WAV To Flac File Conversion

Howdy all,

Checking google and finding it confusing.

I have many uncompressed WAV files (1141 kbps) and I would like to convert them to FLAC (192 kbps).

Anyone have experience with a good converter?

Thanks!

-Gil

 

I always use EAC Exact Audio Copy

 

If you use a Mac then XLD is very good.

 

Thanks for these answers.

I am on a Windows 10 machine and I created these files recording some old cassette tapes (totally out of print and not on any streaming services) using an old program called CoolEdit 2000.

I just want to ensure getting 192kbps flac files from the uncompressed wav files.

 

Answer: Audacity. I can open the WAV file and then I get a choice of resolution to convert in FLAC format.
I played a test file on the DMP=A6 and it showed as 24 bit, 192 kbps.

 

ffmpeg -i yourfile.wav yourfile.flac (using -5 as compression which is a good compromise in file size, a bit over 50%)

 

I think MediaMonkey works fine

 

Foobar2000

Right click on .wav => Convert => Quick Convert => FLAC (set level 8 for smaller filer/slow encode) => Convert

 

Why do you want to convert to FLAC? The storage space on the internal SSD can be huge and is'nt expensive. You must have a gigantic song collection, otherwise in my opinion it makes no sense to convert from WAV to FLAC....

 

Well, the bigger the storage, the bigger number of song you'll end up willing to have... it's at 50% size nevertheless... and to keep the file formats clean as they were initially meant to be, strictly speaking WAVs are not meant to have metadata, while FLACs (like other codecs) have been designed from ground up with that in mind...

 

You can do this on commandline: put a flac.exe in a test directory, put several .wav files in it and do "flac <inputfiles>" t.i. flac *.wav - and that's it. remember to have much diskspace if not delete the wav files. the default compression is 5. if you want to change put a -# after flac. Hope I could help.

 

dbPowerAmp not only a fast CD Ripper with batch functionality but also an extremely fast batch file converter.

 

The best is XRECODE3 not for free but converts any type.

 

The best if ffmpeg. Free. Converts any type.

 

"192kbps" doesn't make sense here. In case you saw "192" it should have been "192kHz" . As already explained compression level 5 is a good compromise.
But be careful, to create a true 1:1 decompressed FLAC data copy from WAV you must get sure to not resample the original data by bit depth or sampling rate. Just hit the options to keep the original bit depth and sampling rate, before converting to FLAC.
I personally use dBpoweramp. UI looks a bit outdated. But it's very powerful and it's still being updated every few months.

 

Right you are @Nutul, I want to control the metadata.

I am getting ready to put in an SSD card to DMP-A6. I only have 316 GB of WAV files to deal with, so space is not going to be an issue for this project.

 

You are right...I have the terminology incorrect here @maddib.

I will be very careful to follow the steps you said here.

I did try one test FLAC file via Audacity and it looked good when playing via a USB stick on the DMP-A6, but I will check our dBpoweramp and Foobar2000 as well.

I have only ever really used streaming so this is a bit of a new venture for me. In the past, I was just using iTunes for these files and those low resolutions. The DMP-A6 has really changed my outlook on just what I can do with these old treasures I have.

 

Thanks @HelmutHarnisch, I will have to check this out.

 

Also be careful with some Audacity preferences when loading/opening audio files. Depending on the options you set Audacity might automatically resample the original file data to something different.
I think Audacity provides some basic batch processing. But in general Audacity is not very much focussing on batch processing/conversion.

 

Fair enough, if you do not plan to extend your library too much (so far I can guess you have something like 450/500 CDs ripped?), then you are ok.
I still would convert them to FLAC and add proper metadata / album art.
To give you an example, I rip my CDs as a one-track + CUE file. The FLAC representing the whole CD is usually about 400MB and contains the album art, the CUE contains all the information about the tracks (title and start-frame).
My player handles this easily.