What is a flac file?
Flac files come across from time to time. But what is a flac file? We bring you closer to the file format.
Flac brings lossless music enjoyment
"Flac" stands for "Free Lossless Audio Codec", which means "Free lossless audio encoder / decoder". If you find such a file, it is an audio file, just like MP3 or WAV files. The Flac codec was developed as part of the Xiph.Org Foundation.
The advantages of a Flac file
For music lovers, the Flac codec is something very special. This is not least due to these decisive advantages:
- Flac files are only slightly compressed and therefore provide lossless sound - quite the opposite of MP3 songs, for example. This gives you very high audio quality with Flac.
- The Flac codec is freely available and can be used without patents, which is why it can be used on all operating systems and devices.
- Flac can be streamed.
The little burden of music files in Flac format
The Flac codec also has disadvantages, but they are not as serious:
- The audio files are very large due to the lossless codec. A four-minute song in Flac format has about 20 to 30 MB. The same song would be about a third of the size as MP3.
- Flac's compression strength is in the midfield compared to other lossless audio codecs.
If you want to use the Flac codec, you can download it here. And this free tool converts your Flac files into MP3 songs as you wish.