FLAC to M4A Converter
Turns a lossless FLAC into an M4A holding AAC-LC audio at the encoder's default rate, which is around 128 kbps for a stereo track. It is a lossy conversion: if you want lossless audio inside an M4A you need ALAC, and this converter does not produce ALAC.
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Why people move FLAC into M4A
FLAC is the standard for ripping and archiving CDs because it compresses without discarding anything, and it stores 24-bit and 96 kHz material happily. The awkward part is the Apple side of a music collection: the Music app library and iTunes do not import FLAC, iPod and older iPhone sync paths never supported it, and a lot of car head units and portable players list AAC but not FLAC. M4A is the container Apple software expects, so a FLAC library has to be re-encoded rather than renamed.
The conversion here is a single ffmpeg 5.1.9 pass on our servers. Your FLAC is decoded, any embedded picture stream is dropped, and the audio is encoded with ffmpeg's native AAC-LC encoder at its default bitrate: roughly 128 kbps for stereo, around 69 kbps for a mono file, and higher for multi-channel material. The result is written with the iPod muxer, so the file reports the major brand M4A that Apple software looks for. Bitrate, sample rate and channel layout are fixed in the pipeline, with no quality selector on the page.
Preserved: the sample rate, including 96 kHz hi-res rips, the channel count, your title, artist and album tags, and chapter markers if the source had them. Lost: the lossless character of the file, naturally, and the embedded cover image, which is dropped on every target. Bit depth stops being meaningful once the audio is in AAC, so a 24-bit FLAC does not keep a "24-bit" label on the other side. Keep the FLACs as your archive and treat the M4A files as playback copies.
Typical users are people shrinking a ripped collection so a few hundred albums fit on a phone, people who want tracks that drop straight into the Music app, and people transferring audio to a device whose spec sheet says AAC. If you want to stay lossless inside Apple's ecosystem, convert to ALAC with a desktop tool instead; MiConvert can read ALAC files but cannot write them.
How to convert FLAC to M4A
- Split single-file albums first. We convert each upload whole, with no trimming or cue-sheet handling, so one FLAC image of an album becomes one long M4A. Use a cue splitter beforehand if you want separate tracks.
- Check the size of your FLACs, since lossless albums get big: 50 MB per file without an account, 100 MB with a free account, 200 MB on Plus, 1 GB on Pro.
- Drop the files onto the page, up to 10 per batch for guests and free accounts (25 on Plus, 50 on Pro).
- Press Convert and wait. Typical album-length FLACs of a few tens of megabytes finish within a few seconds after their upload completes.
- Download each M4A. It keeps the original base name with the .m4a extension, and the link works for about four hours.
- Add artwork back in your player or tagger after import, since embedded images are not carried over.
What you get from this converter
- AAC-LC audio written with ffmpeg's iPod muxer, the M4A brand Apple software reads
- Title, artist and album tags carried into the MP4 metadata, plus chapter markers when the FLAC had them
- Sample rate kept as-is, including 44.1 kHz rips and 96 kHz hi-res sources
- Multi-channel FLAC handled: surround channel layouts are encoded rather than folded to stereo
- Also accepts other audio formats dropped on the same page, as long as the format you drop lists M4A as one of its targets
- Original file names preserved on output, so a tagged, sorted library stays sorted
Video Tutorial
Watch this step-by-step tutorial to learn how to convert FLAC files to M4A format online for free using MiConvert.com. No software installation required.
FLAC to M4A questions
Is FLAC to M4A lossless?
No. The M4A produced here contains AAC-LC, a lossy codec, at the encoder's default rate of roughly 128 kbps for stereo. The difference from the FLAC is small on many systems but it is a real, permanent re-encode, so keep the FLAC files as your master copies.
Can you convert FLAC to ALAC in an M4A?
No. Our pipeline can decode ALAC but has no ALAC encoder, so every M4A it writes is AAC. For lossless inside an M4A, use ffmpeg with -c:a alac locally, or a desktop tool such as XLD on macOS, foobar2000 or dBpoweramp on Windows.
Can I pick a higher bitrate, like 256 kbps?
Not on this page. The AAC encoder runs at its default setting for every job and there is no bitrate, VBR or sample-rate option. If you need a specific target, encode locally with ffmpeg or an app that exposes the AAC quality setting.
Will the album cover appear in the Music app?
Not from the conversion. Artwork embedded in the FLAC is dropped, so the M4A arrives without a cover. Add it afterwards in the Music app's Get Info panel, or with a tagger like Mp3tag, before importing.
What about my 24-bit 96 kHz hi-res FLACs?
They convert fine and the 96 kHz sample rate is kept, but the audio becomes AAC, so bit depth no longer applies and the hi-res advantage is gone. If the point of the file is hi-res playback, leave it as FLAC or make an ALAC copy with a desktop tool.
My album is larger than the upload limit. What now?
Split it into individual tracks and convert those, or sign in for the 100 MB per-file allowance (200 MB on Plus, 1 GB on Pro). A paid one-off conversion exists for single files above 1 GB, which almost no single FLAC track reaches.
Can I convert a whole album in one job?
Yes, within the batch and rate limits: 10 files per request for guests and free accounts, 25 on Plus, 50 on Pro. Guests and free accounts also get 10 conversion jobs per hour per IP address with two running at once, while Plus and Pro get 50 per hour and five at once. Each converted track is downloaded on its own; there is no ZIP of the whole batch.
Where does the conversion happen and how long are files kept?
On our servers, over an HTTPS upload, not in your browser. The FLAC you upload is deleted as soon as the job ends, and the M4A can be downloaded for about four hours before automatic deletion. File names, sizes and conversion outcomes are logged, and a signed-in account keeps a history row.