Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Convert MP3 to FLAC? (Read 6438 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Hello,

May I ask would it be a good idea to convert MP3 to FLAC? If the answer is yes, than how could it be done and what program to use and what settings to use?

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #1 –
The only thing that can be accomplished is to make the file larger unless you have some peculiar circumstance where you can play back FLAC but not mp3.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: AndyH-ha on
The only thing that can be accomplished is to make the file larger unless you have some peculiar circumstance where you can play back FLAC but not mp3.


Thank you! And there is no circumstance. I could playback mp3's but thank you anyway!

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #3 –
The sound quality can never be better than it's source, so you'll get a FLAC that sounds like an MP3.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Aldem on
The sound quality can never be better than it's source

This holds true for mp3 -> flac as well.

If the mp3 has >FS peaks that produce audible clipping, converting to flac can result in permanently degraded quality if not adequately addressed.

I am not trying to suggest that this is a very likely occurrence, however.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: greynol on
Quote from: Aldem on
The sound quality can never be better than it's source

This holds true for mp3 -> flac as well.

If the mp3 has >FS peaks that produce audible clipping, converting to flac can result in permanently degraded quality if not adequately addressed.

I am not trying to suggest that this is a very likely occurrence, however.

Hardly the most likely or important factor.  The MP3 is already "permanently degraded", whether audible or not, and clipping or not won't change that.  Especially since clipping can easily be avoided, always assuming anyone wanted to put the effort into such a pointless endeavour ...

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #6 –
Thank you everyone!

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #7 –
Degradation that you can hear is all that matters. It may be solely due to failing to preserve peaks above FS, when decoding, though like you, I'm skeptical this will ever happen except in pathological cases.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #8 –
The only case where I have a genuine need to "up-transcode" is when I want to make some changes to poorly mastered audio, and I don't have a lossless source to work from, just an MP3. So I decode the MP3 to WAV and edit that, fixing the balance or EQ or phase or whatever, and get it sounding the way I like. Then to save space without further degradation, I convert that WAV to FLAC.

Whenever I do this, I always, always put something in the file name, if not also in the comment tag, so that I (and others) know what happened. e.g.:

SomeArtist - SomeTitle [transcoded from MP3; LR balance corrected].flac
SomeArtist - SomeTitle [transcoded from MP3; stereo separation reduced].flac
etc.

If it were just a straight transcode without any other processing, I might do this: SomeArtist - SomeTitle.mp3.flac (and in Windows, I always just assume everyone has disabled the Folder setting that hides file name extensions... this can get confusing otherwise).

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Aldem on
The sound quality can never be better than it's source


Actually, it can. That is why there is pop/crackle removal software for LP rips.

(And one good thing about digital transmission: you can receive 0.2's and 0.9's, and improve it to 0's and 1's before transmitting further.)

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Porcus on
Quote from: Aldem on
The sound quality can never be better than it's source


Actually, it can. That is why there is pop/crackle removal software for LP rips.

I would revise it to say, "The sound quality can never be improved from its source when only converting formats," but that's not even 100% true. I transcoded the Anthology of American Folk Music (a compilation of old 78 RPM records) to OGG and it actually cut out some of the large amount of surface noise, making the compressed files sound subjectively better than the lossless source! But that's getting pretty far out there. Of course, in almost all cases, the rule holds true when isolated to only conversion without processing.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: Porcus on
Quote from: Aldem on
The sound quality can never be better than it's source


Actually, it can. That is why there is pop/crackle removal software for LP rips.

(And one good thing about digital transmission: you can receive 0.2's and 0.9's, and improve it to 0's and 1's before transmitting further.)


The signal is still degraded when compared with its original source. Applying noise reduction can make things sound better subjectively, but it doesn't truly recover any information that was lost.  In the case of pop removal, the amount of information lost under a grain of dust isn't significant in the overall waveform, which is why that segment can be smoothed out without much consequence.

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #12 –
Never transcode any lossy file to lossless, you don't gain anything but filesize.

If you are interested in FLAC you need to re-rip your music and encode as FLAC from the get-go.
 

Convert MP3 to FLAC?

Reply #13 –
Converting lossy to lossless should be forbidden

Some time ago I was looking for a song in FLAC. when I downloaded it sounded like a 64kbit mp3 file. There was also a 320kbit MP3 version, that sounded like a 8-bit 22,050hz version :|

Really hate that!