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How to play .flac files in iTunes

Mac

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

  1. 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
  2. Select one or more FLAC files, right-click (ctrl-click for single-button mouse folks), choose Open With and select Other….

    3. righ-click flac files and select open with then other

  3. Navigate to Fluke, select it and click Open

    4. opening flac files with fluke
    click to enlarge

  4. 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

    5. confirmation window on importing items to itunes

  5. And your FLAC files will be added to iTunes. That’s it – give them a play, set the tags etc. You’re done!

    6. flac files playing in itunes


Longer method to play FLAC files in iTunes

  1. Exit out of iTunes and Quicktime if they’re open.
  2. 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.

    3. play flac files in itunes
    click to enlarge

  3. 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/

    4. play flac files in itunes
    click to enlarge

  4. And finally, download set-OggS-0.1.dmg. Unpack it and drag Clear OggS.app and Set OggS.app to your Applications folder.

    5. play flac files in itunes
    click to enlarge

  5. 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’.

    6. play flac files in itunes
    click to enlarge

  6. 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!

    7. play flac files in itunes
    click to enlarge

Posted in Mac.

126 comments

By Ross McKillop – June 12, 2008

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Related Posts:

How to play .OGG Vorbis files in iTunes (Windows and OS X)
How to play .flac, .shn, .ape and other audio formats in OS X
A beginners guide to lossless audio
How to convert .flac files to .mp3 using Windows
How to play .flac files in Windows

126 Responses

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  1. Ben Linford says

    Thanks for this.
    I cannot bear to play my FLAC audio files on VLC any longer!

    December 30, 2009, 5:21 am

1 2 3

Continuing the Discussion

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