Freeware FLAC to MP3 Converter
How To Convert .flac Files
As you might know, files with a .flac extension are encoded with the Free Lossless Audio Codec. As you might have thought, FLAC is an audio file encoding that is as good (quality-wise) as an audio CD. Unlike other formats (e.g.) MP3, .flac format doesn’t trade audio quality for file size. In the past this codec was typically used for backing up CDs. Due to faster networks and bigger hard drives .flac is now also used for everyday listening and online audio streaming.
Sometimes you will need to convert .flac to another format. Sure, the FLAC codec is great, but there are times when you just can’t reasonably use it. Case in point – on portable players file size still matters, and MP3 files take up way several times less space than FLAC. On top of that, while many players can open and play .flac files, in some cases you will have no choice but to convert the .flac files to .mp3. Popular formats like MP3 are supported pretty much universally.
When you need to convert FLAC files to .mp3 you will need to download and install one of the available Flac to MP3 converters. The main factors to consider when searching for a .flac converter :
* Usability. At the minimum, the software needs a visual interface, and preferably drag & drop functionality. Simple codec settings are also certainly nice, because audio conversion can turn out to be deep magic if if you must set everything up manually.
* Efficiency. This obviously will depend on the selected codec and encoding quality, but basic performance may be a major factor when you are abou to convert a huge Flac file collection to say, .mp3.
* Cost. In most cases you don’t have to buy anything. It’s easy to find great freeware .flac converter applications you can peruse.
Finally, I suggest to use either dbPowerAmp or SUPER to convert Flac-encodec music. dbPowerAmp is more comfortable while other converters support a mind-boggling number of music encodings. Pick the right tool for the job.