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How and with what to open FLAC? What is a FLAC file? How to open and convert FLAC files

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless size compression method for digital music information. Read about the comparison between mp3 and FLAC and how to open it.
A file with the *.flac extension can store music compressed using the Free Lossless Audio Codec, as well as high-resolution DSD DoP or MQA formats.

"Lossless" means "the original and restored digital audio material is completely identical."

If the sequence "1234" is compressed in size into a certain sequence (for example, "97"), then after unpacking the latter we again have "1234".

Watch and Share: DSD vs FLAC Comparison

In addition to Free Lossless Audio Codec software decoders, there are also hardware ones built into portable audio players (DAPs). Although in reality a DAP or mobile phone is a small computer that runs a program to encode or decode a music format.

A single large *.flac file can be a music album container along with a CUE index file that contains the starting time points for each track.

Free Lossless Audio Codec is supported by Xiph.Org Foundation.

At the time of this writing, open software libraries (open-source) are available for the operating systems Windows, Unix family (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, IRIX), BeOS, OS/2, Amiga.

FLAC converters

  1. AuI ConverteR 48x44 (Win, Mac)
  2. XLD (Mac)
  3. Foobar 2000 (Win)
  1. How to Convert ISO to FLAC for Mac and Windows [User Guide] (EN) >

How to play FLAC files (software players)

  1. Foobar 2000 (Win)
  2. VOX (Mac)
  3. AIMP (Win)

FLAC file and iTunes

FLAC file is not compatible with popular player iTunes. However, FLAC can be converted to AIFF while preserving the metadata (including images). FLAC can also be converted to ALAC (*.m4a resolution), which provides lossless compression.

When converting files for iTunes, you need to ensure metadata compatibility. For example, if you are using the FLAC converter AuI ConverteR, in the settings Settings > Metadata> check the checkbox Compatibility metatags with iTunes.

FLAC is an audio data compression codec originally written by Josh Colson. As the name suggests, FLAC compresses the data while leaving it identical to the original, so no part of the data is lost - this is the main goal of lossless compression algorithms. A digital audio recording (such as a CD-Audio track) compressed into FLAC can be unpacked into an absolutely identical copy of the audio data. Format compression ratio FLAC, usually varies from 50 to 60% of the original size.

FLAC Suitable for both daily listening to recordings and for archiving, as it supports tags, built-in covers and quick change of playback location. The free and open format makes it well supported by various software. Support for playback on various devices is quite limited at the moment, but nevertheless, the format is supported by a large number of hardware devices compared to the competing WavPack format.

Story

Development was started in 2000 by Josh Colson. The bitstream format was fixed when FLAC entered the beta stage with version 0.5, released on January 15, 2001. Version 1.0 was released on July 20, 2001.

January 29, 2003 Xiph.Org organization and project FLAC announced the inclusion of the project FLAC under the Xiph.Org symbol.

On September 17, 2007, version 1.2.1 was released, which added the ability to save AIFF and RIFF metadata chains using the --keep-foreign-metadata switch.

6 years later, on May 26, 2013, the next release 1.3.0 was released from the new Xiph.Org team. This release includes minor changes and general improvements. In particular, the project moved to the git repository of the Xiph.Org organization and support for RF64 and Wave64 formats was added.

After another year and a half, on November 25, 2014, release 1.3.1 was released with more serious changes. This time, encoding performance has been improved when using SSE and AVX extensions. Decoding performance has also been improved for all bit depths, but especially for 24 bits in conjunction with the IA32 architecture.

Project

Project FLAC consists of the following parts:

  • Audio Data Format
  • A simple container format for audio data, also called FLAC(Native FLAC or Native FLAC)
  • libFLAC– reference encoder and decoder library and interface for metadata
  • libFLAC++, which is an object-oriented add-on to the libFLAC library
  • flac– command line utility based on libFLAC for encoding and decoding FLAC format streams
  • metaflac– a command line utility that is a metadata (tags) editor for .flac files
  • Input plugins for various music players (Winamp, foobar2000, XMMS, musikCube and many others)
  • Given the project's merger with Xiph.Org, the Ogg container also supports FLAC audio data (also called Ogg FLAC)

The free nature of the format means that its streaming format specification can be implemented by anyone, without any rights to do so (however, Xiph.Org reserves the right to set format specifications and certify compliance with them). Also implementation of any format encoding/decoding methods FLAC cannot be included in a patent. This means that the reference implementation is free software. The libFLAC and libFLAC++ source codes are available under the BSD license, and the command line utilities are available under the GPL.

