Introduction
There are many ways to store music digitally, which is why there are many music file formats as well. In most cases, the actual differences between them are hard to explain quickly, since it all boils down to lots and lots of complicated math. But there are some simple observations we can make.
FLAC is a “lossless” way to store music. In simple terms, this means that when you’re listening to a FLAC file, you’re hearing a perfect reproduction of what was recorded at the studio. This sounds great, but it comes with a drawback – these files take up a lot of storage space.
In contrast, MP3 strikes a compromise between file size and quality. It achieves this by removing all information that humans cannot hear, and by using many tricks to compress the data. This compression makes MP3 files much smaller, but may also cause a perceptible drop in quality. However, only attentive listeners with high-end equipment will be able to notice it.
Therefore, many music lovers believe that MP3 is a better way to store music because it is more practical than FLAC. This is why you might want to convert FLAC to MP3 on Mac. Thankfully, it is a very easy process.
Overview of available methods
The most straightforward way to convert FLAC to MP3 is to install a converter program. Although most such programs are available on Windows only, some also work on Mac. This approach works great if you intend to convert a large library of music files.
There is also an alternative; you can use an online converter instead. It is a practical choice if you only want to convert one file, or a small amount of them.
Best FLAC to MP3 converter programs for Mac
MediaHuman Audio Converter
MediaHuman Audio Converter is a free converter program for Windows and Mac. You can use it to convert FLAC to MP3, although it supports many other audio formats as well. What’s more, MediaHuman can be used to convert many audio files at once, which is invaluable in certain cases. Other neat features include the ability to export music to iTunes and to convert video files to audio.
Download MediaHuman Audio Converter here.
HandBrake
HandBrake is a free converter tool for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can convert both video and audio, which means it is suitable for converting FLAC to MP3, as well as for performing many other actions. HandBrake is a fairly sophisticated tool, and gives you the ability to fine-tune many parameters to improve the quality (or the file size) of the end result. However, if you don’t know how to use these settings, you can simply use the default preset, which produces decent results.
Visit HandBrake official website to download the program.
FFMpeg
FFMpeg is a powerful converter program, which is also completely free. However, it does not have a graphical interface, so we cannot recommend it to most readers. If you’re an advanced user, though, and do not feel afraid to use the command line, you will find FFMpeg to be incredibly useful.
Learn more about FFMPeg here.
Best FLAC to MP3 converter websites for Mac
CloudConvert
CloudConvert is a converter website that supports many formats; it is not limited to music either. However, it has a lot of settings specifically for audio files. You can trim the files, adjust their volume, bitrate and sample rate, and even convert the file to mono if you so choose. All of these options are available when you convert FLAC to MP3, so this website is very useful indeed. Of course, you don’t need to adjust any of these settings; they are only there for advanced users.
If this sounds interesting to you, click on this link to go to CloudConvert website.
Convertio
Convertio is another converter website that is capable of converting FLAC to MP3, among many other things. It offers similar functionality to CloudConvert, although it’s worth noting that it has the ability to create files with variable bit rate, while CloudConvert is limited to constant bitrate. This is a very niche feature, however.
This link will open Convertio in your browser.
ZAMZAR
ZAMZAR is a simpler converter website. It doesn’t feature any of the advanced options that CloudConvert and Convertio have. But if you want to simply convert FLAC to MP3, and don’t want to do any complicated tinkering, then ZAMZAR will do the job just fine.
Click here to open ZAMZAR.
Conclusion
There are many ways to convert FLAC to MP3 on Mac, and it’s hard to call one of them “the best”. It’d be more accurate to say that all programs and websites listed above are good in their own way, and you should select the one most suited to your needs. If you don’t want to compare, however, you can simply download MediaHuman Audio Converter – you can’t go wrong with that one.
There are many other articles on our website that you can read. If you have an interest in gaming, for example, you may be interested in an article that explains how to play DirectX 12 games on Mac. Or, here’s something more relevant: an article that explains how to download music from YouTube.