Convert FLAC to MP3
To convert FLAC to MP3, drop the .flac file into the converter on this page and click the button; the MP3 downloads once the local encode finishes. FLAC is decoded and re-encoded entirely inside your browser, so a music library you spent years ripping never leaves your machine.
Runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.Drop your FLAC hereChoose a FLAC to convert
It becomes a MP3 right in your browser, up to 200 MB
Your file never leaves your device
Works in airplane mode. See the proof
Limits, published exactly
| Where it runs | In your browser. The file never leaves your device. |
|---|---|
| Free conversions | Unlimited. No account, no ads, no queue, no watermark. |
| Max file size, free | 200 MB |
Why convert FLAC to MP3?
FLAC is where careful listeners keep music: bit-perfect CD rips, audiophile downloads, Bandcamp lossless purchases. The problem is reach. An old car stereo, a cheap gym MP3 player, a kid's tablet or a phone with no FLAC support simply will not play it, and a lossless album also eats storage that a portable device does not have to spare. Converting to MP3 solves both at once: the file shrinks to a fraction of the lossless size and plays on hardware that has existed since the late 1990s. Keep the FLAC as your master and treat the MP3 as the travel copy.
What is FLAC?
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) compresses audio to roughly half of WAV size while keeping every sample bit-perfect, which made it the archival and audiophile standard. It is open and royalty-free, plays in browsers and most modern software, but car stereos, older devices and plenty of apps still want MP3, and audio editors often prefer plain WAV input.
What is MP3?
MP3 is the audio format that ate the world in the late 1990s, and it remains the most universally supported way to store sound: lossy compression at roughly a tenth of CD size, playable on literally anything with a speaker. Newer codecs like AAC and Opus beat it on quality per kilobyte, but no format comes close to its compatibility across car stereos, ancient MP3 players, browsers, editing software and upload forms.
Quality and what to expect
This is a lossless-to-lossy, one-way step: the MP3 is encoded by LAME at a high variable bitrate (around 190kbps equivalent), which is near-transparent for almost all listeners but is not bit-identical to the FLAC and cannot be reversed back into lossless. You lose nothing audible in normal listening, but you do permanently discard the data that made FLAC worth keeping, so never delete the original if it is irreplaceable. Expect the file to shrink dramatically, often to a fifth or less of the FLAC size. Embedded tags and album art are not carried into the MP3; the output starts with a clean tag slate.
FLAC to MP3 FAQ
Will I hear the difference between the FLAC and the MP3?
In ordinary listening, almost certainly not. At the high variable bitrate used here, MP3 is near-transparent for most music and listeners. Trained ears on good equipment can sometimes catch it on dense or cymbal-heavy passages, which is exactly why you keep the FLAC as the master.
Why convert lossless FLAC down to lossy MP3 at all?
Compatibility and size. Plenty of car stereos, cheap players and older phones refuse FLAC outright, and a lossless album is several times larger than it needs to be on a portable device. MP3 plays on practically anything with a speaker.
Can I get the FLAC back from the MP3 later?
No. The conversion is one-way: once LAME has encoded the audio, the discarded detail is gone and re-converting the MP3 cannot rebuild a lossless file. Hold on to the original FLAC if you might want to re-rip or re-edit it.
Does my music collection get uploaded while it converts?
It does not. The FLAC decoder and the MP3 encoder are WebAssembly running in your browser tab, so the audio is processed on your own CPU. There is no upload endpoint for it, which you can confirm by watching the network tab while a track converts.