Cannot export files in FLAC

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

I must be missing something. My Audacity (v.2.0.5 for Win) only shows options to export files in WAV, mp3, or Ogg Vorbis, not FLAC or anything else. I’ve searched ‘help’ and seen how I can supposedly convert to FLAC, but this option just doesn’t show up in any dialog box I have.
(BTW, I’m recording live in 24-bit/96kHz WAV, and want to convert to 16-bit FLAC.)
thanks for any help!
Micmuff

2

You can convert in Audacity before you export.

Depth/Rate Conversion
– Change Project Rate (Hz) lower left > 44100
– Track Name > Set Sample Format > 16-bit PCM

Koz

3

Thanks for your suggestion. I just realized the older v. of Audacity was coming up when I clicked on an old sound file…I thought I’d uninstalled it(!) If I open the new v. first, then open a file from within the program, I have the new v. w/ all the options to export. Thanks. I’ll check back again when I see how it goes.

One thing I noticed already is the first FLAC file file I made was not recognized by Windows Media Player(!) Any ideas?

thanks again
Micmuff

4

Flac export is a standard part of Audacity 2.0.5.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/file_export_dialog.html

If you are using an unofficial version of Audacity you may have problems. We can only provide support for official, unmodified release versions of Audacity. You can obtain the genuine Audacity 2.0.5 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

5

Get a better media player :wink:

Windows Media Player does not support Flac by default.
Windows Media Player should be able to play Flac files if you install the “Directshow” filters: http://www.xiph.org/dshow/

Some useful Flac related resources:
http://xiph.org/flac/download.html
http://xiph.org/flac/documentation_tasks.html#windows

6

One thing I noticed already is the first FLAC file file I made was not recognized by Windows Media Player(!) Any ideas?

As supplied, WMP does not support FLAC. You’ll need to download and install a FLAC CODEC.

7

Yes, thanks, I’ve now downloaded the new version from your site, and it has the export options I was missing. I just have to familiarize myself w/ it all.

8

I don’t care about Win Media Player for myself (I know there is better audio software), but I realize many people I might send sound clips too will likely use it, so I was hoping it would work for them.
BTW, what do you recommend as ‘better’ (for Windows)?
thanks
Micmuff

9

Thanks.
Micmuff

10

Personally, for audio I like Foobar2000 http://www.foobar2000.org/
It’s perhaps rather plain looking and the library management is fairly basic, but it is an excellent audio player; lightweight, quick to open, and lots of useful features including good tagging support and file format conversion.

For media in general (including video) I like VLC (http://www.videolan.org/index.html) which supports a huge range of media formats.

There are many other good players to choose from.

11

Thanks. I’d like to find something minimal but high quality, just for audio (I record live sound effects and music at 24/96). Haven’t found one yet. Most seem to have lots of crxp (commercial playlists, etc) I don’t need or want.
cheers
Micmuff

12

Imho you should definitely give Foobar2000 a go (also, it’s free).

13

Thanks, I just downloaded it on your recommendation…will give a try.
Micmuff

14

FLAC is awesome. It would be great if MS would start supporting it in WMP.

As far as players go, I use AIMP. It’s an audio player only so it’s fairly small and sounds great. The website is in Russian but the forum has an English section where you can ask questions.

15

The Microsoft position has remained the same for years and years (10+), which is essentially:
“The Flac extension is not a supported file type of Windows Media Player. You may however user your favorite search engine to search for a solution that may convert the file to a Windows Media Player supported file type.”
so I don’t think it likely that they will change their mind any time soon.

My preferred answer is similar:
“The Flac extension is not a supported file type of Windows Media Player. You may however user your favorite search engine to search for a better media player.”
:wink:


I’ve not tried it (it does not support Linux) but it looks a lot like an audio only WinAmp clone. (I used WinAmp for many years when I was on Windows, and mostly liked it (apart from version 3).

Unless sound effects are being added, there really shouldn’t be any difference between “the sound” of one audio player and another. If they are playing the same audio data through the same hardware, the waveform that comes out through the speakers/headphones should be no different. Even for compressed formats like MP3, the reference decoding algorithm is well defined, so other than a few milliseconds delay at the start there should be no difference. Foobar2000, WinAmp, WMP, iTunes, VLC,… all “sound” identical (effects turned off). If a media player sounds different, there is something wrong with that media player.