What you should know
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) compresses sound without losing anything: the decoded file is bit-for-bit identical to the original. Released in 2001 under a free licence, it became the reference audio archiving format.
It suits both preserving a music collection and demanding listening, at roughly half the size of WAV.
Strengths
- Lossless compression: exact restitution of the original signal
- About half the size of WAV
- Free format, royalty-free, widely supported
- Handles metadata and high-resolution tracks
Limitations to know
- Not read by every consumer device: some car stereos and older phones ignore it
- Larger than MP3, which limits its appeal on a mobile plan
- Slower to encode than MP3
- No point converting MP3 to FLAC: the loss is already there
When to use it
Choose FLAC to archive a collection, keep original recordings or listen on quality hardware. For an old portable player, a car or a messaging app, MP3 remains safer.
Quality, size and compatibility
FLAC degrades nothing, but repairs nothing either: converting MP3 to FLAC produces a lossless file from an already cut source. The useful direction — WAV or CD to FLAC — preserves everything.
Frequently asked questions
- Is FLAC really lossless?
- Yes. Decoded, it returns exactly the original samples. Compression works on data redundancy, like ZIP, not on audible content.
- Why will my player not read FLAC?
- Many car stereos and older players only handle MP3 and WAV. In that case, convert a copy to MP3 and keep the FLAC for archiving.