Convert FLAC to WAV

Exact, not just close

FLAC is lossless: when Octoolo decodes it, out come exactly the samples that went in when the FLAC was made. Written to WAV, they make a file that sounds the same as the original recording, down to the last bit. You could convert back to FLAC and then to WAV again a hundred times and nothing would change.

That is the big difference from converting MP3 or AAC to WAV, where the WAV can only hold what the lossy file kept (see MP3 to WAV). From FLAC you get the real thing, in the format every audio program reads, which is why a FLAC library is a good place to pull working copies from: make WAVs for a project, delete them when it's done, and the FLACs are still there for next time.

Hi-res files lose nothing either. A 24-bit, 96 kHz FLAC becomes a 24-bit, 96 kHz WAV, with every sample in place, unless you ask for a different format under More settings.

Settings for CDs, editors and video

Leaving everything on As it is keeps the FLAC's own format: 16-bit stays 16, 24-bit stays 24, and 96 kHz stays 96. Change the sample rate or bit depth only when the destination asks for it, since that makes a new version rather than an exact copy. For a WAV with extra headroom for heavy processing, 32-bit float is on the list too. Whatever you choose applies to the whole batch, so convert CD tracks and editing copies in separate rounds.

Size, tags and very long files

WAV isn't compressed, so expect the files to grow: CD-quality music goes from 5 to 7 MB per minute as FLAC to about 10.6 MB as WAV. A 24-bit, 96 kHz track takes about 35 MB a minute as WAV.

The title, artist and album from the FLAC are written into the WAV's own tags, but few players show WAV tags and the cover picture is left out, so keep the FLACs as your library and use the WAVs as working copies.

Long hi-res recordings can pass 4 GB, the most a classic WAV file can hold, after about two hours of 24-bit, 96 kHz stereo. Octoolo switches such files to RF64, the extended WAV format, without being asked; most current audio programs open it, though some older ones don't. If you only need a few minutes of a long recording, cut that part in the Audio Editor instead and export it as a 16-bit WAV; see the MP3 cutter.

Burning an audio CD

Octoolo makes the files but doesn't burn discs itself. Convert the FLACs to 44.1 kHz, 16-bit WAV as above, then write them with your burning program or the Burn tab in Windows Media Player Legacy. A standard CD holds about 80 minutes of sound, which comes to roughly 850 MB of WAV files on disk, so check the total in the summary before you start burning.

Burning programs usually follow the order in which you add the files. Rips tend to start with track numbers, and the WAVs keep the FLACs' names, so sorting by name in the burner puts the album back in order. For a live or classical album where tracks run into each other, look for the burner's option to leave out the pause between tracks, which many add by default.