Click to upload or drop your FLAC file
FLAC, 16-bit or 24-bit — or any other audio file. The MP3 is made in your browser, never uploaded.Video and audio are processed in your browser by FFmpeg (ffmpeg.wasm), free software under the GPL-2.0-or-later and MIT licenses — licenses & source.
About converting FLAC to MP3
FLAC is lossless audio. It keeps every detail of the original recording, like a CD. That is why music shops for "hi-res" audio and CD rips use it.
The price is size. A FLAC song is often 25 to 35 MB, and many car stereos, older MP3 players, some phones and some apps cannot play FLAC at all.
This tool turns a FLAC file into an MP3. The page starts at 320 kbps, the best MP3 quality, because a FLAC file is usually music that someone cared about. A 4-minute song becomes a 9.6 MB MP3 that plays everywhere.
Everything happens in your browser. Your music is never uploaded.
Features
- Reads 16-bit and 24-bit FLAC — CD rips and hi-res downloads up to 192 kHz
- 320 kbps by default — the best MP3 quality, set for you on this page
- Tags are kept — title, artist and album go into the MP3
- Other formats too — M4A, WAV, OGG or FLAC, if you need them
- Listen first — play the FLAC and the MP3 on the page
- Private — the file is converted on your device, never uploaded
FLAC and MP3 sizes compared
An MP3 has a fixed bitrate, so its size is easy to work out: bitrate × length ÷ 8. A CD-quality WAV is 1,411.2 kbps (44,100 samples × 16 bits × 2 channels). A FLAC of the same music is smaller than the WAV, but how much smaller depends on the music. Quiet, simple music packs well; loud rock packs less.
| Length | MP3 128 kbps | MP3 192 kbps | MP3 320 kbps | WAV (CD quality) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 0.96 MB | 1.44 MB | 2.4 MB | 10.58 MB |
| 4 minutes (a song) | 3.84 MB | 5.76 MB | 9.6 MB | 42.34 MB |
| 10 minutes | 9.6 MB | 14.4 MB | 24 MB | 105.84 MB |
| 60 minutes (an album) | 57.6 MB | 86.4 MB | 144 MB | 635.04 MB |
1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes. A real MP3 is a few kilobytes bigger because of its tags. A FLAC usually lands somewhere between the 320 kbps column and the WAV column — often about half the WAV.
Which MP3 bitrate for FLAC music?
- 320 kbps — the default here. Almost nobody can tell it from the FLAC on normal speakers, headphones or in a car. Use it for music you love.
- 256 kbps — a little smaller, still very good for music.
- 192 kbps — fine for a big library on a small phone, or for background music.
- 128 kbps — only for speech, like an audiobook or a lecture.
MP3 cannot sound better than the FLAC it came from. A higher bitrate just keeps more of what is there.
24-bit and hi-res FLAC
Hi-res FLAC files are often 24-bit at 96 kHz or 192 kHz. MP3 has no bit depth, and it allows sample rates only up to 48 kHz. So a hi-res file is brought down to 48 kHz on the way. Nothing breaks, and the MP3 plays normally.
The extra detail of hi-res audio is above what an MP3 can store anyway. Keep your FLAC files as the master copy, and use the MP3 copies for the phone and the car.
What people use it for
- Putting a FLAC music library on a phone with little free space
- Making CD rips play in a car stereo or an old MP3 player
- Sending a song to a friend in a size that fits a chat app or email
- Uploading a track to a site or an editor that only accepts MP3
- Copying music to a USB stick for a TV, a speaker or a car
Good to know
- The title, artist and album tags of the FLAC are copied into the MP3. Cover art is not kept — add it back with the MP3 Tag Editor.
- This page converts one file at a time. For a whole album, use the Bulk Audio Converter — it makes one ZIP.
- The first conversion downloads the converter (about 30 MB) once. After that it starts at once.
- A long FLAC (a full album in one file) works, but it needs a lot of memory. A computer copes better than a phone.
Frequently asked questions
Can I convert FLAC to MP3 without losing quality?
Not completely. MP3 always leaves out some detail to make the file small. At 320 kbps the loss is so small that almost nobody hears it. If you need a perfect copy, keep the FLAC, or choose WAV here.
Why is the MP3 so much smaller than the FLAC?
FLAC packs the sound without losing anything, so it usually gets it down only to about half the size of a WAV. MP3 removes sounds that people hardly hear, like very quiet sounds next to loud ones. That is how a 30 MB FLAC becomes a 9 MB MP3.
Will my car play the MP3?
Almost certainly. MP3 is the one format that every car stereo, phone and music player can play. That is the main reason people convert FLAC to MP3.
Is my music uploaded?
No. The conversion runs inside this page, on your own device. The file never reaches a server.
Related tools
- Bulk Audio Converter — convert a whole album of FLAC files at once
- MP3 Tag Editor — add the cover art and fix the tags
- WAV to MP3 — for uncompressed WAV files
- Audio Converter — any audio format to MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG or FLAC
- MP3 Cutter — keep only the part of the song you need
How to use it
- Click Click to upload, or drag your FLAC file onto the box
- Leave MP3 selected — the quality is already set to 320 kbps
- Choose 192 or 128 kbps instead if you want a smaller file
- Press Convert to MP3 — the first run downloads the converter
- Play the result, then click Download MP3
