FLAC to WAV Converter

What Is the Difference Between FLAC and WAV?

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) was developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and formally standardised as IETF RFC 9639 in December 2024. It compresses audio using linear predictive coding and Rice entropy coding to reduce file sizes by 40 to 60 per cent compared to equivalent uncompressed audio, while mathematically guaranteeing that every bit of the original audio can be reconstructed perfectly on playback. FLAC files use Vorbis Comment metadata, which supports rich tagging including artist name, album title, track number, genre, release year, and embedded album artwork at any resolution. A 4-minute stereo recording at 16-bit/44.1 kHz occupies approximately 25 to 30 MB as FLAC, and a 5-minute hi-res recording at 24-bit/96 kHz occupies approximately 120 MB.

WAV (Waveform Audio File Format) was introduced by Microsoft and IBM in 1991 as part of the RIFF container specification. It stores audio as raw Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) data without any compression. Every amplitude sample of the audio signal is written sequentially to the file, which means WAV is the uncompressed baseline that all lossless audio formats ultimately decompress to. A 4-minute stereo recording at 16-bit/44.1 kHz occupies approximately 45 MB as WAV, and a 5-minute hi-res recording at 24-bit/96 kHz occupies approximately 250 MB. WAV has been supported by every operating system, DAW, audio editor, CD burning application, and hardware audio device since its introduction.

Because both FLAC and WAV are lossless, converting between them involves no audio quality loss of any kind. FLAC decompression is a mathematically exact operation: the output WAV file is bit-identical to the original uncompressed PCM data that was encoded into the FLAC file. This is fundamentally different from converting a lossy format such as MP3 to WAV, where the WAV output contains audio that has already been permanently degraded by the MP3 encoder. When you convert FLAC to WAV, you are simply changing the container and removing the lossless compression layer. No frequencies are discarded, no dynamic range is reduced, and no artefacts are introduced.

How to Use the FLAC to WAV Converter

1. Click the upload area or drag your FLAC file onto it. The converter accepts standard FLAC files at any sample rate and bit depth.
2. Select your output bit depth. Choose 24-bit to preserve the full dynamic range of a hi-res or studio recording. Choose 16-bit if you are burning a standard audio CD, which requires the Red Book 16-bit/44.1 kHz format, or if the target device does not support 24-bit playback.
3. Click Convert to WAV. The browser decodes the FLAC audio using the Web Audio API and encodes the output as PCM WAV data. Conversion of a typical 5-minute song takes a few seconds.
4. Click Download WAV when finished. The file saves with the same name as your original, with the extension changed to .wav. The output file size will be approximately 1.5 to 2 times larger than the FLAC source, depending on the original compression ratio.

The converter works in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Older versions of Safari (before version 11 on iOS or version 13 on macOS) do not support FLAC decoding natively. If you are on Safari and see a compatibility error, switch to Chrome or Firefox for FLAC conversion. The latest versions of Safari (13 and above on macOS, 11 and above on iOS) do support FLAC via the Web Audio API.

No account is required and no files leave your device at any point. The FLAC decoding and WAV encoding both run locally on your CPU using your browser as the processing environment. This makes the converter suitable for converting recordings that contain personal, commercially sensitive, or confidential audio content.

FLAC vs WAV: Format Comparison

When to Use This Converter

The Music Producer Sending Stems to a Pro Tools Engineer

A producer working in Ableton Live receives sample packs and album cuts from collaborators in FLAC, since the smaller file sizes transfer more quickly over the internet. When stems are sent to a mixing engineer running Pro Tools, the import fails because legacy versions of Pro Tools do not natively support FLAC. The producer needs to convert the FLAC stems to WAV at 24-bit/48 kHz before uploading them to the shared project folder. Converting to WAV ensures every member of the production chain can open the files in their DAW without format conversion on their end, and 24-bit depth preserves the full dynamic range of the recorded performances. The WAV files are uploaded for the mixing session, and the FLAC originals are kept on the local project drive as the compact archive copies.

The Vinyl Collector Burning Custom Audio CDs

An audiophile ripped her entire CD collection to FLAC years ago using Exact Audio Copy, creating a digital archive of hundreds of albums with verified bit-perfect rips. She now wants to create custom compilation CDs as gifts for family. When she selects the FLAC files in her burning software, she receives an error. The Red Book audio CD standard (IEC 60908) requires uncompressed 16-bit PCM audio at 44.1 kHz sample rate. Most CD burning applications, including Windows Media Player, iTunes, Nero, and ImgBurn, accept WAV or AIFF at 16-bit/44.1 kHz but not FLAC directly. She converts the relevant tracks to 16-bit WAV before importing them into her burning project, and the compilations burn without errors and play correctly on all standard CD players including car stereos and home hi-fi units.

