Are FLAC files decompressed to WAV before being converted to MP3?

[gottlieb1885]

If I select a FLAC file for conversion to MP3 using dBpoweramp, is the FLAC file first decompressed to WAV format then encoded to FLAC or is it merely transcoded directly from FLAC to MP3?

To clarify, I'd rather decompress the file from FLAC to WAV, then encode it from WAV to MP3 for maximum quality. I want to simplify my my current workflow, which is:

1. Decode audio file from FLAC to WAV using FLAC Frontend.
2. Encode resulting WAV files to MP3 using dBpoweramp.

Thanks!

[Dat Ei]

Re: Are FLAC files decompressed to WAV before being converted to MP3?

Hey gottlieb1885,

To clarify, I'd rather decompress the file from FLAC to WAV, then encode it from WAV to MP3 for maximum quality.

there is no difference in quality between FLAC and WAV. You can convert from FLAC to WAV and back as often as you like and you will not lose quality at all. The compression of FLAC is lossless, just like zip. So from my point of view you can convert from FLAC to mp3 directly.


Dat Ei

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Are FLAC files decompressed to WAV before being converted to MP3?

To clarify, I'd rather decompress the file from FLAC to WAV, then encode it from WAV to MP3 for maximum quality.

What Dat Ei said!

FLAC -> mp3 yields the exact same file output as FLAC -> WAV -> mp3. The only thing that can/will maximize quality is the mp3 encoder settings you employ in either case, but given the same settings, you get the same result.

Adding intermediate lossless conversions is a waste of time.