This tutorial will guide you in installing all of the required software (and in which order) to get iTunes to play .flac files. This works for iTunes version 7.4.1 and up (and Quicktime 7.2.0) running on OS X.
Update: I’ve added a 2nd, much easier way to accomplish the same thing (playing FLAC files in iTunes. And this method works using iTunes 7.6.2 or higher.
The original (longer) method can be found at the bottom of this post. But the new “updated” method really is much easier and faster.
Updated method to play FLAC files in iTunes
- Download and install Fluke. Fluke is actually an AppleScript, saved as an Application bundle, that includes all of the software used in the longer method
- Select one or more FLAC files, right-click (ctrl-click for single-button mouse folks), choose Open With and select Other….
- Navigate to Fluke, select it and click Open
- A window will pop up, some text will fly by, the window will close and you’ll be presented with the option to import the “items” (flac files) into iTunes. Click Yes
- And your FLAC files will be added to iTunes. That’s it - give them a play, set the tags etc. You’re done!
Longer method to play FLAC files in iTunes
- Exit out of iTunes and Quicktime if they’re open.
- Start by downloading xiph-qt-0.1.8.dmg. Unpack it and drag XiphQT.component to /Library/Components/ if you’d like it to be available to all users on your Mac, or /Users/your-user-name/Library/Components/ if you want it to just be available for you. If you’ve ever installed the Xiph QuickTime Component before, drag it to the trash before copying the new version over.
- Now download flac_import_0.5b1_p0.1.dmg. Open it up and drag FLACImport.component to /Library/QuickTime/ or /Users/your-user-name/Library/QuickTime/
- And finally, download set-OggS-0.1.dmg. Unpack it and drag Clear OggS.app and Set OggS.app to your Applications folder.
- Launch iTunes. You can try loading a .flac file now, but it likely won’t work quite yet. If it doesn’t, drag the flac (or multiple .flac files) and drop them on Set OggS.app. A window will pop up confirming that all of the .flac files have been ‘converted’.
- Now you should have no problem loading the flac files that have been through Set OggS.app into iTunes. You’ll have to tag them manually (tags aren’t carried over to iTunes) but at least they’re working!
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I think it’s easier just to convert the .flac files to .wav files with Flac Frontend. They remain lossless and then you can play them on anything you like.
Hmm I just realised this is aimed at Mac users and I use FLAC frontend in Windows. Not sure if it works on a Mac. Sorry!
this all works fine for me thanks.
I’ve got a problem playing wireless to airport express/streaming it to my stereo system with Airtunes…
of curse I could use airfoil which I already do with other applications, but is kind a silly to launch it every time a .flac file appear in the play list….
is there any solution to this problem, which also occur when playing url’s
Worked like a charm on itunes 7.5
Keep up the good work!
why I can’t add album art to .flac songs? :/
Are there any known issues with Leopard? I’m going to try this tomorrow night! This rules!
Works fine for me … thanks a lot!! Been trying to get this setup for ages… and Itunes read my flac tags fine also
Perfecto! thx a lot. works great!!
Works fine!!
But I don´t know how to add album art to flac songs!!
Any idea?
which tag format are you using? Will tracks/tags then carry over to Ipod?
thanks
I don´t know wich is the tag format. I haven´t did anything else with the Flacs, only launch them ehit the set oggs and then to iTunes.
I only want to play them in iTunes, not for iPod. But I have all my files with art album except the Flac files.
I have done a “little” one second Mp3 file with the album art and added to the album with the Flacs files. It works but this is not really a great solution because I would like to have each file with each artalbum.
Any better idea?
Thanks
MUCH Appreciated! Thanks for the help.
Excellent tutorial. It works very well.
Thank you and keep up the good work. If the tags are: the name of the song, artist, album, date, and all other details you get in iTunes by right-click -> Get Info (Mac OSX) then I have to tell you that all that info got transferred in iTunes just fine from the .flac file(s).
Thanks
Very clear instructions, and it worked perfectly. Thanks!
I cant get this to work. According to my finder i have no components folder. would it be called anything else.
I am also using leopard if that makes a difference.
Thank you
@Christopher Martinez:
Try making a components folder. If that doesn’t work let me know and I’ll try it myself again (now that I’m using Leopard).
I’ve just finished with these instructions. Everything went as described up to, “Now you should have no problem loading the flac files that have been through Set OggS.app into iTunes…”. The files won’t open in iTunes. I had to make both ‘Components’ and ‘QickTime’ folders in the Library folder. The SetOggs window pops up and says what it should, but no go in iTunes. Suggestions? Please?
hey that worked perfectly, thanks a bunch!
thank you very much for the tutorial how to get flac playing in iTunes, it was very handy for me
thanks for this excellent tutorial! works very well (OSX 10.5.2, iTunes 7.62)
also no problem with adding cover art, at least via download from apple store… that’s all i tried.
excellent job, this is a fantastic addition to iTunes play…thank you very much!