One of the set goals of the project FLAC is a call to developers not to create any copy protection functions.

Comparisons

FLAC was designed to efficiently compress audio data, unlike conventional algorithms such as DEFLATE (ZIP and gzip) used in other lossless codecs. While ZIP can compress a CD-Audio file by 10-20%, FLAC achieves compression ratios of 30-50% for most music, and compression is particularly good FLAC shows when working with voice recordings. In comparison, lossy codecs can achieve compression ratios of 80% or more, discarding some data from the original audio stream.

FLAC uses linear prediction to convert samples into small sequences of uncorrelated numbers (known as residuals), which are stored using efficient Golomb-Rice coding. Also in the format FLAC encoding of blocks with identical samples, such as quiet passages, is used. Technical strength of the format FLAC, compared to other lossless codecs, is its ability to be streamed and decoded in a short time, which is independent of the compression ratio.

Being a lossless compression scheme, FLAC It is also a popular archival format for owners of audio discs or other media looking to preserve their audio collection. If the original recording is lost, damaged or worn out, a copy in FLAC guarantees that an exact duplicate of the original recording can be restored at any time. Exact recovery from a lossy archive (eg MP3) is not possible. Being a lossless format, FLAC may well be subject to transcoding (for example, into MP3) without the loss of quality, as a rule, characteristic of transcoding. A CUE file may also be created while extracting data from a CD. If the data from the CD has been extracted to FLAC successful, the CUE file allows you to restore a copy of the disc identical to the original, including track order, pregap and CD-Text data. However, additional information that may be present on some audio discs, such as lyrics, CD+G graphics, will be outside the visibility of the CUE file and most extraction software, and thus this information will not be extracted.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has adopted the format FLAC for the distribution of high-quality sound through the Euroradio network.

Technical details

Format FLAC only supports integer samples. This avoids the inaccuracies of non-integer arithmetic, thus guaranteeing lossless compression. As input, the encoder can accept from 4 to 32 bits per sample, any sampling frequency from 1 Hz to 655,350 Hz in 1 Hz steps, and any number of channels in the range from 1 to 8. Channels can be grouped in case of stereo or 5.1 audio to benefit from inter-channel correlations and thereby increasing the audio compression ratio. FLAC checks CRC checksums to detect corrupted frames in cases where the format is used in a streaming protocol. In addition, the STREAMINFO header tag stores the full MD5 hash of the raw PCM audio data. FLAC allows a Rice parameter range from 0 to 16. FLAC supports ReplayGain.

FLAC implemented as an encoder and decoder core in the libFLAC library, which is linked to the main flac package, which is a reference program that uses the libFLAC API. The codec API is also available for C++ in the libFLAC++ library.

Reference implementation FLAC compiles on many platforms, including Unix systems (such as Solaris and Mac OS X) and Unix-like systems (including Linux and BSD), Windows BeOS and OS/2. The project is configured to be built with the following utilities: autoconf/automake, MSVC, Watcom C and Xcode. FLAC does not currently support multithreading.

For tags FLAC uses the same system as Vorbis comments.

API organization

The libFLAC API is organized into different directions: streaming, offset-aware streaming, and file-based (listed in order of increasing level of abstraction relative to the underlying bitmap). FLAC flow). Majority FLAC applications are limited to encoding/decoding using the libFLAC interface at the file level only.

pros

  • Portable to many systems and platforms
  • Open source and easily licensed
  • Fast decoding, high compression level independence
  • Hardware support (PhatBox, Kenwood MusicKeg, Rio Karma and others)
  • Streaming support
  • Corrupted files can be partially restored

Minuses

  • Less efficient compression than some other modern codecs (APE (Monkey's Audio), LPAC, OptimFROG)

The performance/compression ratio is about the same as WavPack (however, WavPack is faster), and 1%-2% worse than other modern encoders such as APE (Monkey's Audio) and OptimFROG.

Decoding format FLAC very light on processor resources, making this format ideal for playback on a variety of portable devices.

In which audio files were recorded, it was very popular. But, despite its great popularity and recognition, it could not boast of high sound quality, which suffered when the file was compressed. Now a new flac format has appeared and a logical question has arisen: if the music file you downloaded is recorded in this format, how to open flac and what programs are suitable for this purpose? The presented material offers several options for solving the problem.

