How to Convert FLAC to Apple Lossless (MP4) on Mac OS X

Another helpful file conversion tip.

FLAC is a lossless audio codec that is very popular on Linux and on Windows.  However, it’s virtually non-existant on the Mac, which is a problem if you have a library of music that you have encoded in FLAC and you want to upload to your iTunes library.

There are various command-line solutions out there on Windows, but very few available for Mac OS X.

XLD is the answer.

The “X Lossless Decoder” offers super fast conversion of various lossless formats on the Mac, with a decent GUI, and better yet, drag-and-drop conversion.

XLD supports the following formats:

Other formats supported by Libsndfile are also decodable. XLD uses not decoder frontend but library to decode, so no intermediate files are generated. All of the supported formats can be directly split with the cue sheet. XLD also supports so-called ’embedded’ or ‘internal’ cue sheet.

Currently you can choose output format from WAVE,AIFF and Raw PCM. In addition, you can choose Ogg Vorbis (aoTuV), MPEG-4 AAC (QuickTime/CoreAudio), MP3 (LAME), Apple Lossless, FLAC and HE-AAC (aacPlus v1/v2) in the GUI version.

Hope this helps you audiophiles out there converting to the Mac.  I converted entire albums from FLAC to Apple Lossless in just minutes on a PowerMac G5.

22 thoughts on “How to Convert FLAC to Apple Lossless (MP4) on Mac OS X

  1. After going through dozens of website and trying many other solutions, it is a pleasure to find this little but amazingly useful applications! Kudos to the developer!! Hasta luego, plusungood

  2. Good little app. Can you tell me how to transfer tags when converting FLAC to iTunes? Not sure if the cuesheet is what I need to use.

    Thanks.

  3. Dude, this is the easiest to use. Just what I needed. I know lots of people use your advice but don’t comment, so here’s my big thank you!

  4. Is there a way to automate the discovery and conversion on a file server?

    I have thousands of mp3’s and FLAC files in the music folder and subfolders and I want to automate the discovery of all the FLAC files on there and convert them to Apple Lossless…

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  6. Just google search Step by Step Guide on How to Convert FLAC to Apple Lossless, you will find a powerful flac to apple lossless converter as well as a detailed guide

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