Free tool
FLAC to text converter
Drop a FLAC file here to turn FLAC to text: the converter decodes the lossless sound in your browser and writes down what was said, with a time on every paragraph, ready to copy or save.
- Free
- 16- and 24-bit FLAC
- Nothing is stored
Drop your FLAC file here, or Choose your FLAC file
MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG or WebM. Up to 30 minutes of each file, 3 free files a day. The language is detected automatically.
A FLAC archive, or a long session? NoteOwl transcribes FLAC files on your Mac with unlimited transcription, at any length, and labels each speaker.
How it works
How do you transcribe a FLAC file?
Drop the FLAC on the converter. Your browser decodes the file, the page reduces the sound to what speech recognition needs, and it goes off in short pieces for AI transcription. Text shows up as each piece returns.
- 1
Choose the FLAC
From a sound archive, a CD rip, or a recorder app’s lossless setting. 16-bit and 24-bit files both work.
- 2
Follow along
Paragraphs appear with their start times. A FLAC is transcribed up to its first 30 minutes.
- 3
Save it
Copy the transcript, or download it as plain text, SRT or VTT subtitles, or a Word document.
What is a FLAC file?
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It shrinks a recording without throwing anything away, so it decodes to exactly the original sound. In our test, FLAC copies of real speech recordings came to a little under half the size of the same WAVs.
FLAC files come from music downloads and CD rips, from libraries and sound archives, and from recorder apps and audio editors that offer a lossless option.
Which browsers can convert FLAC to text?
Chrome, Edge and Safari all transcribed 16-bit and 24-bit FLAC files in our tests on a Mac. Chrome and Edge read a FLAC a slice at a time, so its size doesn’t matter. Safari decodes the whole file at once, which it does for FLACs up to 300 MB.
- Chrome
- How the FLAC is readA slice at a time
- Largest fileNo limit
- Edge
- How the FLAC is readA slice at a time
- Largest fileNo limit
- Safari
- How the FLAC is readThe whole file at once
- Largest file300 MB
| Browser | How the FLAC is read | Largest file |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | A slice at a time | No limit |
| Edge | A slice at a time | No limit |
| Safari | The whole file at once | 300 MB |
Does a lossless file give a better transcript?
Rarely. Every recording is reduced to 16 kHz mono before it’s transcribed, and in our MP3 test a 16 kbps copy of a clear recording came back almost exactly as accurately as a 128 kbps one. Background noise and distance from the microphone matter far more.
So a 24-bit or 96 kHz FLAC is fine to use as it is: the extra detail is filtered out on the way and doesn’t slow the transcription down.
Can you transcribe a long FLAC recording?
Yes, up to a point. A longer recording gets its first 30 minutes transcribed, and a note above the transcript says so. In Chrome and Edge the converter reads no further into the file than that, so even a very large FLAC opens in seconds.
For the rest, cut the FLAC into parts in an audio editor and transcribe them one by one, or transcribe the whole recording in NoteOwl on a Mac.
Can NoteOwl transcribe FLAC on a Mac?
Yes. NoteOwl imports FLAC recordings and transcribes them on your Mac with unlimited transcription, whatever their length, and labels each speaker. It reads FLAC of any size with no browser involved, and nothing is uploaded.
FAQ
Questions about FLAC to text
Is the FLAC to text converter free?
Yes. Without signing up, you can transcribe 3 FLAC files a day, up to 30 minutes from each, and take the result as text, subtitles or Word.
Why does Safari say my FLAC file is too large?
Safari decodes a FLAC all at once rather than a slice at a time, and does that for files up to 300 MB. Open the page in Chrome or Edge, which read FLAC files of any size, or cut the recording into shorter parts first.
Is my FLAC file uploaded?
No. Your browser decodes it and sends only short pieces of the sound, as compact 16 kHz audio over a secure connection, to a cloud AI transcription service, which transcribes each piece and discards it. NoteOwl keeps no copy of the audio or the transcript.
Does the converter change or re-encode my FLAC?
Your file is left exactly as it is. To send the sound for transcription, the page makes a small 16 kHz mono MP3 of each short piece in memory, and throws it away once that piece is transcribed.
Can it read a stereo or 24-bit FLAC?
Yes, both. The two channels of a stereo file are mixed into one, so speech on either side is kept, and 24-bit and high sample rate files are reduced to 16 kHz mono like any other recording.
Which languages can the FLAC be in?
Most major languages. The converter recognises the language of each part of the recording by itself and shows the main one beside the result. One language per recording works best.
Keep exploring
More audio to text tools
- Audio to text converterTranscribe audio to text free: drop in an MP3, M4A, WAV or other recording and get an AI transcript with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- OGG to textTurn a OGG file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- Opus to textTurn a Opus file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- WebM to textTurn a WebM file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- MP3 to textTurn a MP3 file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
FLAC recordings into notes on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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