Is FLAC Lossless?
Yes — FLAC is lossless, storing a perfect bit-for-bit copy of the original with zero quality loss. Here's what that means, why it's smaller than WAV, and why a FLAC can still sound bad.
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Convert FLAC to ALAC →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").
| Format | Lossless? | Compressed? | Size (3-min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLAC | Yes | Yes | ~20 MB |
| ALAC | Yes | Yes | ~20 MB |
| WAV | Yes | No | ~30 MB |
| AIFF | Yes | No | ~30 MB |
| MP3 | No (lossy) | Yes | ~7 MB (320k) |
| AAC | No (lossy) | Yes | ~6 MB (256k) |
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+.