Step 1: Transfer your FLAC files using the button above or by slide and deposit.
Step 2: Click the 'Convert' button to start the conversion.
Step 3: Retrieve your converted M4A files.
FLAC to M4A Conversion FAQ
What bitrate will the resulting M4A file use?
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A lossy M4A is encoded at 192 kbps by default. The Audio Quality setting also offers 320 kbps for the best quality and 128 kbps for a smaller file. A lossless M4A (WAV, FLAC) ignores the bitrate and keeps every sample.
How much quality do I lose converting FLAC to M4A?
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Some, and it is permanent — this is the one direction where information is genuinely thrown away. FLAC holds every sample exactly; M4A discards what a psychoacoustic model predicts you will not hear. At 192 kbps and above that prediction is good enough to be transparent on most material and most equipment. Keep the FLAC as your master, because you cannot get back to it from the M4A. FLAC uses linear prediction plus Rice coding to reach roughly 50-60% of the original size while decoding back to bit-identical PCM. An M4A holds AAC in most cases, or Apple Lossless (ALAC) when it came from a lossless rip.
Will going from FLAC to M4A reduce my audio quality?
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If FLAC is lossy and M4A is lossless (e.g. MP3 → WAV), the M4A is no better than the FLAC — you cannot recover information already discarded. If FLAC is lossless and M4A is lossy, the M4A codec recompresses; at 192 kbps the result is transparent for most content.
Can I batch convert hundreds of FLAC files to M4A?
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Several files in one job need a paid plan. Free use is one file per conversion, one conversion an hour. On a paid plan you can add several files to one job, then download each result on its own or all of them in one ZIP.
Will the M4A keep the same sample rate as FLAC?
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By default yes — 48 kHz FLAC stays 48 kHz in M4A. If you need to downsample for compatibility (96 kHz → 44.1 kHz for CD burning), the sample-rate option applies high-quality resampling in the same encode pass.
Can I normalize loudness when converting FLAC to M4A?
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Not in this step. The converter has no loudness setting and leaves the level as it is. To even out the volume, run the finished M4A through a Normalize tool on this site.
Will my M4A play on car stereo, iPod, and Sonos?
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MP3 plays almost everywhere. AAC plays on Apple devices, most Android phones and Sonos. FLAC plays on Sonos and Android but not on older iPods, and WAV plays on nearly everything but makes large files. There are no device presets on this page, so choose the target format your player supports. M4A keeps rich iTunes-style metadata, chapters and artwork intact, and is the native audio format across every Apple device. M4A hides two very different things behind one extension — lossy AAC and lossless ALAC — and non-Apple hardware support is inconsistent.
Is my FLAC file private during conversion to M4A?
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Yes. Uploaded FLAC files are processed on our own conversion servers, no person reviews them, and they are never shared. The upload and the converted M4A are both deleted automatically about 24 hours after the conversion, which leaves time to download the result. See /privacy/ for the full policy.
How long does converting a 1-hour FLAC to M4A take?
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It depends on the size and length of the file. Small documents and images are usually ready quickly. Long videos take the longest, because most video conversions re-encode every frame.
Why is the M4A louder or quieter than the FLAC source?
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The converter does not change the level: it has no gain or normalize setting. If you hear a difference, your player or media library is probably applying ReplayGain or its own volume levelling on playback; switch that off to hear the M4A as it is.
M4A is an audio file format that is closely related to MP4. It offers high-quality audio compression with support for metadata, making it suitable for various applications.
