Is FLAC Lossless?

Short Answer: Yes

FLAC is lossless. It stores a perfect, bit-for-bit copy of the original audio — nothing is discarded. The name says it: Free Lossless Audio Codec. Decode a FLAC and you get back exactly what went in, identical to the source WAV or CD.

Lossless and Compressed — How That Works

The surprising part: FLAC is lossless and smaller than the uncompressed original. It compresses like a ZIP for audio — it finds redundancy and stores the data more efficiently, then rebuilds the exact waveform on playback. So a FLAC is typically 40–60% smaller than WAV while remaining a perfect copy. This is different from MP3, which shrinks files by permanently deleting audio (that's "lossy").

Is FLAC CD Quality?

Yes — at least. Standard FLAC at 16-bit/44.1kHz is exactly CD quality (a lossless copy of the disc). FLAC also supports hi-res audio beyond CD — 24-bit and sample rates up to 192kHz — so it can hold studio-grade masters that exceed CD resolution.

The Catch: Lossless Does Not Mean Automatically Great

Here's what trips people up. Lossless means no loss during storage — not that the audio is high quality to begin with. A FLAC is a perfect copy of whatever it was made from. If you create a FLAC from:

• a CD rip or a lossless master → genuinely perfect, full-quality FLAC.
• a lossy MP3, AAC, or a YouTube/Spotify stream → a lossless container around already-degraded audio. It's a big file that sounds exactly like the lossy source — no better.

So "is FLAC lossless?" (yes) and "will this FLAC sound amazing?" (only if the source was good) are different questions. FLAC preserves quality; it can't create it. Beware "FLAC" downloads that were actually converted from MP3 — they're lossless files of lossy audio (a spectrogram reveals the MP3's frequency cutoff).

Is FLAC the Same Quality as WAV and ALAC?

Yes — all three are lossless, so a FLAC, WAV, and ALAC made from the same source are identical in quality. They differ only in size and compatibility: FLAC and ALAC are compressed (smaller); WAV and AIFF are uncompressed (larger). See FLAC vs ALAC and WAV vs FLAC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is FLAC lossless?

Yes. FLAC stores a perfect, bit-for-bit copy of the source with no data discarded — lossless compression, not lossy.

Is FLAC lossy or lossless?

Lossless. Unlike MP3 or AAC, FLAC keeps 100% of the audio; it just compresses it efficiently.

Is FLAC CD quality?

Yes, at minimum — 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC equals CD quality, and FLAC also supports hi-res audio beyond CD.

Does a FLAC file always sound great?

No. FLAC perfectly preserves whatever it was made from — so a FLAC created from a lossy MP3 sounds like that MP3. It never adds quality.

Is FLAC the same quality as WAV?

Yes — both are lossless and sound identical. FLAC is compressed (smaller); WAV is uncompressed.

How can I tell if a FLAC is really lossless?

Check a spectrogram (e.g. with Spek). A FLAC converted from a low-bitrate MP3 shows a frequency cutoff (around 16kHz) instead of extending to ~20kHz+.