How to convert ALAC to FLAC?

Question

I have some ALAC files (.m4a) that I want to convert to FLAC (.flac). How can I do this?

Solution

1. Install ffmpeg:

   sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
   

2. Files can be converted to FLAC from ALAC via the command ffmpeg -i audio.m4a -acodec flac audio.flac. To do this for a while directory of files go to that directory (cd path) and issue the following:

   for f in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$f" "${f%.m4a}.flac"; done
   

3. (Optional)

   • Add replay gain to the FLAC files.
   • If the conversion is successful you can remove the ALAC files.

For reference see https://superuser.com/a/329278/87552 and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1500430.

Comments

[Admin]

I tried SoundConverter but it could not convert even if I installed gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad.

[markrich]

What would the command be to convert to an uncompressed flac file?