How to convert ALAC to FLAC?

Question

I have some ALAC files (.m4a) that I want to convert to FLAC (.flac). How can I do this?

I tried SoundConverter but it could not convert even if I installed gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad. — N.N., Apr 19 '12 at 11:13

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

14

Install ffmpeg:
```
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
```
Files can be converted to FLAC from ALAC via the command ffmpeg -i audio.m4a -acodec flac audio.flac. To do this for a while directory of files go to that directory (cd path) and issue the following:
```
for f in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$f" "${f%.m4a}.flac"; done
```
(Optional)
- Add replay gain to the FLAC files.
- If the conversion is successful you can remove the ALAC files.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

answered Apr 19 '12 at 11:08

N.N.

What would the command be to convert to an uncompressed flac file? – markrich Apr 23 '14 at 18:44

1 Answers1