Can You Convert FLAC To MP3 Without Losing Quality?
Even though musicians, audiophiles, podcasters, and other audio professionals may be familiar with the basics of audio file conversion, it’s not always clear how efficient FLAC to MP3 conversion is. It would help to consider your options before choosing an audio converter because they could greatly impact your output, storage requirements, and audio quality.
You will always lose quality when converting FLAC to MP3. As MP3 is a lossy format, much of the audio data used to encode your audio is lost when the .mp3 file is created. In return, you have a much lighter file taking up less storage but with lower sound quality.
Though it may seem useless to convert FLAC to MP3, we have much more to discuss. Let’s dive deep into the world of audio converters and see why and how converting FLAC to MP3 may not be the best option. Furthermore, your alternative options and recommendations are below for your convenience.
Converting FLAC To MP3
FLAC is a lossless audio format, as the abbreviation (Free Lossless Audio Codec) implies. The lossless characteristic means no information and sound quality are lost when converting from other formats to FLAC. However, converting from FLAC to another format is an entirely different story. In general, FLAC is only used to reduce the size of WAV files.
Converting from FLAC to MP3 will always result in losing sound quality. MP3 is a highly lossy file format, though it is one of the smallest out there and is, therefore, quite useful if you’re streaming over low bandwidth or using Bluetooth. Always utilize a lossless format, such WAV, when converting FLAC to another file if you don’t want to lose audio quality.
It would help if you considered why you want to convert FLAC to MP3, given that you or someone else already saved you the time to convert a file from (hopefully) WAV to FLAC format. Converting from FLAC to MP3 or WAV to MP3 results in an MP3 file quality that is nearly identical and indistinguishable. The MP3 quality, however, will always be lower than its counterparts.
What kind of headphones or speakers are you using, though? Do you know what distinguishes WAV, FLAC, and MP3? Do you have a full home audio system with mid/bass radiators, woofers, sub-woofers, amplifiers, and all the works installed, allowing you to hear every little difference, or are you listening to music on your air-pods (or knock-off air-pods) only?
Unless you listen to the files via studio monitors or something like Sennheiser headphones, the difference in audio quality should fall below your just noticeable difference threshold. Therefore, even though your files will experience loss from FLAC to MP3, your ears won’t necessarily hear the difference, and you can go ahead and do it without anything gnawing at your conscience.
Converting MP3 To FLAC
Converting MP3 to FLAC is a different story. Since FLAC is lossless, the audio quality will remain the same, but you won’t benefit from this conversion. The FLAC file will be around 4 times larger than the original MP3 due to the nature of FLAC’s encoding. Therefore, you may be better off leaving the file as is or finding the native WAV file before converting to FLAC.
Now, the only reason you may have for converting MP3 to FLAC or FLAC to MP3 would be regarding compatibility, though, these days, both FLAC and MP3 are accepted on nearly every device. Older devices and dedicated MP3 players may require a conversion to MP3.
Furthermore, if you’re keen on keeping your audio quality as high as possible, it is recommended that you keep using FLAC (and convert it from WAV). If you want to save multiple demos and send them via email or messenger apps, convert them to MP3 (noting that the quality will be severely lower, so it is only good for reference).
How To Convert From FLAC To MP3
Converting FLAC to MP3 is extremely simple. The original FLAC file you want to convert, a web browser, and a steady internet connection are typically all you need. From there, you can select your preferred website or application, upload the FLAC file, and select Convert to MP3. Wait a few seconds to a minute, and your MP3 file will be downloadable.
Here are some choices for trustworthy FLAC to MP3 converting websites:
- Convertio. Best features: Codec, VBR, bitrate, depth, volume, etc., are all customizable.
- Aconvert. Best feature: You can convert up to 10 files simultaneously.
- Online Audio Converter. Best feature: You can convert up to 70 files per day for free.
- FreeConvert. Best feature: Large file sizes (up to 1GB input) are supported on this platform.
- CloudConvert. Best feature: You can trim the files before converting.
Other than these websites, there is a wide range of easily accessible programs like Audacity or other DAWs that can do the trick too. Dedicated apps and DAWs have much more sophisticated settings and provide higher quality, so you may prefer using them instead. Still, it comes at the expense of downloading and installing the program and even sometimes paying a monthly subscription.
Other Lossless Formats
Lossless formats essentially mean that you don’t lose any quality when converting. FLAC is the most popular lossless audio format because it is free and readily available to all operating systems. Nevertheless, it is good practice to consider all your options per your goals and select the best audio format accordingly.
It would help to use WAV as your source file, as your songs and audio clips will have the highest source quality. While WAV is lossless but also the largest, so we won’t look into how to convert it to WAV. Instead, you should convert your WAV files to FLAC, ALAC, or APE. You can also go lossy and go straight to MP3. Here are some key differences between these lossless formats:
1. FLAC
FLAC is the most popular and widely supported of all lossless formats, and usually, it is artists’ first choice for conversion from WAV. It is perfect for archiving large amounts of music files and is also good to send over the internet. Some streaming services, such as Tidal, pride themselves on providing the highest quality streams and therefore use FLAC.
2. ALAC
ALAC is Apple’s exclusive alternative to FLAC, only compatible with Apple devices and operating systems. Furthermore, it is used by iTunes/Apple Music to stream to their clients. While it uses a different encoding, it mimics FLAC in all other aspects. Since ALAC is a popular format (as Apple products are worldwide), converting to MP3 should be no trouble.
3. APE
Finally, we have APE – often called Monkey’s Format – another lossless format. APE is slower to decode than ALAC and FLAC and is also proprietary and unavailable to many apps without the correct plugins. Sometimes you may struggle to find an audio converter that supports APE to MP3 conversions. Nevertheless, it will still be lossy as MP3 always loses quality in return for less space.
Conclusion
No matter how you flip it, converting any file to MP3 will lose quality. Though the difference is barely perceptible, it can make a big difference if you still want to distribute the audio file to listeners. Therefore, only consider converting FLAC to MP3 if you desperately need space and won’t use the file as (or as part of) your final draft.