You are great, thanks for your kindness
I just found this: FLUKE (http://cubicfruit.com/fluke/)
I think it’s like Perian for iTunes.
I just use xACT when I come across a .flac file. Simple and easy!
Have downloaded Fluke OK into OSX Tiger, iTunes 7.4.1 Process goes Ok until ‘Yes” to iTunes import which produces an ‘OggS’ box with a failed message. Any ideas? Mark.
You could also just use a .flac->.mp3 conversion tool.
I mean honestly, why do you even bother with .flacs? The quality gained is probably lost on your equipment anyway.
hello, can i do this on windows xp?
Great stuff Flac makes it soooo easy worked like a dream,thank you very much
FLUKE sounds like exactly what I’m looking for. But the server hosting the FLUKE file(s) seems to be down so I am unable to download the software.
Would anyone have a copy of the current version of FLUKE they would be willing to email me? Would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Works perfect! Thank you very much …
FLUKE makes it very easy to work with .FLACs in iTunes - it is even possible to convert .FLAC files into .WAV or .MP3 within iTunes - with no problems at all!
Wondering why the FLAC format is not included as a standard format within iTunes (yet) - a good player should be able to read the most used formats.
For some time ago I bought the Amadeus sound editing software which reads, converts and saves in a lot of different formats - including FLAC - and that’s not a very bigsized, advanced software at all. So I was a bit stunned over the fact that iTunes didn’t read FLAC files.
- but now it does! Thank a lot.
Very F’n cool man! Thanks!
For some reason they didn’t import when iTunes was open during the conversion. I quit out of iTunes and then it worked great! Album rocks.
can i transfer flacs to the iPod’s library?
Personally i use toolplayer, doesn’t have playlist function but plays flacs outright. I also recommend X Lossless Decoder(XLD) for fast decoding and/or splitting a single album flac file into separate track files.
those apps are very cool and easy to use
sorry just to clarify those two applications of course are not a solution for playing flacs on the iPod (unless the tracks are converted; but XDecoder allows direct conversion to Apple lossless, mp3 etc
Much easier get a copy of DB POWER AMP. Convert Flac ( or anything else ) to AAC. load to Itunes.
The Ogg window tells me they’re all converted and done, but I can’t find them. Where should I be looking?
Thanks a lot!
Works like a charm on my OSX 10.5.4 with iTunes 7.7;)
Thanks a lot this was relly helpful
I just found a MUCH better way of dealing with FLACs.
Download the free application X Lossless Decoder (XLD) and you can just drag your FLAC’s onto XLD’s icon…and it will quickly convert the file to ALAC (Apple Lossless Codec) so you can play it on your iPod or iPhone as well as your computer!
It also supports cover art!
http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xld/index_e.html
hi
thanks for the advice. i’ve successfully imported flac files into itunes but they will not copy onto my ipod.
any further tips?
thanks.
Hi there!
Thanks for the post. But unfortunately playing back flac-files on airport express doesn’t work with this method (mp3s work fine). Or am I missing something?
Thanks anyway,
regards,
Chris
Fluke looks like it works good. I am playing a .aep reference cd converted to flac.
BUT
there is a problem with the album artwork. apparently for some reason the individual files (songs) cannot store album data=photos. don’t know why. tied several times. any ideas?
actually what appears is: Artwork not modifiable..
ok. the last thing i noticed is that NOTHING CAN BE CHANGED ON TAGS IN ITUNES. change the name of song or artist and it comes back to the one that was imported.
@yiogos -
Yes that all sounds about right. You’d have to tag the flac files, and then import them into iTunes. Since flacs don’t support album artwork, you can’t embed that.
i am sure there is more to that. i downloaded flac compilation and although i cannot see the album art on individual songs, i can see it under the cover flow mode. which is weird. also I am sure I read some other post saying that it is possible to embed artwork in flac.. should find the link i guess.
Hey I wanted to know if you can put these files on your ipod after using Fluke? Thanks.
I use Mac OS X 10.5.5 and iTunes 8.0.1. OggS says it imported all my FLACs ‘okay,’ but I can’t find them in my iTunes library.
To those who wonder if they can read FLACs on an iPod: the answer is no. Fluke installs software to decode FLACs on your Mac, but not on your iPod. You’ll have to convert them into one of the 6 formats officially recognized by Apple (lossy: MP3, AAC and MPEG-4; lossless: Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV) to listen to that music on your iPod.
When you try to import the first song, make sure your iTune is shut down, it will allow to install script… I did not work for me the first few times i tried because iTunes was running.
Closed iTune, trid to import and now works like a cherm… Excellent!