The Video Editor Matching Broadcast Audio Standards

A freelance video editor working on documentary content receives music beds and sound design files from clients as FLAC downloads. Her Adobe Premiere Pro timeline runs at 48 kHz (the broadcast standard), and when FLAC files recorded at 44.1 kHz are dropped into the timeline, Premiere flags a sample rate mismatch and applies automatic resampling, which can introduce timing inaccuracies in long timelines. She converts the FLAC files to WAV and sets the sample rate to 48 kHz within the browser converter, which resamples the audio during decoding. The 24-bit WAV files drop cleanly into her Premiere timeline at the correct sample rate, eliminating the mismatch warning and ensuring frame-accurate audio sync throughout the edit.

The DJ Converting Downloads for CDJ Playback

A professional DJ downloads high-quality lossless tracks from Beatport and Bandcamp in FLAC format, because FLAC files are significantly smaller than WAV for storage on his laptop. His performance setup uses Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS2 players at venues, and these CDJs support WAV and AIFF playback but not FLAC. Before each gig he selects the tracks for the night's playlist and converts them to WAV using a browser-based tool. He chooses 16-bit output because the CDJ-2000NXS2 internal audio engine operates at 16-bit/44.1 kHz for playback, and 24-bit WAV files from hi-res downloads are down-converted internally anyway. The WAV files are transferred to a USB drive or rekordbox, and playback on the CDJs is seamless.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Converting 24-bit FLAC to 16-bit WAV when you need to preserve dynamic range. A 16-bit audio file has a maximum dynamic range of approximately 96 dB, which is the CD standard. A 24-bit audio file has a maximum dynamic range of approximately 144 dB, which is the studio and hi-res recording standard. If your FLAC file was recorded or mastered at 24-bit depth and you convert it to 16-bit WAV, you are permanently reducing the dynamic range of the file. The quiet passages of the recording lose detail. For DAW work, mixing, mastering, or archiving hi-res recordings, always choose 24-bit WAV output. Only choose 16-bit when the specific target requires it, such as when burning a standard Red Book audio CD.

Assuming your metadata and album art will survive the conversion. FLAC uses Vorbis Comments for metadata, which is a flexible tagging system that supports artist, album, track number, genre, date, composer, and embedded album artwork at any resolution. WAV uses the older LIST INFO chunk format for metadata, which supports only a limited set of fields and is inconsistently implemented across different applications. When you convert FLAC to WAV, the metadata may be lost entirely or only partially preserved, depending on which application plays back the WAV file. After converting, use a dedicated tag editor such as Mp3tag to add the artist, album, and track number to the WAV file's ID3 or INFO tags manually before adding it to your music library.

Deleting the original FLAC files after conversion. WAV and FLAC represent the same audio quality, but FLAC is significantly smaller. If you have a large collection of 24-bit FLAC files and convert them all to WAV for use in a DAW, the WAV copies may occupy twice the storage space. The correct workflow is to keep the FLAC files as the compact archive copies and maintain the WAV files only as temporary working copies for the specific project or device that requires WAV. Deleting the FLAC originals leaves you with the same audio quality in a much larger format, which is an unnecessary trade-off unless storage is not a concern.

Ignoring the sample rate mismatch between music (44.1 kHz) and video (48 kHz). FLAC files downloaded from music stores and streaming platforms are almost always at 44.1 kHz, which is the CD and music industry standard. Video editing software and broadcast workflows use 48 kHz. If you drop a 44.1 kHz WAV file into a 48 kHz video timeline, the software will resample it automatically. While modern applications do this well, uncontrolled resampling can introduce subtle timing shifts in very long timelines. If your WAV file is destined for a video project, convert the sample rate to 48 kHz during the conversion step rather than letting the video editor handle it.

Using a FLAC file that was previously converted from MP3. Some files circulating online are labelled as FLAC but were originally encoded as MP3 and then re-encoded to FLAC. Because MP3 is a lossy codec, the FLAC wrapper simply compresses the already-degraded audio data. Converting this kind of file to WAV gives you a large uncompressed file that sounds exactly as poor as the MP3 source. You cannot recover quality that was discarded during the original MP3 encode. A genuine FLAC file from a lossless source (CD rip, studio master, or hi-res download) will show a frequency response extending to 20 kHz or above when viewed in a spectral analyser. An MP3-sourced fake FLAC will show a characteristic hard frequency rolloff at 16 kHz or 17 kHz where the MP3 encoder cut the high frequencies.

Frequently Asked Questions