Bringing FLAC into the Apple world
If you buy music from Bandcamp, Qobuz or similar stores, or rip CDs to FLAC, you will soon notice that Apple's Music app on the Mac does not import FLAC, and iTunes on Windows does not either. An iPhone can play FLAC only from the Files app, without your library, playlists or syncing. Converting FLAC to M4A solves this: M4A with AAC audio is Apple's native format and works with every Apple device and feature.
Choosing the quality
Coming from a lossless source, the AAC encoder can do its best work. Here is how the settings compare:
| Bitrate | Typical album size | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| 320 kbps | about 108 MB | maximum safety margin |
| 256 kbps | about 86 MB | the Apple standard; near-transparent |
| 192 kbps | about 65 MB | large libraries on a phone |
| 128 kbps | about 43 MB | audiobooks and spoken word |
Sizes assume a 45-minute album. The FLAC version is usually 250 to 350 MB.
Tags and gapless playback
Title, artist, album, album artist, track number, disc number and year are copied from the FLAC into the M4A, so albums appear correctly in the Music app. Embedded cover art is copied into the M4A as well. M4A supports gapless playback, so live albums, classical works and DJ mixes play without small breaks between tracks.
Hi-res and lossless thoughts
High-resolution FLAC files at 24-bit and 96 kHz or more are converted to a standard sample rate for AAC. The result sounds just as good as one made from a CD-quality FLAC. If you want true lossless playback on Apple devices, Apple Lossless (ALAC) would be the format, but this converter writes AAC in M4A. A practical setup is to keep FLAC as your archive and use M4A for listening. For lossless use in Mac software, see FLAC to AIFF.
After importing, sync with Finder or iTunes as usual. If you want a single favourite track as a ringtone, use FLAC to M4R, and for non-Apple devices FLAC to MP3 works more widely.