FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It is quite different from AAC, MP3 and few other audio formats. FLAC is lossless which means it retains all the audio information while it compresses a big file to create the smaller file. Whereas AAC, MP3 are lossy formats that remove away some audio information while compressing to create smaller files.
Also, the compression level is great when you use FLAC. It can compress a file to almost half of it without losing any information. There are numerous FLAC players available online that you can use to play FLAC files because not all devices or default players are compatible with FLAC.
10 Best FLAC Players
Best FLAC Players for Android
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Pi Music Player
I am personally using Pi Music Player on my Android phone, and this is one of the most minimalistic yet a great player for playing different music formats including FLAC. You can share the audio file with anyone while you are listening. Also, there is option “Pi Power Share” that enables you to put the file available online which is locked with a key. Those who have the key can download it from anywhere. The UI of this app is beautiful and professional looking. You will love it when you use it.
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VLC for Android
If you have been using Windows, you must know about VLC player which is one of the greatest media players that play almost all files. Now, VLC is available for Android as well, and it plays FLAC file formats as well. VLC is a feature-rich player that has a lot of great features, and all the codecs are integrated into the player so that you don’t need to download anything extra to play certain files. You only need the VLC player on your phone. VLC is a free app, and even better than many paid apps. As per the taste of your listening, you can set the equalizer and enjoy the music. You can create your playlists as well. Overall, it is the best FLAC player for Android. However, VLC is popularly used for playing video files.
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AIMP
AIMP is another nice FLAC player for Android which easily plays FLAC files without any lag. AIMP is especially built as an audio player hence it has all the features that an audio player should have. You can also change the theme color. Apart from FLAC, it can play many different file formats. It works perfectly on almost all modern day Android versions and devices. However, it is unstable on the devices based on MIUI firmware; for example, Xiaomi Android phones.
Also Read: How To Convert YouTube Videos to .Wav Lossless Music Format?
Best FLAC Players for iPhone
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FLAC Player
As the name says, the app is specially designed to play FLAC file formats. You can use the file sharing interface of iTunes to sync to FLAC files to your iPhone. This FLAC player supports gapless playback, playlists, equalizer preset and many other features. So, if you are a proud owner of an iPhone, and have FLAC files to play, download this player and enjoy.
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Golden Ear
Since iPhone on default doesn’t support FLAC, users first change its format using an app and then listen to it, but Golden Ear is one such app for iPhone that plays FLAC format files without converting them. Apart from FLAC, it also supports ALAC, AIFF, WAV and few other file formats as well. You can consider Golden Ear as the perfect replacement for your iPhone’s default music app.
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Tonido
Tonido supports FLAC file format and can play them on your iPhone, but this is not just all. This app is much more than this. It can stream any type of file from Mac to PC to a phone. If you want to stream Mac to PC to a phone, you would need to install its desktop version on your PC or Mac.
Best FLAC Players for Mac & Windows
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5KPlayer
5KPlayer is an amazing music player that supports FLAC file formats and is able to play them on your Mac or Windows computer. Multiple audio codecs of 5kPlayer make it an all-round audio player to support various audio file formats. You can read more about 5k Player here.
Download for Windows | Download for Mac
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Winamp
There was a time when Winamp is the only audio player everyone was using but later many players evolved, and people started using various other players. But, still Winamp is great, and it does support FLAC file format both on Windows and Mac. You can change the color and theme to customize its look. You can also set equalizers and create playlists.
Download for Windows | Download for Mac
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VLC Media Player
I have already mentioned VLC for Android in this post that can play FLAC files. The desktop version of VLC also able to play FLAC files both on Mac and Windows. There is nothing to talk about here because we all know how great the VLC media player is. Basically, it is used as a video player, but it supports a good number of audio file formats as well.
Download for Windows | Download for Mac
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Real Player
Real Player is a renowned media player that supports FLAC files as well. Apart from FLAC, it supports dozens of audio and video file formats. There are many other features this player has that make it one of the best media players for Windows and Mac.
Download for Windows | Download for Mac
Conclusion
As technology grows, more different file formats are coming day by day. In the most cases, default music players only support the popular formats, but sometimes we get some files with different formats and then we have to find out a way to play those files. Many times people convert the format but many of them like to play in the existing format, and there they need to find the media player that can play those files. FLAC is one such file format that is not supported by most of the default players, and that is why you must have to find a third party player to play them. In this blog post, I have shared 10 FLAC players for Android, iPhone, Mac, and Windows that I think are enough for you.
If you have any views and suggestions, do write in the comments.
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