Lossless to lossy: what changes
A FLAC file is a perfect copy of the original recording, packed the way a ZIP packs a document: smaller, with every bit recoverable. An MP3 gets far smaller by removing sounds masked by louder ones, information that's gone for good once the file is made.
At 256 to 320 kbps that loss is very hard to hear in a car, on a phone or through everyday headphones, which is why MP3 remains a sensible format for a portable library. Keep the FLACs as your archive, and if you ever need another format, convert from them again rather than from the MP3s. The same audio converter also makes M4A for Apple devices and OGG (Opus) for players that support it.
Why do people still need MP3 copies? Apple's Music app won't import FLAC, many car stereos and older portable players only read MP3 from a USB stick or SD card, and a phone with limited storage holds two to four times as many songs as MP3s, depending on the bitrate.
Which bitrate for your music?
- 320 kbps, the highest bitrate MP3 supports, for the closest match to the FLAC. A 4-minute song comes to about 9.6 MB.
- 256 kbps, a smart balance for big libraries, at about 7.7 MB per 4-minute song.
- 192 kbps, fits much more music onto a small card or phone, about 5.8 MB per song, with a little less sparkle on cymbals and reverb.
- 128 kbps, best kept for spoken word, such as audiobooks or lectures stored as FLAC.
For comparison, the same 4-minute song as CD-quality FLAC usually takes somewhere between 20 and 30 MB, depending on how dense the music is.
Hi-res FLAC: 24-bit, 96 kHz and beyond
High-resolution files store more bits per sample and more samples per second than a CD. MP3 can't hold either: bit depth simply isn't part of the format, and its sample rate tops out at 48 kHz. ClipLime converts anything above that at 48 kHz automatically, or at 44.1 kHz if you pick that option instead.
In practice, a hi-res FLAC and a CD-quality FLAC of the same master produce essentially the same MP3. The extra resolution is worth keeping in your archive, but it doesn't survive the trip to MP3.
Converting whole albums
Select every track in an album folder and drop them in together. They convert one after another with their own progress bars, and Download all delivers a single ZIP, or download any finished track straight from the list. Two tracks with the same name? The second one gets a number, so neither is lost.
Tags travel with the music: the title, artist, album, track number and embedded cover art stored in each FLAC are written into its MP3. Artwork kept as a separate image file in the folder isn't part of the FLAC, so it isn't included. Working from WAV masters instead? Use WAV to MP3.