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Audio

M4A to FLAC Converter

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Converting M4A to FLAC decodes the AAC audio and losslessly re-encodes the decoded samples in FLAC. The result is a losslessly-stored version of your M4A — every sample from the decoder is preserved in FLAC's compressed-but-lossless format, with richer metadata support than M4A.

When you’d want this conversion

  • Archiving Apple Music purchases or iTunes rips in a platform-agnostic format.
  • Moving audio from the Apple ecosystem to a Linux or Android system that handles FLAC natively.
  • Using a unified lossless format (FLAC) across a mixed library of Apple and non-Apple sources.
  • Getting richer Vorbis Comment metadata on files originally tagged in M4A's MP4 metadata format.

What to watch for

FLAC losslessly stores the decoded M4A — quality is limited by the original AAC encoding. This is not the same as archiving from a WAV or FLAC source.
FLAC files from M4A sources will be larger than the M4A but smaller than WAV of the same audio.
From.m4a

M4A

MPEG-4 Audio (AAC in MP4 container)

  • Lossy compression
  • Size: small (3–8 MB / song)
  • Best for: Apple Music, iTunes, iPhone, podcasts
To.flac

FLAC

Free Lossless Audio Codec

  • Lossless
  • Size: medium (15–25 MB / song)
  • Best for: archival, audiophile listening, music libraries

More M4A Conversions

M4A to MP3 Converter M4A to WAV Converter

Convert Other Formats to FLAC

MP3 to FLAC Converter WAV to FLAC Converter

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How to Use

  1. 1

    Drop your audio file onto the converter above, or click to browse.

  2. 2

    Select your target format from the format buttons.

  3. 3

    Click Convert — processing happens entirely in your browser.

  4. 4

    Preview the result with the built-in audio player, then download.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the FLAC truly lossless if the source was lossy (AAC)?

The FLAC encoding step is lossless — the decoded AAC audio is stored without any further loss. However, the quality ceiling is set by the original AAC. "Lossless storage of lossy audio" is the accurate description.

Why choose FLAC over WAV for archiving M4A?

FLAC is 40–60% smaller than WAV with identical audio content, and it supports rich metadata (Vorbis Comments) that WAV doesn't. For archival libraries, FLAC is generally preferred over WAV.

Will metadata from the M4A carry over to FLAC?

Basic metadata may carry over depending on the conversion path. Check and re-tag the FLAC file after conversion, as M4A uses MP4 metadata and FLAC uses Vorbis Comments — the field names don't always map 1:1.

Convert any audio format

Drop any audio file into the converter — MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, FLAC, or Opus.

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