What's happenedflac

The name of the FLAC format can be deciphered from English - Free Lossless Audio Codec, which means free lossless audio codec. Now it is very popular all over the world, as it allows, unlike AAC, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis, to record and store audio information without removing anything from the audio stream. The listed formats suffered from such quality losses. Therefore, flac, which provides the opportunity to listen to music without distortion, began to find more and more supporters. It is suitable for many audio applications and is compatible with all operating systems. Using a convenient format, you can create archives and listen to music daily. When thinking about how to open the flac format, it is sometimes difficult to imagine that there are many programs that can be used to play files in the named format, or there is the possibility of transcoding them into a form convenient for you. Let's take a closer look at the players.

Programs for playing files in the formatflac

There are a considerable number of applications that can read files in the flac format. For example, VLC media player, a program remarkable in its qualities. It is distributed free of charge and is very easy to use. After downloading the player from the Internet, you need to install it on your computer; in the window containing the “File Association” menu, there should be a checkmark next to flac. After that, click “Next”. The program for opening flac is installed on drive C by default. After that, launch the player and select “Open file” in the “Menu.” Then you need to find the file recorded in flac format and click on the “Open” button.

Winamp has been popular for a long time. If you prefer it, you will need to install a plugin to read the format to play flac. When choosing how to open flac, you can opt for Windows Media Player, but the program will need special filters - Illiminable or CoreFLAC. Thanks to the developments of Russian programmers, the AIMP player was created, which combines the best characteristics of audio players. The player has a built-in converter with which you can convert information to other audio formats, it has a sensitive equalizer and the ability to work with multiple playlists. In addition to the thirty-seven formats that the AIMP player supports, it also reads files in flac format.

When discussing programs for opening flac, one cannot help but dwell on a player that, having a modest interface, is capable of supporting almost any audio format. The Media Jukebox 12 media player is widely used abroad, capable of working as a music center and being an organizer of media files. This software has become free and is now beginning to circulate among domestic users. The multimedia player KMPlayer is suitable as a universal tool for playing flac format.

If necessary, a program that works with the flac format, Adobe Audition, is perfect.

The best format for playing music is flac. There is always an optimal way to open it. For example, modern DVD players. They are equipped with universal firmware, thanks to which they are able to support files of many formats. The flac audio file can be written to a flash drive or laser disk. It is better to play it on a computer if your TV does not have a connected one. The flac format has a rich spectrum of frequencies, the number of which is much smaller for files with other extensions. Therefore, very high quality audio equipment is required. If you don’t have one, then you can convert a flac file to mp3, for which a program such as Format Factory is suitable. When converting, you need to set the sampling frequency to the highest. This will maintain sound quality.

FLAC file is an acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec. As the name suggests, it is a free (created under an Open Source license) codec that specializes in processing audio streams, which is compressed without losing quality compared to the original. FLAC files take up half the space of an uncompressed WAV song—sometimes even less. However, FLAC files take up much more space than lossy formats such as MP3 or WMA. You can listen to FLAC songs using many free players, such as Winamp or VLC. If you're concerned about the size of FLAC files or want to convert them to another format supported by your player (such as MP3 or WAV), you can do so using free tools.

Ways to open a file with the FLAC extension.

Among the various audio file formats you can find the flac extension. How does it differ from others, for example, mp3 or wav. The answer is simple - sound quality and file size. What player can open the flac file type? Read on!

Software for starting playback

How to open flac? Most audio players handle it without any problems. If you are using a player that cannot open .flac, you can find the correct plugin on the Internet. These files are especially recommended for people who value sound quality and feel its full power. It's also worth adding that many portable players support playback of these files (including iPod).

AIMP

AIMP is a multifunctional program for playing audio files on a computer. The Russian utility supports many music formats with the ability to add more using plugins.

Advantages:

  • high sound quality;
  • economical use of resources;
  • graphic and sound special effects;
  • plays and records Internet radio.

Flaws:

  • not detected.

AIMP offers good sound quality and economical use of computer resources, as well as additional options such as opening flac files. It allows you to customize the sound using a graphic equalizer and add special effects (reverb and change the playback speed). AIMP plays and records Internet radio, supports keyboard shortcuts, and adds visual effects to the music being played. The program also creates playlists and contains additional graphic skins. Smooth transitions between tracks will be useful when playing music at a party.

AIMP, like any player worth its salt, displays extensive information about the file being played, plays songs randomly, and can also automatically turn off the computer at a designated time. This is a rather complex program, but it does not take much time to get information about all its functions. AIMP's default interface is elegant and functional. The basic functions will not pose any difficulties even for beginners, and advanced users will benefit from the full range of settings offered by AIMP. This is an excellent alternative to the popular Winamp player. AIMP is undoubtedly the leader among music players. If you value high sound quality and fast operation with minimal system load, install AIMP.

jetAudio is a multimedia playback program developed by the American division of Cowon. There are two versions available: one free Basic, the other Plus, which offers additional features. The program is popular due to its more efficient and fast software architecture compared, for example, to competitive Winamp. If there is a problem about how to reproduce a particular format, then there is probably no better solution.

