What is FLAC?
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. It’s royalty-free and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums. The downside is that it’s not supported by Apple.
What are the differences between 24 bit FLAC vs. 16 bit FLAC?
Technically 24 bit is more resolving than 16 bit. The loudest signal possible in digital audio is defined as 0 dBFS. CD quality (16 bit) can resolve details down to -96 dBFS. A 24 bit recording can resolve details down to -144 dBFS. Obvious a 24 bit is superior as it can resolve micro details much better.
Why don’t we hear this big advantage?
One big reason is that to capture all those tiny details, you need a very quiet recording chain. The slightest hum, ripple, noise, etc. can drown out these tiny details. Typically, 24-bit recordings contain up to -100 dBFS of musical information, so they are only marginally better than 16-bit recordings.
You need excellent audio equipment and a good listening environment to notice the difference in 24-bit audio. For most listeners, 16-bit audio is more than enough. 24-bit’s extra detail is primarily for professional use. So while 24-bit offers more, it’s not necessary to enjoy your music.
How to download FLAC songs? Here’s a Step-By-Step guide on how to download FLAC music with the best 5 FLAC Music Downloader.
For Mac/Windows
Where can I find the most FLAC songs? Tidal! With Tidal you can listen to over 110M songs in studio quality with FLAC. Although Tidal music streams in FLAC format, you can’t download the songs in FLAC format as local songs. Song downloaded can only be played within Tidal app.
To download FLAC songs from Tidal, you can use Pazu Tidal Converter, which is designed to download any Tidal songs, albums and playlists to M4A/MP3/AAC/FLAC/WAV/AIFF on your Mac and Windows and save to your library.
Download, install and run Pazu Tidal Converter on your Windows, which features a built-in Tidal web player.
If you have purchased a license, click the key icon to register the converter. If not, continue using the trial version.
Follow the onscreen instructions to log in yout Tidal account.
You can also customize output song name with any combination of Title, Artist, Album, Track Number, Playlist Index.
Click any playlist you want to download.
Then click the red icon to load songs. All songs in the playlist will be added by default. You can uncheck the songs you don’t want to get.
Click Convert button to start downloading Tidal music to the format you choose and add them to your Apple Music library.
After conversion, click the folder icon to quickly locate the downloaded Tidal songs in the format you choose. You can then transfer and play it anywhere.
For Mac/Windows
Pazu Apple Music Converter lets you convert Apple Music songs, albums and playlists to FLAC without any loss in quality. One of the distinguishing features of Pazu Apple Music Converter is that it can download and convert Apple Music at a really fast speed — almost 10 times faster than any other similar software. It is integrated with the Apple Music web player, so you can batch convert any Apple Music playlist or album to the format you choose without iTunes app. The following tutorial will show you how to download Apple Music to MP3 and get Apple Music for free.
In addition, Pazu Apple Music Converter can recognize and identify tracks as it downloads, and automatically tag the files with the relevant artist name, track title, album tags as it goes. The downloaded songs are fully searchable by artist, title or album, creating your entire music library simply and quickly.
Download, install and run Pazu Apple Music Converter on your Mac or Windows.
Click the gear icon on the top right corner and choose FLAC as output format.
Follow the on-screen instructions to choose a playlist, artist, or album that you want to download.
Click “Convert” button to start downloading Apple Music songs, albums and playlists to FLAC, so you can play them anywhere you want, even after cancelling Apple Music subscription.
For Mac/Windows/Linux
Soulseek is an ad-free, spyware free, just plain free file sharing network for Windows, Mac and Linux that allows you to share, search and download music from other users.
Note that you can’t use Soulseek to browse, you use it to search a specific album/song you want. Because you’re directly searching other people’s computers, unless you’re really specific on your search terms, it can be a mess.
Be sure to open (and keep exclusive) a portion of your own computer files to share or users will shut you out.
Download and install Soulseek on your Mac/Windows/Linux and create an account. Go P2P searching on Soulseek for the music you love and right click to download.
If you use Android device, install the Android app – Seeker.
For Mac/Windows/Linux/Android/iOS
DeeMix is able to download high-quality music(up to 320 kbps MP3 or FLAC) effortlessly on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Unlike many music downloaders that rely on third-party sources, Deemix gets its tracks directly from the original Deezer platform, ensuring authenticity and great sound quality.
For Windows/Mac/Linux
Streamrip is scriptable music downloader that allows you to downloads tracks, albums, playlists, discographies, and labels from Qobuz, Tidal, Deezer, and SoundCloud in MP3, AAC and FLAC format.
How to install and use Streamrip on Mac?
Note that you need to have Tidal paid subscription to download songs.
For Windows
QobuzDownloaderX is a program for downloading FLAC or MP3 music streams from the streaming platform Qobuz even with a free account.
Visit https://github.com/ImAiiR/QobuzDownloaderX/releases/ and download the zip file. Unzip it and run the .exe file on your Windows to install it. Copy and paste Qobuz music link to download music in FLAC format.
Download and convert any Spotify songs, albums, playlists to MP3/M4A etc.