FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an open audio format that compresses audio without any quality loss. It is widely used for archiving music and is common in music downloads from Bandcamp, HDtracks and other high-resolution audio stores.
Playing FLAC on macOS
QuickTime Player and Finder (via the space bar Quick Look) can both play FLAC files on macOS. Apple Music cannot play or import FLAC files.
What File Juicer can extract from FLAC
FLAC files store metadata in Vorbis Comment tags, which can include embedded album artwork and URLs. File Juicer can extract:
- Album artwork stored as JPEG or PNG inside the file
- URLs embedded in the tags
Converting FLAC
To convert FLAC to AAC or MP3:
- QuickTime Player can export FLAC to M4A (AAC) via File > Export As. Note that it drops the embedded artwork during conversion. Use File Juicer to extract the artwork first.
- ffmpeg on the command line gives full control over the output.