Free online FLAC to M3U8 converter

What the FLAC format is

FLAC, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, compresses PCM audio without discarding information. Decoding restores the original samples bit for bit, while files are typically smaller than WAV files. CD-ripping applications such as Exact Audio Copy and dBpoweramp, audio editors such as Audacity, and digital audio workstations can create FLAC files. Music libraries, archival copies, and players including VLC, foobar2000, and MusicBee commonly use them.

What the M3U8 format is

M3U8 is the UTF-8 form of an M3U playlist. It is a plain-text index containing file paths or URLs, optional metadata lines, and usually the #EXTM3U header. A player reads those entries in order and opens the referenced audio files. M3U8 supports Unicode filenames more reliably than legacy M3U, so it is suitable for playlists containing non-ASCII artist, album, or track names.

An M3U8 file does not contain FLAC audio and does not reduce file size. It is useful when a media player, music server, car stereo, or streaming application expects a playlist rather than a folder of tracks.

How to create an M3U8 playlist from FLAC files

Using VLC

1. Open VLC and select Media → Open Multiple Files.
2. Select the FLAC tracks and arrange them in the required playback order.
3. Choose Media → Save Playlist to File.
4. Save the playlist with an .m3u8 extension and select the M3U8 or UTF-8 playlist format if VLC presents a format choice.
5. Move the playlist only together with the referenced FLAC files, unless the playlist uses absolute paths that remain valid on the destination system.

Using a text editor

Create a plain-text file encoded as UTF-8, add #EXTM3U on the first line, and add one FLAC filename or path per line:

#EXTM3U
Music/Album/01 - Track.flac
Music/Album/02 - Track.flac

Save it as playlist.m3u8. Relative paths are portable when they are written from the playlist's directory. Absolute paths such as C:\Music\Album\Track.flac or /home/user/Music/Album/Track.flac work only on systems where those locations exist.

Using the command line

On macOS or Linux, this command creates a playlist from all FLAC files in one directory:

printf '#EXTM3U\n' > playlist.m3u8
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname '*.flac' -printf '%f\n' | sort >> playlist.m3u8

On Windows PowerShell, use UTF-8 output and write paths relative to the current directory:

Set-Content playlist.m3u8 '#EXTM3U' -Encoding utf8
Get-ChildItem -File -Filter *.flac | Sort-Object Name | ForEach-Object { Add-Content playlist.m3u8 $_.Name -Encoding utf8 }

For a no-install option, the free converter on 101convert.com can create the requested file online. Because an M3U8 is only a text playlist, verify that the resulting entries point to the intended FLAC locations before sharing it.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Creating an M3U8 causes no audio-quality loss because the FLAC files are not re-encoded. The playlist becomes invalid if referenced files are renamed, moved, deleted, or inaccessible through a different mounted drive. Use relative paths for a playlist distributed with a music folder, and confirm that the target application accepts FLAC as an audio source.

Some applications use the .m3u8 extension specifically for HTTP Live Streaming. An ordinary local M3U8 playlist is not an HLS stream: it has no media segments, duration tags, or network server. Creating HLS output requires transcoding or remuxing the audio, usually to AAC in MPEG-TS or fragmented MP4 segments, and generating an HLS playlist with software such as FFmpeg; that is a different conversion from cataloging FLAC files in an M3U8 playlist.