Didn’t know about fluke thanks for the heads up. For those interested in playing flac on their ipod should check out RockBox.org. I have a 5th gen 30gb ipod and its easy to install and works great. Unfortunatly it only works on a select number of older model ipods.
wow, i can now say itunes is the best audio playback app for mac. thanks!
The second image under the original steps is the wrong one — you’re showing the same pic for Steps 2 and 3. The “enlarged” image link is fine, just not the smaller version above.
Brent - thanks for catching that, fixed.
Cheers!
Hi Ross,
I’m having a bit of trouble. I downloaded Fluke and installed as per the instructions. Then I followed the “Updated method to play FLAC files in iTunes”. The files are copied over to itunes. However, no matter which one I select an play I get nothing but some sort of complexed noise. It sounds terrible. Any thoughts? Software: Mac OS X 10.5.3, iTunes 8.0.2. The files are Linn Records, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Mozart Requiem, “Studio Master”, FLAC 24bit 96kHz. http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-mozart-requiem-sacd.aspx
Thanks, Chris
Dude, great stuff. Thanks so much for posting. Fluke is the shizzle.
Thanks a lot for the explanation!
In iTunes if I change the title to the album it changes, but once the song is played it reverts back to the prior title? Can you help?
Thank you very much for your software!!!!!
neither will work for 24 bit FLAC files. the xiph-qt component gets something wrong and the audio is shredded.
Impossible d’importer mes fichiers FLAC dans iTunes…. Quelqu’un pourrait-il m’aider ? J’ai la dernière version d’iTunes et j’ai correctement installé Fluke.
Merci d’avance pour votre aide
Gewoon even Apple Lossless versie aanmaken van je ‘fluked flacs’ in Itunes en vervolgens kun je:
1. Gewoon album art toevoegen
2. Gewoon afspelen op je Ipod
René
When your create a Apple Lossless version of your ‘fluked flac’, you will be able to add artwork and play it on your ipod keeping the lossless compression.
René
Did not work. Fluke works and then iTunes pops up, but nothing is added…
Thanks for making the Fluke file available. Seemed like I had to look forever to find info on how to convert flac files to AIFF files (downloaded 2 albums from Mindawn.com), but the installation & use of Fluke appears to be a better option. The only problem I had was that the graphic you used in Step 3 (Applications) did not show up the same on my Mac (OS X Version 10.4.11), so I had to figure that out first (still kind of new to Macs). Thanks again for the headache relief.
Did work on itunes 8
I have used the slow method to put these components in place on my Mac (10.4). However, my end goal is slightly different.
I have all of my music as flacs stored on an Ubuntu machine running RhythmBox. RhythmBox provides a DAAP share just like iTunes. I am able to connect to that share and play an mp3 or wave file as expected.
After following the directions, I hoped that iTunes would be able to play the flacs as well (it has always displayed them). It fails to play anything nor does the progress bar move across the song.
It is (obviously) not feasible to run the ogg application on the flacs.
Can you offer any further advice or links or whatever? This is one of the final pieces of the puzzle.
REMEMBER TO SHUTDOWN ITUNES FIRST BEFORE ADDING TRACKS. won’t work otherwise.
Works good for itunes 8.2 as well. Thanks a lot!
nice - works great - urawesome
I love you! thanks a lot
not afraid of flacs anymore now 
Is there a fluke version for Windows? Please help. Thank you. =)
YES!!! thank you!
Hi,
All this is very nice, but Fluke means I can’t do this on Windows. Is there a way I can make iTunes play .flac files in Windows?
same with what the person say above
For those wondering, Apple will most likely never include support FLAC or other open formats themselves. The reason for this is that they’d open themselves up to numerous patent lawsuits as the target with the most $$$. Instead, they can develop their own, or license others and get better legal protection. They’ll also continue to allow plug-ins as a way of partially making up for this…since they don’t hate these formats, they just don’t want the legal risk.
Apple does have a lossless codec that FLAC files can be losslessly transcoded into. When this is done, you can then play them in iTunes, as well as your iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, etc…
A FREE and very handy tool for transcoding audio files is Max:
http://sbooth.org/Max/
worked great once i remembered to quit iTunes. i did, however, get pretty annoyed when it imported the album in alphabetical, not sequential, order. and since iTunes won’t allow you to move songs around without making a playlist (again, annoying) do you have a suggestion on how to “fix” this ? thanks!
Didn’t work for me. I’m on Leopard 10.5.7 and iTunes 8.1.1. : (
Didn’t work for me on lastest OSX & itunes. It says its imported but the tracks jsut aren’t there in itunes
Try a program called xACT
On a mac… drop all the flac tracks with TOAST in audio mode… save disk image on the same folder as the album. Then right click the disk image file and select the option MORE and from the submenu MOUNT IT.
Itunes will open and recognize the file as an album… that way you can listen to it in a CD kinda like experience or import them to mp3…
cheers
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