FLAC to MP3/AAC on the Mac?

January 11, 2011 9:20 PM

FLAC -> MP3 (or AAC) on the Mac?

How _do_ you convert your FLAC files to MP3 or AAC on the Mac? Wary of downloadin' evil stuff off the internet.

posted by xmutex to Technology (9 answers total)

Best answer: XLD is all you need.
posted by dirm at 9:24 PM on January 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

XLD will do the job, as will Max.
posted by mykescipark at 9:36 PM on January 11, 2011

I'd second Max - it does the job nicely, seems to preserve whatever tags exist in the files and threads very very nicely.
posted by Kyol at 9:38 PM on January 11, 2011

The tools mentioned above are probably better than my current workflow, but just to give you more options, here's what I currently do:

I use MacFlac to convert the FLAC files to AIFF files. I import the AIFF files into iTunes, highlight them, and use the Advanced -- Create [AAC|MP3] Version menu command (which kind of file is generated is set in Preferences -- General -- Import Settings). And then I throw away the AIFF versions. And then fix all the tags.

(So, yes, I'll be looking at XLD and Max myself.)
posted by fuzzygerdes at 8:41 AM on January 12, 2011

Awesome! I was within 30 seconds of buying Easy CD-DA, I use a VM for Windows-only applications, but I read this thread, and now XLD is getting my money via a donation instead.
posted by santaliqueur at 10:02 AM on January 12, 2011

I've been using xACT for a few years now, and it's always worked well.
posted by klausness at 12:22 PM on January 12, 2011

Oh and, like MacFlac, xACT converts to AIFF (or WAV), which you can then convert to AIFF or MP3 using iTunes.
posted by klausness at 12:23 PM on January 12, 2011

I use XLD and xAct, but for some reason if I am going from FLAC to iTunes (which I do quite a bit) I use the now defunct, but fully functional and nicely made freeware:

AudialHub
posted by silsurf at 6:24 PM on January 12, 2011

I use twistedFLAC, then I import the .wav files into iTunes and use iTunes-Lame to convert to MP3s if I want.

I like this because with twistedFLAC you point it to a directory, and it simply shows all FLAC files in the folder to WAV files. (I have no idea how it does this.) So, I don't need to decide what to convert, everything in my chosen directory (which is usually the large HD where all my FLACs are) is ready for import into iTunes, and immediate playing.

I'm going to try XLD.
posted by OmieWise at 8:59 AM on January 13, 2011