The program offers very wide capabilities, such as support for popular music and video formats (MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, RM, AVI, MPEG, RMVB, MOV, etc.), CD burning, audio recording, ID3 tag editing, skin support and visualizations, subtitle support, database integration, album and playlist management, conversion of music files and videos, radio and Internet broadcasting, song synchronization (karaoke) and many others.

Winamp is a well-known free music player that has evolved from a simple program into a comprehensive multimedia machine that also plays movies. It is quite versatile and, thanks to many settings and skins, can be adapted to the needs of each user.

Advantages:

  • total configuration;
  • small file size;
  • fast action;
  • skins that change the Winamp interface.

Flaws:

  • does not support MOV files;
  • does not support subtitles without an additional codec.

Winamp supports skins that allow you to change the appearance of the player. Playback control is easy, although Winamp allows you to use many additional functions. A minimized version of Winamp in the form of a thin strip on the edge of the screen allows you to use the program without taking up your workspace. Winamp supports most media file formats and works quickly even on weak computers. Thanks to the available plugins, you can “make” Winamp work with mp3 and listen to it from your iPod. Winamp also makes it easy to manage your multimedia library on your computer. The full version allows you to burn CDs.

Winamp Remote is an additional feature of the new version of the player that allows you to use the multimedia resources of uPnP devices (for example, a mobile phone) through your home network. Together with Winamp, you also have access to huge multimedia resources on the Internet. This program is ideal for playing Internet radio and Internet TV in the Shoutcast system.

GOM Player is a free multimedia player with a nice interface. One of the leaders in popularity among those who open the flac format. Although there are no revolutionary solutions in it, it works well and stably. GOM Player can open most, if not all, video files. This is due to an improved set of built-in codecs. With just one click, GOM Player is able to search and download the missing codec.

Advantages;

  • does not boot the PC;
  • good interface.

Flaws:

  • periodic program crashes.

Unfortunately, GOM Player is not without its drawbacks. The program cannot process DVDs. It can play individual VOB files, but attempting to play a disc or DVD image will close the program. GOM Player does not work on weak computers.

VLC Media Player is a free media player that recreates any video format. Ease of use and speed make VLC one of the best options on the market.

Advantages:

  • playback of most video formats;
  • ease of use;
  • contains codecs;
  • Blu-ray support.

Flaws:

  • primitive appearance.

This is an extremely versatile program. Play DVD, DivX, MKV, music files, TV and Internet radio. It can capture and save a video stream or run its own TV program over the Internet. Supports subtitles and allows you to synchronize them with the movie if they are not working correctly. While playing a movie, you can change its colors, contrast and brightness level, and rotate the image - for example, to watch while lying down. VLC allows you to add special effects - blur, noise and other filters. You can also break the picture into pieces and view it as a mosaic.

VLC has its own set of codecs, which means you don’t have to download and install anything extra. VLC can also play partially downloaded videos. The interface is extremely simple - a novice user will be delighted. The more demanding user will also be satisfied, because the configuration options and additional features hidden in the menu bar are very extensive.

VLC is a program that stands out for its simple interface, excellent playback capabilities and economical use of computer resources. If you like watching movies on your computer or listening to Internet radio or TV, you should try VLC. It is deservedly one of the most popular video players on the market.

Media Player Classic (MPC) is a free alternative to Windows Media Player. If you want a simple and lightweight video, audio and DVD player, download Media Player Classic.

Advantages:

  • very light;
  • plays most multimedia formats;
  • excellent replacement for Windows Media Player;
  • DVD player.

Flaws:

  • You may need to install additional codecs;
  • no longer in development.

Media Player Classic works great in Windows 7 and performs well as a DVD player. If you are interested in playing RMVB files, you can download a package containing the corresponding codecs. Media Player Classic has a very simple and intuitive interface, without any filters or unnecessary effects. In the simple media player category, the MPC is an excellent choice.

KMPlayer features a large number of configuration options and filters that improve image quality. Like most competing players, KMP has no problems displaying subtitles, supports skins and a playlist editor.

