Convert FLAC to WAV?

[therock003]

I suppose since both formats are lossless i want lose any information on the conversion right? So i just need some free utility that will let me convert between those formats, since devices outside windows like mobiles and such dont support FLAC but support WAV. Will Audacity do it?

Also is there a way to trim WAV without reencoding? I used to remember this being done with mp3s with mp3trim that allowed trimming of mp3s without reencoding, but can the same be done for WAV and other formats?

[hech54]

Trimming MP3 files without re-encoding is a newborn baby compared to trimming WAV files. Trimming/editing WAV files has always been a lossless operation.
http://members.home.nl/w.speek/flac.htm

[jman98]

This program worked fine for me on Windows XP to convert between FLAC and WAV but it only gives errors under Windows 7 64 bit:
http://members.home.nl/w.speek/flac.htm
I have to use Trader's Little Helper on Win 7 64 bit.

[AlanHK]

foobar2000 can play and convert FLAC to wave.

Audacity can read FLAC and then cut and save it as WAVE.
Any audio editor can cut WAVE losslessly.

[jan5678]

lamexp can convert various formats including flac to wav

[Cornucopia]

To clarify: LPCM WAV is what you should be referring to.
ADPCM-WAV or MP3-WAV or AC3-WAV or DTS-WAV or mu-law WAV (or others) is NOT lossless. WAV is a RIFF container, just like AVI and you shouldn't assume that all streams in the container are LPCM, just like one shouldn't assume all streams in an AVI are Xvid or whatever...

Also, it's only lossless if the samplerate/bitdepth/channelconfig stays the same. And in a narrower sense, it's only truly lossless if you are smart rendering (so only buttcut edits, no effects or mixing/layering or balance/filtering).

If you are just "changing containers" from FLAC to LPCM WAV (or vice-versa), it's ALWAYS lossless. The "NATIVE" format for working in most DAWs & NLEs is uncompressed, so it follows that loading a FLAC (losslessly-compressed) file into an editor DECOMPRESSES it (back to LPCM) while in the editor. Going directly to LPCM WAV from that is basically a simple file copy (though you should always check your settings to make sure you are matching the incoming).

Yes, Audacity can do this.

Scott

[therock003]

OK gotcha. And how can i make sure LPCM is the one i end up having? I loaded the FLAC on Audacity, and i only set the selection i want to trim and exported selection to WAV signed (Microsoft). Is this the LPCM format?

[Cornucopia]

If it doesn't give you any options for ACM (audio compression manager) regarding codecs, then it should only give you either a choice as to samplerate & bitdepth & #channels (in which case, it is LPCM at those settings) or NO choice (in which case, it is LPCM at the settings of the source). The standard format for 32bit-era WAV files (this excludes W64) is signed, so that's normal.

I like Audacity (particularly as freeware), but only really use it when I don't have access to my normal audio editors of choice (ProTools, Audition, Logic & Soundforge in that order, though there are plenty others).

I wasn't trying to confuse the issue earlier. LPCM *IS* the norm. Just that many forget it is not the only option for WAV, so it sometimes gets newbies in trouble.

Scott

[Mephesto]

Download original FLAC then in a .bat script do: flac.exe -d "song.flac"

[paulw]

I use a program called dBpoweramp Music Converter..

[therock003]

If it doesn't give you any options for ACM (audio compression manager) regarding codecs, then it should only give you either a choice as to samplerate & bitdepth & #channels (in which case, it is LPCM at those settings) or NO choice (in which case, it is LPCM at the settings of the source). The standard format for 32bit-era WAV files (this excludes W64) is signed, so that's normal.

I like Audacity (particularly as freeware), but only really use it when I don't have access to my normal audio editors of choice (ProTools, Audition, Logic & Soundforge in that order, though there are plenty others).

I wasn't trying to confuse the issue earlier. LPCM *IS* the norm. Just that many forget it is not the only option for WAV, so it sometimes gets newbies in trouble.

Scott

It doesnt give any options for when saving to WAV, but is that really a definite convincer that it is LPCM format? I run the file later on mediainfo and it just diplays PCM.

[Cornucopia]

For 99.999% of users and files, LPCM=PCM. It is extremely rare that someone uses ADPCM or some other Non-Linear PCM (without it being displayed as such), so it's much easier to just equate the 2.

Scott

[therock003]

Ok, so Audacity will do just fine, since i can trim a specific selection from flac and save it as PCM with no reencoding. Thanks for all the information!