FLAC encoder

Encode FLAC files with the built-in Winamp CD ripping engine.

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It is similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality: you get a perfect copy of your CD tracks, but with files significantly smaller than .Wavs.

This encoder allows to rip CD tracks to native FLAC 1.1.2 files using the Winamp 5 built-in CD ripper (free or pro editions). It offers 9 levels of compression, similarly to the reference command-line encoder.

More information about the FLAC format on the official project page http://flac.sourceforge.net/

Note: in order to automatically tag produced files, you will need a FLAC input plug-in with full media library support, such as mine.

Staff review

Does what it says... gives you FLAC encoding functionality with the Winamp 5 CD ripping engine. Check out the author's write up for more information on FLAC files... also, be sure to download the author's FLAC file support plugin.

Comments

Use the FLAC encoder which comes with Winamp instead! - November 14, 2010 by DJ Egg

Works fine, only one problem - Now and then I get an error saying:Error while processing frame(FLAC_FILE_DECODER_SEEKABLE_STREAM_DECODER_ERROR).It`s probably bad flac fileWhen I click OK playback resumes. Is there any way to ignore this message?In plug in settings the option "stop on errors" is not checked. - April 14, 2009 by jajo pajo

No file output either - What gives. I see multiple people have the problem, but can't seem to find the solution.I'm getting an empty directory, though the plug-in seems to be ripping and encoding just fine. - October 8, 2008 by Jeff Giedt

Sorry Doesn't work for me - I am using the latest winamp 5.541 and installed the plug in, it did not make any changes to output modules, so i am at a loss as to how to do it. - October 3, 2008 by Edmund Tan

sweet - I've always wanted one of these nice .flac encoders, it's really something to keep the quality of the music as high as possible while maintaining low meg count. :) - September 8, 2008 by James Cabrales

Nice to have... if it worked - This plugin doesn't work for me. As other people have reported, it does not create any output files, but it seems to do something -nobody knows what...As it is now - uselessI switched to Media Monkey - September 5, 2008 by Paul Meesters

No Output File Produced - I had the same results as Andrew (below).I just purchased Winamp Pro 5.531, installed the "flac CD ripping encoder" and flac with library support", and tried to rip a CD.No files were produced even though Winamp reported working on the file for about a minute or so.What is the problem here?Thanks! - May 20, 2008 by Kevin Grelling

Don't work - Installs ok, when rip starts output folder is created, after this no files added, even tho all tracks have been ripped?Can anyone help? - May 19, 2008 by Andrew Noble

Great plugin... - I was looking on google for ages for a flac cd ripper (I coulden't find any) until I just looked at the winamp plugins! Great plugin! Thanks, Danny - March 21, 2006 by Danny Blanche

Great Stuff! - Why oh why is .mp3 still used??? FLAC and Vorbis all the way! - March 10, 2006 by Harry Pockets

flac encoder - works great, no probs, v1.1.2a - February 11, 2006 by Pete Cowan

PERFECT - I downloaded one earlier by giacomo margarito it sucked! Your's works GREAT job and i hope you make some more great 'Plug-Ins' in the future. - January 24, 2006 by Drew Campbell

Great one! - No need for a 3rd party app, this plugins makes a good job actually. Hopefully, it will get an update to support the lastest FLAC devs. nice one. - January 14, 2006 by franky sadf

01 Roger Waters & Ron Geesin - Our Song.flac - 6c54837589699f1bf16672d5fc0d8d7f - September 4, 2005 by x spongyabob

Not Quite Lossless - After setting the ripper to max quality, I could still hear the difference between this and CD. This version of FLAC was ripping at about 600-900 Kbps. Typical CD playback is 1400 Mbps. Maybe I had the settings wrong? This was especially noticeable when ripping MFSL (Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs - Original Master) recordings. The FLAC rip of the MFSL Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon album showed its failings in both high and low frequency sounds. I played the CD back in both Winamp AND Roxio to see if there was a performance difference. Both products played the CD perfectly. I should note that I have exceptional hearing, which is one of the reasons I can discern the quality loss. Your average listener probably wouldn't notice or care. But why would you want to listen to something that sounds muffled (especially MP3s!)? - February 25, 2005 by Registered Owner

Great, except does not populate tag info - This is great. I love FLAC, and am glad that there is finally a free way to rip it with full control over path formating, such as \ - \ - - ## - The only problem with this plug-in is that it doesn't populate the tag info, although it does know the correct artist, album, etc for naming the file. - February 25, 2005 by Fname Lname

nice encoder.. - nice.. just download it n try it urself.. my electronics collection sounds better now although it uses bigger space than mp3.. but nothings better than nice quality of music... - January 11, 2005 by evilan alan

Flac Encoder - Just great, a bit bigger than regular MP3 but without quality loss. Just Great. - January 8, 2005 by Alejandro Moreno

Something is wrong - I tried to rip a CD with this encoder. But I get files with the size of 30 MB. How can this be? - December 28, 2004 by Christian Tang

More excellent work - I thought your FLAC input plug-in was good but when I found this I realised I could use Winamp all of the time; I wouldn't have to rip to wave first or use some third-party program and waste some time. - December 27, 2004 by James Darnley

Flac encoder the best - After concerting wav and cds to mp3 I have decided to convert all my music to flac. The quality of the music is vastly superior to that on Mp3s It is well worht the time waiting for the Cds to be ripped when one has the free version of Winamp. - December 25, 2004 by Annette Giesbrecht

hej - hej - December 23, 2004 by Mette Bille