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FLAC to M4A converter

Convert FLAC to M4A in your browser. No upload and no account: the file never leaves your device, so the only size limit is your device’s memory.

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Related conversions

Need it the other way round? Convert M4A to FLAC

Other ways to convert FLAC

Convert other formats to M4A

Read more about the FLAC format and the M4A format, or see every audio tool and all audio conversions.

Should you convert FLAC to M4A?

You want high-quality AAC versions of FLAC albums that fit on an iPhone.

A good trade for listening and sharing: M4A is a fraction of the size of FLAC, and at 192 kbps or more the difference is inaudible for most people. Keep the FLAC as your master if you’ll edit or convert again.

FLAC is lossless audio at roughly half the size of WAV; M4A is AAC audio in an MP4 container, Apple’s everyday audio format. Use M4A for music and recordings on Apple devices, or anywhere AAC is accepted and size matters.

FLAC and M4A compared
Property FLAC M4A
Compression Lossless Lossy
Typical quality lossless, 16 or 24-bit 128–256 kbps AAC
Support Opens almost everywhere Opens almost everywhere
Best for Archiving music and recordings without losing anything Good-sounding audio at small sizes
Introduced 2001 2003

How to convert FLAC to M4A

  1. 01

    Add your FLAC

    Drop your FLAC file onto the box, or click to choose it. It is read from your disk and stays there.

  2. 02

    Check the settings

    The output is already set to M4A. Change the bitrate if you want to; the defaults suit most files.

  3. 03

    Save the M4A

    Press convert and save the M4A. Several files come back together as a ZIP.

What changes when FLAC becomes M4A

From lossless to lossy

FLAC holds every sample; M4A keeps what the ear notices and discards the rest. Pick the bitrate by use: 128 kbps for speech, 192 to 256 kbps for music.

Expect a much smaller file

FLAC: About 5–7 MB a minute for music. M4A: About 1 MB a minute at 128 kbps. Shrinking the file is often the main reason to make this conversion.

This page is put together from our notes on each format, choosing only what is true of FLAC and M4A, so every pairing states the same facts the same way. How these pages are made.

Why it doesn’t upload

Recordings are often private: interviews, voice notes, unreleased music. Your browser can decode and encode audio itself, so there is no reason to send it anywhere.

How to check for yourself

Worth knowing

  • About the FLAC. FLAC made from an MP3 is lossless only in name: it perfectly preserves an already lossy recording, at five times the size.
  • About the M4A. An .m4a can also hold lossless ALAC audio, several times larger; the extension alone doesn’t tell you which.
  • MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, Opus and FLAC are converted by your browser directly. WMA, AMR, APE, AC3 and the other specialist formats use the FFmpeg engine, a one-time 31 MB download.

Questions

Does converting FLAC to M4A lose quality?

M4A is lossy, so a little is discarded, but at the default bitrate the difference is inaudible for nearly everyone.

Will an M4A play in my car or on my phone?

M4A opens almost everywhere: Apple devices, Android, browsers and most players; some older car stereos, Windows apps and forms refuse it.

Read more about this

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