How to Convert FLAC to MP3

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio file format for lossless audio data. FLAC does not lose quality from the audio stream, during compression. Which is the biggest advantage over the lossy compression formats such as MP3, AAC, and Vorbis. The disadvantage of using FLAC to digitally store music is the files are quite a bit larger than the lossy formats.

However most portable music players use the lossy compression MP3 format. So you will need to convert FLAC to MP3, i.e. in order to play it on your iPod.

There are several free FLAC to MP3 converters, however Sound Converter is the best way to convert with a GUI. So that’s what I’ll use here. However, if you want to do all the conversion via command line FFmpeg will work for you.

Okay, on with the tutorial :) Here’s the step-by-step guide for converting FLAC to MP3.

1. Install the MP3 audio codec (gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse) either through Synaptic Package Manager , or via apt-get install.

2. Install Sound Converter a sound conversion application for the GNOME environment.Gnome.

3. Start up the Sound Converter, located in the ubuntu menu here : Sound & Video -> Sound Converter

4. Click Edit->Preferences, and a preferences window will pop up. There’s a lot of options here, in most cases you will only need to change the default output codec from OGG to MP3.

5. Now you can select a file to convert from Flac to MP3, or you can convert and entire directory(batch conversion). Once you have added all the files you want, click Convert.

6. Sound Converter will then convert the FLAC files to the MP3 format. Depending on how many files you’re converting, this could take a few minutes.

7. Good Work! Now you can put the converted MP3’s on your iPod.