FLAC to WAV Converter
A free FLAC to WAV converter in the page: drop a .flac, see its bit depth and sample rate, and download a WAV for the DAW, CD burner or player that will not open FLAC. Nothing is uploaded: the FLAC is read and decoded on your own device.
Drop your FLAC here or click to browse
FLAC and other audio files up to 100 MB and 30 minutes.
The file is converted in your browser and is not uploaded.
How to convert FLAC to WAV
Three steps. The page reads the FLAC's header first, so you see what you have before you convert.
- 1
Drop the FLAC
Drag the .flac onto the converter. The line under the file name shows what its header says, for example FLAC, 24-bit, 96 kHz, stereo, and whether the WAV will change any of it.
- 2
Check the sample rate
A 44.1 or 48 kHz FLAC keeps its own rate, which is preselected. A 96 or 192 kHz file is set to 48 kHz and an 88.2 kHz file to 44.1 kHz, the nearest rates this page writes. Switch to mono only if the destination asks for it.
- 3
Convert and download
The FLAC is decoded straight at the chosen rate and written as a 16-bit PCM WAV with the same name. Listen to the preview, then save it.
Where a WAV works and a FLAC does not
FLAC is the better file to keep. WAV is the one more software and hardware accepts.
A DAW or editor project
Some recording and editing programs import WAV but not FLAC, or handle it more smoothly. Drop the WAV on the timeline and work as usual.
Burning an audio CD
Audio CDs are 16-bit, 44.1 kHz stereo. Convert at 44.1 kHz stereo and the WAV already matches, so the burning software has nothing left to convert.
Samplers and drum machines
Hardware samplers and grooveboxes often load WAV from a card or a stick. Convert the FLAC samples you bought or recorded once and load them there.
Car stereos and older players
A player that reads a USB stick but not FLAC usually still plays WAV. The files are bigger, so check the space on the stick first.
What is kept and what changes
FLAC and WAV are both lossless: MDN describes FLAC's decompressed audio as identical to the original. Converting one into the other adds no compression loss, unlike a trip through MP3.
Three things can change, and the page shows each one before you convert. Every WAV here is 16-bit PCM, so a 24-bit FLAC becomes 16-bit. A sample rate other than 44.1 or 48 kHz is converted once to the nearest of those. A file with more than two channels comes out mono or stereo.
For a 16-bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz FLAC kept at its own rate, nothing is resampled. The browser decodes the FLAC to floating-point samples and the page writes them back as 16-bit integers, which can round a sample by at most one step out of 65,536, about 90 dB below full scale.
Why the WAV is bigger than the FLAC
FLAC compresses without loss; MDN puts the saving at up to 40 to 50 percent. A WAV stores every sample as it is, so its size is just the format times the length.
| Length | WAV 44.1 kHz stereo | WAV 48 kHz stereo | 24-bit 96 kHz stereo, uncompressed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 10.1 MB | 11.0 MB | 33.0 MB |
| 5 minutes | 50.5 MB | 54.9 MB | 164.8 MB |
| 10 minutes | 100.9 MB | 109.9 MB | 329.6 MB |
Browsers and FLAC
The converter uses the browser's own decoder. MDN's codec guide lists FLAC support in Chrome, Edge and Opera, Firefox from version 51 on computers and 58 on Android, and Safari from version 11, so current versions of all of them can read a FLAC here, on a Mac, a PC, an Android phone or an iPhone.
If a FLAC will not decode in any browser, it may be damaged or not really a FLAC; try a second file to tell the two apart.
24-bit and high sample rate FLAC files
Studio and download-store FLACs are often 24-bit at 88.2, 96 or 192 kHz. Here is what happens to them.
Bit depth: 24 becomes 16
The WAV is 16-bit. That is the CD standard and what most players, burners and samplers expect. If your editor needs a 24-bit WAV, export one from the editor itself.
Sample rate: one conversion
96 and 192 kHz are converted to 48 kHz, and 88.2 kHz to 44.1 kHz. The browser does this once, while it decodes, and the rest of the conversion runs at the new rate.
Size: the WAV can be smaller
A 24-bit 96 kHz stereo minute is 33.0 MB uncompressed; as a 16-bit 48 kHz WAV it is 11.0 MB. That is why a hi-res FLAC can turn into a WAV that is not much bigger than the FLAC.
Sources
Recording interviews or oral histories you want to keep at full quality? how to record an interview, recording devices for journalists, oral history transcription.
When the recording is a conversation, keep the words too
A lossless file keeps every detail of the sound. For an interview, a meeting or a call, the words are what you go back to: ParrotNotes records it on your phone and gives you the transcript and a summary, free for 100 minutes of recording a month.
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