FLAC to MP3
Convert FLAC to MP3 free, entirely in your browser. No upload, no install, no queue — 128 to 320 kbps, one file at a time, nothing stored. No upload — runs 100% in your browser
or click to browse
How to use this tool
- Drop your .flac file on the box above, or click to browse.
- Choose the MP3 bit rate (128 kbps default; 192+ if you have the space).
- Your browser decodes the lossless FLAC and LAME compresses it locally.
- Click Download — the file never left your device.
FLAC is lossless; MP3 is not — plan the conversion around that
FLAC stores your music exactly: every sample that went into the encoder comes back out, which is why archivists and audiophiles use it. MP3 throws roughly eleven-twelfths of the data away at 128 kbps, guided by a model of what human hearing tends to miss. Converting FLAC to MP3 therefore always moves down the quality ladder, permanently. The result is excellent for phones, car stereos, messaging apps and anything where storage or bandwidth is tight — it is just not the file you want to keep as a master.
So the sane workflow is: FLAC stays on your shelf as the master, MP3 copies go where convenience matters. That is exactly what this page produces — an MP3 rendered from the pristine source, one generation of loss, rather than re-encoding an MP3 that already lost data once.
Choosing the bit rate
128 kbps is the universal default: about 0.92 MiB per minute of stereo, playable by literally anything born after 1995. 192 kbps adds headroom for dense material — cymbals, orchestral strings, distorted guitars are where low bit rates audibly smear. 320 kbps is the MP3 format's maximum; at that rate most controlled listening tests cannot separate it from the FLAC source. Sizes scale linearly: a minute of stereo costs 0.92 MiB at 128, 1.15 MiB at 160, 1.38 MiB at 192, 1.84 MiB at 256 and 2.30 MiB at 320 kbps.
Why 32 and 64 kbps are missing here
Below 112 kbps (stereo) the LAME encoder stops honouring your sample rate and quietly resamples the audio instead — you would receive 24,000 or 32,000 Hz output from a 44,100 Hz request with no warning. This page only offers bit rates verified to stay above that line, so what you ask for is what lands in your downloads folder.
MP3 encoding on this page uses LAME (compiled to JavaScript as the lamejs library) under the GNU LGPL. Your audio never touches a server — only this page and the encoder library are fetched from the web.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does converting FLAC to MP3 ruin the audio?
Not ruin — reduce. MP3 at 128 kbps is fine for casual listening; at 320 kbps double-blind tests generally cannot tell it from the lossless source. But the discarded data is gone for good, so treat the MP3 as a disposable copy and keep the FLAC as your master.
Is my FLAC file uploaded anywhere?
No. Decoding happens in your browser's audio engine and the MP3 is written by JavaScript on this page. Load the page, then you can go offline and keep converting.
Why is this free when desktop FLAC converters charge?
Because the expensive parts — the FLAC decoder in your browser and the LAME encoder — are open-source software the page merely orchestrates. There is no server doing work that needs paying for, so there is nothing to bill for.
Which bit rate should I pick?
128 kbps for phone and car listening; 192 or 256 kbps if you use decent headphones or the material is acoustically dense; 320 kbps when the playlist will outlive your interest in managing files. Every option here is above the rate where the encoder would silently resample your audio.
Can I convert an entire album folder at once?
Not on this page — one file at a time, by design: each conversion holds the full decoded audio in memory, and batch-processing hundreds of tracks in a browser tab is how tabs die. For bulk jobs, a local command line of ffmpeg is the honest tool.
Will the MP3 have the same tags and cover art as my FLAC?
No. The output is a clean MP3 stream without ID3 tags — metadata does not survive this page. Tag the MP3 afterwards in your music library if that matters.
Is converting FLAC to MP3 legal?
Converting files you own for your own use is legal in most places, and MP3's patents all expired in April 2017, so the encoder itself carries no licensing cost. This page credits the LAME project as its LGPL licence asks.