Does converting to WAV lose quality?

It depends on the format you are converting to, and this page says which case it is in the limitations above. A lossless output stores what it is given exactly; a lossy one discards detail to be smaller. Neither can recover anything the source had already lost.

Are the artist and album kept?

Where the output format has somewhere to put them, yes. WAV does not, so those pages say so plainly. Cover art is more fragile than text tags and is the first thing to be dropped.

Is there a limit on how long the recording can be?

The limit is on file size rather than duration, and it is stated above. In practice a long recording is limited by patience and by memory: everything happens on your device, so an hour-long file will take minutes and will use real memory while it does.

Am I losing my lossless copy by converting?

No. The original file is not touched, and nothing here modifies anything on your device — the result is a new file handed back as a download. Keep the FLAC as the archive and treat the converted copy as disposable, because it can always be made again.

Is the result the same as what a desktop program would produce?

Yes. This is FFmpeg, the same software most desktop converters use underneath, compiled to run in the browser. The encoders are identical, so the output is too. What differs is speed, because a browser sandbox is slower than native code.

Do I need to install anything or create an account to use FLAC to WAV converter?

No, to all of it. FLAC to WAV converter runs inside the browser you already have, with no sign-up, no download, no watermark on the result, and no cap on how many files you convert. There is nothing to uninstall afterwards either, because nothing was installed.

Does FLAC to WAV converter work offline?

After the first conversion, yes. Audio work needs the FFmpeg engine, which is a separate download of a few tens of megabytes fetched the first time you convert something. Once your browser has cached it the work is entirely local and a connection is no longer needed.

How large a file can FLAC to WAV converter handle?

The limit is 250 MB. It is a deliberate one rather than a technical ceiling: the real constraint is memory, and a file that decodes to more than the device can hold fails in a way that is hard to explain. Phones run out well before laptops do, which is why the limit is set where it is.

Can I convert several files at once with FLAC to WAV converter?

Not here: this tool takes one file at a time, because what it does depends on choices you make about that particular file. Convert them one after another, or look at the batch converters in the same category, which are built for a folder at a time.

FLAC to WAV converter

Convert FLAC to WAV in your browser, with nothing uploaded.

Processed in your browser. This file is converted on your device and is never uploaded.

Choose a file

.flac up to 250 MB. You can also drag a file here.

Options

The first conversion downloads a 32 MB audio engine, which is then reused while this page stays open. Conversion runs on your device and is much slower than a desktop program: expect roughly real time for a long recording, and considerably slower on a phone.

The engine is ffmpeg.wasm, an unmodified build of FFmpeg licensed under the GPL, version 2 or later. It is served from this site's own asset domain, because it is too large for the limit our host places on a single file. It receives nothing about your file: it is a program your browser downloads and then runs on your device.

No file selected.

About this tool

This page converts FLAC to WAV in your browser. The file is read from your own device, decoded and re-encoded by code running on it, and handed back as a download. It is never uploaded, because there is no conversion server here to upload it to.

FLAC compresses audio the way ZIP compresses a document: the file gets smaller and every sample comes back exactly as it went in. It was published in 2001 and became the format people rip CDs to when they intend to keep them.

FLAC is the right thing to keep and the wrong thing to carry. Hardware players, older car systems, and a fair amount of consumer software still do not read it, and a lossless archive is no use in a device that shows it as an unknown file.

WAV is the format editing software wants. Nothing has to be decoded before a waveform is drawn or an edit applied, and repeated saves cost nothing, because there is no encoder to run again.

Audio conversion needs a real codec, so the first conversion in a session downloads FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly — a few megabytes, fetched once and then reused. It is the same file for every visitor and it arrives before you have chosen anything, so it says nothing about your recording. Everything after that happens on your device.

Supported formats and limits

Input: .flac
Output: .wav (audio/wav)
Output name: The original name with the new extension, for example track.flac becomes track.wav.
File size limit: 250 MB
Processing: In your browser. The file is not uploaded.

FLAC against WAV

FLAC and WAV compared, feature by feature
Feature	FLAC	WAV
Compression	Lossless — smaller, and identical when decoded	None — samples stored as recorded
Three minutes, stereo	About 12–20 MB	About 30 MB
Artist and album tags	Yes	No
Plays in browsers	Yes	Yes
Introduced	2001	1991
Quality setting	Fixed by the recording	Fixed by the recording

When you would want this

Keeping a recording without keeping the size

A lossless format gives back exactly what went in, so an archive made from it can produce any other format later without a second round of loss. It is the right place to convert to once, if the plan is to keep something.

Getting a file an editor will work with

Editing software handles uncompressed audio directly and re-encodes a compressed file every time it saves. Converting once at the start avoids compounding that, and makes scrubbing through a long recording noticeably faster.

