Is FLAC better than MP3?

Yes. [FLAC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC) is lossless, meaning it preserves the original audio perfectly, while [MP3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3) uses lossy compression that removes data permanently.

Does FLAC work on all devices?

FLAC is supported by most modern players, including VLC, Android, and many high-resolution audio devices. Some systems, like iOS, may require third-party apps for playback.

How can I convert FLAC to other formats?

You can convert FLAC using tools like [FFmpeg](https://ffmpeg.org/), [Audacity](https://www.audacityteam.org/), or Foobar2000. Output options include MP3, WAV, AAC, ALAC, and more.

Sample Files

Download It!

Sample Files

Looking for a sample file?

To download, enter the extension name in the field below.

Ctrlk

Categories:

FLAC

Free Lossless Audio Codec

103 variants available9 sections

Size & Duration

1.46 mins - Medium - 1m 46s

1.46 mins - Medium

20.74 MB

11 secs - Small - 11s

11 secs - Small

1.77 MB

5 mins - Large - 4m 59s

5 mins - Large

48.53 MB

Audio Quality

High Resolution Audio, Blocksize 13456 - 8s

High Resolution Audio, Blocksize 13456

3.09 MB

High Resolution Audio, Blocksize 16384 - 8s

High Resolution Audio, Blocksize 16384

3.11 MB

High Resolution Audio, Default Settings - 9s

High Resolution Audio, Default Settings

3.32 MB

High Resolution Audio, Partition Order 8 Containing Escaped Partitions - 8s

High Resolution Audio, Partition Order 8 Containing Escaped Partitions

3.16 MB

High Resolution Audio, Using Only 32nd Order Predictors - 8s

High Resolution Audio, Using Only 32nd Order Predictors

3.09 MB

Block Size

Blocksize 1000 - 7s

Blocksize 1000

560.4 KB

Blocksize 16 - 7s

Blocksize 16

937.2 KB

Blocksize 192 - 7s

Blocksize 192

578.6 KB

Blocksize 1937 - 7s

Blocksize 1937

555.4 KB

Blocksize 2304 - 7s

Blocksize 2304

468.9 KB

Blocksize 254 - 7s

Blocksize 254

609.4 KB

Blocksize 4096 - 7s

Blocksize 4096

537.1 KB

Blocksize 4608 - 7s

Blocksize 4608

560.8 KB

Blocksize 512 - 7s

Blocksize 512

576.8 KB

Blocksize 725 - 7s

Blocksize 725

574.2 KB

Variable Blocksize File Created With CUETools.Flake 2.1.6 - 25s

Variable Blocksize File Created With CUETools.Flake 2.1.6

2.16 MB

Variable Blocksize File Created With Flake Revision 264 - 25s

Variable Blocksize File Created With Flake Revision 264

2.21 MB

Variable Blocksize File Created With Flake revision 264, Modified To Create Smaller Blocks - 25s

Variable Blocksize File Created With Flake revision 264, Modified To Create Smaller Blocks