In addition to the FLAC format and other audio and video extensions, the media playback program supports all types of SRT, SUB, SSA and TXT subtitles, DVD format and uses various included filters. Unlike competing players, it has rich functionality and a huge number of available configuration parameters, thanks to which you can adjust the image accordingly - screen size (diagonal), brightness, contrast and saturation level, as well as configure additional subtitle parameters.

Universal Viewer allows you to read files in many formats, including multimedia materials. It doesn't claim to be the best player, but in situations where none of the other players can open the file, this utility may surprise you.

Advantages:

  • compatible with many formats;
  • Extensive configuration options.

Flaws:

  • language pack in a separate file.

During tests, Universal Viewer showed excellent results. Displays (and edits) Word (also DOCX) and Excel files, plays music files and movies. It rendered the document in PDF format, no problem with different digital photo formats or with binary files. The program reads HTML and can work like a regular web browser.

You can set the character encoding of text, manipulate an image, or view file data. Most often you need to set the format by selecting the downloaded file type or set auto-detection. Universal Viewer supports plugins written for Total Commander, which gives it almost unlimited possibilities. Universal Viewer is a truly universal program for displaying various types of files. PDF, photos, videos, text documents, spreadsheets and even websites - it can handle them all with ease.

Although there are many players with more features and support for more formats, Windows Media Player does its job well and is easy to use. This is a secure solution from Microsoft for those who want to enjoy music and video playback on their Windows PC.

Advantages:

  • suitable for Windows XP;
  • exceptional performance;
  • easy to use;
  • convenient search.

Flaws:

  • To install, you need to activate Windows;
  • does not play DVDs;
  • limited synchronization capabilities.

To provide better functionality and make it easier to sort your media files, Windows Media Player has improved the library. This applies to music on both hard drives and portable devices. Windows Media Player contains almost the same features as its predecessors, and also adds new features. We can download themes, change the visualization and adapt the player to our needs.

What else could cause problems with the file?

If after installing applications you still cannot play a file with the flac extension, you need to re-instruct the system which program should open it. To do this, right-click the file and select "Open with". Next, specify your multimedia player from the list of installed programs. If errors occur repeatedly, reinstall the latest version of the music player and check your computer for viruses.

".flac" is an abbreviation for Free Lossless Audio Codec. The sound in this format is characterized by very good quality, which, unfortunately, is usually associated with the rather large size of this file type. In .flac format, no data is removed from the audio stream, and since decoding occurs in real time, the sound is almost perfect and similar to the original.

Probably everyone remembers the moment the mp3 format appeared and its great popularity. Unfortunately, mp3 and other audio codecs, for example, acc, wma, vqf, ogg, lose quality when compressing information, and are completely unsuitable for fully listening to music on modern music equipment. Today, many users are familiar with the flac format. Flac is practically the most popular free lossless audio codek, which does not destroy information during the compression of the audio stream, thanks to which flac maintains quality without any loss. Files in flac format are perfect for listening on high-end equipment and creating an archive of an audio collection.

People who encounter this extension for the first time have a question: “how to open the flac format?” There are many solutions to this issue on the Internet, in particular a whole list of programs designed for playing and processing sound files. New and regularly updated software supports flac with ease, but with outdated applications there may be some problems.

If your goal is to simply listen to music in the flac extension, then using a sound-reproducing program will be quite sufficient. For a long time, many people have preferred to use the Winamp program. For this program, it is enough to install a plugin that will allow you to read the flac format.

No less popular is the Windows Media Player program. This program requires CoreFLAC or Illiminable filters.

Recently, the AIMP player, which was developed by Russian programmers, has gained great popularity. The player boasts the best features of audio players we have known for a long time. The software is distinguished by the fact that it allows you to work simultaneously with several music lists, has a built-in converter and a sensitive equalizer. The player supports 37 music formats that are used all over the world, including flac.

Flac extension: how to open it? Among the devices that reproduce the flac format, Media Jukebox 12 is known. This player is a kind of media file organizer. The player is very popular abroad and includes all the functions designed to work with files. More recently, the program became completely free, thanks to which it is quickly spreading among users.

As for Russia, special preference is given to the Foobar 2000 player. The program has a rather modest interface, but supports a huge number of audio formats (some formats require the installation of appropriate plugins). Foobar 2000 features high-quality sound and allows you to configure all the player's features in detail. The player menu is structured and quite clear.

flac file: how to open it? Also, in addition to the above programs, the flac format is reproduced by such media players as VLC Media Player, VideoLAN and VUPlayer. These players have very good characteristics and are capable of playing many of the most popular formats. If for various reasons you often come across audio editors, the Abobe Audition program (formerly Cool Edit Pro) will help you work with the flac format.