How to use it

Choose a FLAC file, or drag one onto the box.
There is no quality setting, because the output format does not throw anything away — its size is decided by the recording, not by a choice.
Select convert and wait. The first run also loads the audio engine, so it takes longer than the ones after it.
Download the result. Nothing is kept: leaving or resetting the page releases it.

Limitations

The output is usually larger than the input — roughly 30 to 32 megabytes for three minutes of stereo. That is expected and is not a sign anything went wrong.
Artist, album, and cover art are not carried across, because the output format has no standard place to put them.
Older hardware players and some car stereos do not read FLAC, which is usually why somebody is converting away from it.
The audio engine is a few megabytes and is downloaded the first time you convert something in a session. On a slow connection that wait is real, and it happens before the conversion starts rather than during it.
One file at a time. Audio conversion is heavy enough that running several at once is a good way to exhaust a phone's memory.
A long recording takes a long time. Converting an hour of audio runs for minutes rather than seconds, and the tab has to stay open while it does.

Common problems

The result is larger than the file I started with.

The output format stores more per second than the input did. That is what it is for, and it is not an error.

If size matters more than fidelity, use a lossy format such as MP3 or OGG instead, or lower the quality setting.

The artist, album, and cover art have disappeared.

The output format has no standard field for them, so there is nowhere to write them.

Add them back in a music library application, or convert to a format that carries tags — MP3, FLAC, OGG, and M4A all do.

My player says the file is invalid.

Some hardware players read only a narrow set of formats, and a valid file in a format they do not know looks broken to them.

Convert to MP3 instead. Nothing in use refuses one, which is the whole reason the format is still here.

My player lists the FLAC files but skips straight past them.

The device is reading the folder and the filenames — which need no codec — and failing at the point where it would have to decode.

That silent skip is the usual symptom of missing FLAC support, and it is what this conversion is for. Keep the FLACs; convert a copy.

It is taking far longer than expected.

The first conversion of a session downloads the audio engine, and long recordings take proportionally long to process.

Leave the tab open and in the foreground. A background tab is throttled by the browser and will crawl.

Other ways to do this

Letting your music player convert on sync

Several music applications convert automatically when copying to a device, keeping the FLAC on the computer and putting a compressed copy on the player. If you are moving a whole library rather than one track, that is far less work than converting by hand.

A desktop audio application

Audacity, foobar2000, and similar programs convert audio and do a great deal else besides. They are the better choice for batches of hundreds of files or for work that needs editing as well as conversion. They are a download and an installation, which is the trade.

FFmpeg on your own machine

This page runs FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. The native command-line version does the same conversion faster, handles thousands of files in a loop, and exposes every option there is. If you already have it installed, use it.

Not converting at all

Check first whether the thing you are trying to play actually refuses the format. Modern phones, browsers, and media software read far more than they did a decade ago, and a conversion you do not need costs quality for nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Does converting to WAV lose quality?: It depends on the format you are converting to, and this page says which case it is in the limitations above. A lossless output stores what it is given exactly; a lossy one discards detail to be smaller. Neither can recover anything the source had already lost.
Are the artist and album kept?: Where the output format has somewhere to put them, yes. WAV does not, so those pages say so plainly. Cover art is more fragile than text tags and is the first thing to be dropped.
Is there a limit on how long the recording can be?: The limit is on file size rather than duration, and it is stated above. In practice a long recording is limited by patience and by memory: everything happens on your device, so an hour-long file will take minutes and will use real memory while it does.
Am I losing my lossless copy by converting?: No. The original file is not touched, and nothing here modifies anything on your device — the result is a new file handed back as a download. Keep the FLAC as the archive and treat the converted copy as disposable, because it can always be made again.
Is the result the same as what a desktop program would produce?: Yes. This is FFmpeg, the same software most desktop converters use underneath, compiled to run in the browser. The encoders are identical, so the output is too. What differs is speed, because a browser sandbox is slower than native code.
Do I need to install anything or create an account to use FLAC to WAV converter?: No, to all of it. FLAC to WAV converter runs inside the browser you already have, with no sign-up, no download, no watermark on the result, and no cap on how many files you convert. There is nothing to uninstall afterwards either, because nothing was installed.
Does FLAC to WAV converter work offline?: After the first conversion, yes. Audio work needs the FFmpeg engine, which is a separate download of a few tens of megabytes fetched the first time you convert something. Once your browser has cached it the work is entirely local and a connection is no longer needed.
How large a file can FLAC to WAV converter handle?: The limit is 250 MB. It is a deliberate one rather than a technical ceiling: the real constraint is memory, and a file that decodes to more than the device can hold fails in a way that is hard to explain. Phones run out well before laptops do, which is why the limit is set where it is.
Can I convert several files at once with FLAC to WAV converter?: Not here: this tool takes one file at a time, because what it does depends on choices you make about that particular file. Convert them one after another, or look at the batch converters in the same category, which are built for a folder at a time.

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