Convert FLAC to ALAC — Free Online Converter

ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is Apple's answer to FLAC — a lossless codec that compresses audio to about 50-60% of the original size, just like FLAC, but wrapped in an M4A container that Apple devices understand natively. Converting FLAC to ALAC gives you lossless audio that plays directly on every iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, and HomePod without installing any third-party software. Apple open-sourced ALAC's reference encoder in 2011, but the format remains primarily associated with the Apple ecosystem.

iPhones and iPads do not play FLAC files natively through the Music app — you need a third-party player like VLC. ALAC provides identical lossless quality in a format that Apple's entire hardware and software stack supports out of the box. iTunes, Apple Music, and the Music app all handle ALAC with full metadata display, gapless playback, and AirPlay streaming. If you maintain a lossless music library and use Apple devices, ALAC is the only lossless format that works everywhere in the ecosystem without compromise.

FFmpeg decodes the FLAC bitstream to PCM and re-encodes with Apple's ALAC codec into an M4A (MPEG-4 Audio) container. Both FLAC and ALAC use linear prediction and Rice coding, achieving nearly identical compression ratios. ALAC supports up to 32-bit depth at 384 kHz, as well as multichannel (up to 7.1). The M4A container provides iTunes-compatible metadata atoms for tags, artwork, lyrics, and chapter markers.