellent: the ear cannot tell the difference at a good bitrate, and the file is a fraction of the size. For archiving and further editing, it is a poor trade, which is why the sensible habit is to keep both, the FLAC at home and the MP3 on the go.
How much space will you save?
A FLAC album of ten tracks is commonly 300 to 450 megabytes. At 256 kilobits per second, the same album as MP3 comes to about 70 to 100 megabytes; at 192, about 55 to 75; at 320, about 90 to 120. So a collection that needs a whole hard drive as FLAC fits comfortably on a phone as MP3. That is the saving that makes the conversion worthwhile.
Building a portable copy of a lossless collection
If you keep your music in FLAC, it makes sense to maintain a second, lighter copy for devices. Convert FLAC to MP3 in batches, album by album, into a separate folder, and sync that folder to your phone or player. Keep the folder structure the same as in your main library, so that artists and albums stay organised. Whenever you add an album to the library, add its MP3 copy to the portable folder.
Choose one bitrate for the whole portable copy so that the sound is consistent from track to track. For most people, 192 or 256 kilobits per second is a good compromise: close enough to the original that the loss is hard to hear, and light enough that hundreds of albums fit. If you have a very large memory card or care deeply about quality, go to 320.
Keeping tags with your files
The tags do not come across in the conversion, so plan for it. Name the files with the track number and title, keep each album in its own folder and add tags afterwards with a music manager, which can usually read names and fill in the rest in bulk. Cover art is easy to add to a whole album at once, and it makes the collection a pleasure to browse.
Audiobooks, lectures and speech in FLAC
Not all FLAC is music. Some people archive audiobooks, lectures, radio programmes and oral-history recordings as FLAC, to be sure nothing is lost. For listening, speech does not need a high bitrate, so when you convert FLAC to MP3 for such material, 96 or 128 kilobits per second gives clear, comfortable sound at a tiny size. A ten-hour audiobook shrinks from a couple of gigabytes to a few hundred megabytes, which makes it easy to carry.
For spoken recordings, it is also worth keeping the FLAC as the archive. If a recording matters historically or personally, such as an interview with a relative, the lossless file is the one to preserve, and the MP3 is for listening.
Choosing mono or stereo for speech
Many speech recordings are effectively mono, with the same sound in both channels. The conversion keeps the channels as they are, so a mono recording stays mono and stays small. There is no need to do anything special; the converter reads what is in the file and writes it faithfully.
How to convert FLAC to MP3 here
Add your music
Drop the FLAC onto the page or pick it from your device. It is read inside your browser and is not uploaded.
Pick a bitrate
Choose a bitrate that suits the music and the device. If you are not sure, 192 or 256 is a safe choice for music.
Convert and listen
Press the button and download the MP3. Listen to the beginning, a stretch from the middle and the end. If it sounds good on the equipment where it will be played, you are done.
Questions people ask before converting
Will the sound get worse?
Yes, slightly. MP3 is lossy, so some of the sound is discarded to make the file small. At a good bitrate it is hard to hear, but it cannot be undone. Keep the FLAC.
Why is the MP3 so much smaller?
Because FLAC stores everything, and MP3 stores a clever approximation. A FLAC is typically four to ten times larger than an MP3 of the same music.
Why are the song titles missing?
Only the sound is read. Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over. Add them again with a tag editor if needed.
Is my music uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser and the music never leaves your device.
Who converts FLAC to MP3
Music collectors
People who keep a lossless library at home make MP3 copies for phones, cars and travel.
Musicians and producers
Masters are kept as FLAC and shared as MP3, which is light enough to email and plays everywhere.
Anyone short of storage
A phone that cannot hold the lossless collection can hold the same music as MP3.
Common mistakes
Deleting the FLAC
You cannot get the discarded detail back. Keep the FLAC as your master.
Converting in circles
Do not go from MP3 back to FLAC and expect the quality to return. It does not. Always convert from the original FLAC.
Choosing too low a bitrate for music
Below about 128 kilobits per second music begins to sound thin. For speech, lower is fine.
Related tools
To go the other way, convert MP3 to FLAC, remembering that it cannot restore what MP3 discarded. For other formats, WAV to MP3, M4A to MP3 and OGG to MP3 work the same way, and MP3 to WAV, MP3 to M4A and MP3 to OGG cover other destinations. If the audio belongs to a video, FLV to MOV and MOV to FLV change the video container.
When to convert FLAC to MP3, and when not to
Converting is right when the music has to travel: onto a phone, a player, a car stereo or a website, or to someone by email. It is the wrong move when your equipment plays FLAC and you have the space, since you would give up quality for nothing, and wrong when the FLAC is your only copy of something irreplaceable, unless you keep it as well.
For the common cases, such as portable copies, car music, shared tracks and storage-saving, it is quick, private and dependable to convert FLAC to MP3 in the browser. Your original is never changed, so you can come back and convert FLAC to MP3 again at a different bitrate whenever you like.
Do not convert in circles
Avoid chains such as FLAC to MP3 to FLAC. A FLAC made from an MP3 is just a large MP3: the lost detail does not return. If you need several formats, make each from the original FLAC, not from a copy of a copy.
Batches of albums
If you have many tracks to convert, do them one at a time and keep the originals in a separate folder. Try one first and listen to it on the device where it will be played. When you convert FLAC to MP3 in bulk, consistency matters more than speed.
Long recordings and slow devices
Everything runs on your own device, so very long recordings depend on its memory. A single album track is no trouble. A very long FLAC, such as a full concert, may be slow on an older phone. If it struggles, give the browser a moment and avoid switching to other apps while it works.
Checking the result properly
After you convert FLAC to MP3, listen to the beginning, a stretch from the middle and the end on the equipment that matters. Check that the length is right and that nothing has been cut off. If it sounds good there, you are done; if it sounds thin, convert again from the FLAC at a higher bitrate.
A simple routine to convert FLAC to MP3 well
Keep the FLAC safe as your master. Decide the bitrate once for the whole portable collection. Convert FLAC to MP3 from the original, listen to one track on the target device, then convert the rest and add tags with a music manager. Copy the MP3s to the device and keep the FLAC at home. This routine takes a few minutes for an album, and it works whether you convert FLAC to MP3 once a month or every day.
Your music stays on your device
The conversion happens locally. Your music is decoded by your own browser, written as an MP3 there and handed back. Nothing is uploaded, so there is no copy on a server and no one else who could hear it. For private collections and unreleased recordings, that is the safe way to convert FLAC to MP3.
A worked example
Say you have an album ripped to FLAC, ten tracks and 380 megabytes, and you want it on your phone for a trip. You drop a track here, choose 256 kilobits per second and press the button. You download an MP3 of about 9 megabytes for a four-minute track, which sounds the way you remember it. You convert the rest, name the files by track number and copy the folder to your phone. The ten FLAC files stay on your computer as the master.
Before you close the page
Check that you downloaded the MP3, that it sounds fine on the equipment where it will be played, and that you kept the original FLAC.
Summary
To convert FLAC to MP3 here, drop the music, pick a bitrate and download the result. The full length, the sample rate and both channels are kept, and a file with more than two is mixed down properly. MP3 is lossy and FLAC is not: some of the sound is discarded to make the file small, and no later conversion brings it back, so keep the FLAC if it is your only copy. Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over. Nothing leaves your device.