2.42 MB

Wrong Max Blocksize - 4s

Wrong Max Blocksize

105.5 KB

Channels

8-channel surround, 192kHz, 24 bit - 15s

8-channel surround, 192kHz, 24 bit

40.31 MB

Decreasing Number Of Channels - —

Decreasing Number Of Channels

351.4 KB

Front Left, Right, Rear Left, Right - 8s

Front Left, Right, Rear Left, Right

187.3 KB

Increasing Number Of Channels - —

Increasing Number Of Channels

257.1 KB

Mono - 5s

Mono

46.7 KB

Right, Left, Center - 6s

Right, Left, Center

144.3 KB

Stereo - 4s

Stereo

94.7 KB

Surround - 5_0 - 10s

Surround - 5_0

236.9 KB

Surround - 5_1 - 12s

Surround - 5_1

310.9 KB

Surround - 6_1 - 14s

Surround - 6_1

375.9 KB

Surround - 7_1 - 16s

Surround - 7_1

417.6 KB

Wrong Number of Channels - 4s

Wrong Number of Channels

90.5 KB

Content Type

Crowd Cheering In Stadium - 30s

Crowd Cheering In Stadium

5.97 MB

Crowd Cheers - 22s

Crowd Cheers

3.47 MB

Music - Cowboy Junkies - Rudolstadt - 3m 50s

Music - Cowboy Junkies - Rudolstadt

20.18 MB

Podcast Intro - 37s

Podcast Intro

3.13 MB

Postcast - High Highs, Low Lows - 4m 52s

Postcast - High Highs, Low Lows

25.58 MB

Raining Sound Effect - 1m 49s

Raining Sound Effect

23.01 MB

Silent audio - No Sound - 5s

Silent audio - No Sound

8.8 KB

Slave - Instrumental - 4m 39s

Slave - Instrumental

28.88 MB

Traffic In City - 22s

Traffic In City

3.91 MB

Metadata

Extremely large VORBISCOMMENT - 6s

Extremely large VORBISCOMMENT

16.42 MB

1000x repeating VORBISCOMMENT - 9s

1000x repeating VORBISCOMMENT

1.04 MB

AVIF Picture - 5s

AVIF Picture

331.7 KB

Basic Metadata - 1m 46s

Basic Metadata

20.74 MB

Detailed Metadata - 1m 46s

Detailed Metadata

20.80 MB

Extremely large Picture - 6s

Extremely large Picture

15.56 MB

GIF Picture - 5s

GIF Picture

460.4 KB

Incorrect Metadata Block Length - 3s

Incorrect Metadata Block Length

52.6 KB

Invalid Metadata - 1m 46s

Invalid Metadata

20.74 MB

Invalid Vorbis Comment Metadata - 5s

Invalid Vorbis Comment Metadata

110.5 KB

JPG Picture - 5s

JPG Picture

691.8 KB

No Metadata - 1m 46s

No Metadata

20.74 MB

PNG Picture - 5s

PNG Picture

736.5 KB

Sample Rate & Bit Depth

12 Bit Per Sample - 5s

12 Bit Per Sample

271.4 KB

15 Bit Per Sample - 12s

15 Bit Per Sample

806.3 KB

20 Bit Per Sample - 8s

20 Bit Per Sample

2.28 MB

32bps Audio - 12s

32bps Audio

2.79 MB

8 Bit Per Sample - 8s

8 Bit Per Sample

177.2 KB

Changing Bitdepth - —

Changing Bitdepth

274.3 KB

Changing Samplerate - —

Changing Samplerate

1.04 MB

Sample Rate - 192kHz, using only 32nd order predictors - 8s

Sample Rate - 192kHz, using only 32nd order predictors

6.31 MB

Sample Rate - 134560Hz - 8s

Sample Rate - 134560Hz

4.36 MB

Sample Rate - 192kHz - 8s

Sample Rate - 192kHz

6.31 MB

Sample Rate - 22050Hz - 5s

Sample Rate - 22050Hz

245.3 KB

Sample Rate - 35467Hz - 10s

Sample Rate - 35467Hz

782.1 KB

Sample Rate - 384kHz - 8s

Sample Rate - 384kHz

10.19 MB

Sample Rate - 39kHz - 5s

Sample Rate - 39kHz

416.9 KB

Samplerate 768kHz - 10s

Samplerate 768kHz

6.06 MB

Wrong Bit Depth - 4s

Wrong Bit Depth

77.2 KB

Wrong Total Number Of Samples - 2s

Wrong Total Number Of Samples

104.6 KB

Waveform & Signal Type

Constant Tone - 100Hz - 44100Hz - 16bit - 5s

Constant Tone - 100Hz - 44100Hz - 16bit

82.7 KB

Constant Tone - 10KHz - 44100Hz - 16bit - 5s

Constant Tone - 10KHz - 44100Hz - 16bit

112.8 KB

Constant Tone - 1KHz -44100Hz -16bit - 5s

Constant Tone - 1KHz -44100Hz -16bit

98.8 KB

Constant Tone - 250Hz - 44100Hz - 16bit - 5s

Constant Tone - 250Hz - 44100Hz - 16bit

86.4 KB

Constant Tone - 440Hz - 44100Hz - 16bit - 5s

Constant Tone - 440Hz - 44100Hz - 16bit

93.0 KB

Dynamic Range - Loud to Quiet - 10s

Dynamic Range - Loud to Quiet

703.6 KB

Linear 20Hz-20kHz, -3dBFS, 20s - 20s

Linear 20Hz-20kHz, -3dBFS, 20s

1.22 MB

Logarithmic 20Hz-20kHz, -3dBFS, 20s - 20s

Logarithmic 20Hz-20kHz, -3dBFS, 20s

1.06 MB

Pink Noise - 1m

Pink Noise

6.62 MB

Shephard Illusion Climbingdown - 14s

Shephard Illusion Climbingdown

867.9 KB

Static TV Noise - 6s

Static TV Noise

617.0 KB

White Noise - 1m

White Noise

16.33 MB

Misc

About

What is .FLAC?

FLAC is a lossless audio codec that compresses sound without any quality loss. It is widely used for high-resolution audio, archival storage, and music distribution where preserving original fidelity is essential.

History

Origin of FLAC

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) was developed by the xiph.Org Foundation and released in 2001 as an open, royalty-free format for high-fidelity audio compression. Unlike lossy formats such as MP3 or AAC, FLAC preserves 100% of the original audio data while still reducing file size by 30–60%. Its openness, transparency, and strong metadata support made it a standard for audiophiles, archival institutions, and digital music distribution.

Learn more at: https://xiph.org/flac

100% lossless audio—no degradation in quality
30–60% file size reduction compared to WAV or AIFF
Open-source and royalty-free
Supports rich metadata, album art, and tagging
Ideal for high-resolution audio including 96 kHz and 192 kHz files
Widely supported by audio players and modern devices

Play FLAC files using players like VLC, Foobar2000, or supported mobile apps
Use FLAC as a master format for audio editing without losing quality
Convert FLAC to MP3, AAC, or WAV using FFmpeg or audio editors
Embed metadata and album art for digital music collections

Use Cases

Common Use Cases

Here are the use cases for this file extension

Audiophile Music Libraries

Preferred for high-fidelity music collections where quality preservation matters.

Archiving & Preservation

Used by archivists and sound professionals to store master recordings in a compact, lossless format.

Professional Audio Processing

Suitable for workflows requiring repeated editing without generational loss.

Compatibility

Supported By

This extension is compatible with the following platforms.

Windows

macOS

Linux

Android

iOS (with supported apps)

Web Browsers (partial, via MediaSource)

More Details

Technical Specs

Here are some technical details about this extension

File Extension

.flac

MIME Type

audio/flac

Encoding Format

Free Lossless Audio Codec

Bit Depth

16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit

Sample Rates

8 kHz – 192 kHz

Compression Type

Lossless

Metadata Support

Yes (Vorbis comments, album art)

Typical Use

High-quality audio storage, music distribution, archiving

Looking for a sample file?

FLAC

What is .FLAC?

Origin of FLAC

Benefits

Usage

Common Use Cases

Supported By

Technical Specs

You May Also Like

Got Questions?