Turn WMA files into FLAC
Your WMA goes in and a FLAC comes out. WMA is an old Windows audio format from the early download stores. The practical difference is that the result opens anywhere, which WMA files do not. Your file never leaves your computer.
How to convert WMA to FLAC
- 1 Drop your WMA .wma file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to FLAC, so there is no quality dial to set.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the FLAC, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert WMA to FLAC
- A WMA will not open in a browser, so anything going onto a web page, into a document or into a message has to become a FLAC first.
- Identical to the recording at roughly half the size of a WAV.
- Fast decoding and good tagging with embedded artwork.
- Archiving CD rips without losing anything.
- WMA: obsolete outside Windows, and no browser plays it.
WMA compared with FLAC
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | WMA | FLAC |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .wma | .flac |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Lossless |
| Typical file size | Depends on mode | Larger |
| Browser support | No browser support | All current browsers |
| Introduced | 1999 | 2001 |
| Developed by | Microsoft | Xiph.Org Foundation |
| Standard | Proprietary | Open |
Quality and what changes
FLAC stores the same content under a different set of rules, so what matters here is compatibility rather than picture quality. Convert once from the best source you have rather than through a chain of intermediate files.
- WMA files can be read here but not created, so conversions run one way only.
- One FLAC limitation to keep in mind: wasted on speech and on recordings that were never good to begin with.
Questions about WMA to FLAC
Is my WMA file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your WMA is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a FLAC. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several WMA files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate FLAC downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.