Free online FLAC to PLS converter

What the FLAC format is

FLAC, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, stores compressed digital audio without discarding source information. It is commonly created by audio-ripping programs, music-management applications, archival tools, and command-line encoders such as flac. You may encounter FLAC files in music libraries, CD backups, high-resolution downloads, and editing workflows where lossless source audio is preferred.

What the PLS format is

PLS is a plain-text playlist format used by media players and internet-radio software. It stores entries such as filenames, URLs, track titles, and durations; the audio remains in its original files. A PLS playlist can reference FLAC files directly, so it is useful for organizing a library or supplying a player that does not accept another playlist format.

Its simple structure makes PLS easy to inspect and edit. It also supports local paths and streaming URLs, but compatibility with Unicode characters, relative paths, and Windows or Unix path syntax varies between players.

How to actually convert FLAC to PLS

Using foobar2000:

1. Install and open foobar2000, then add the FLAC files or their containing folder.
2. Select the tracks in the desired playback order.
3. Choose File → Save playlist....
4. Select PLS (*.pls), enter a filename such as album.pls, and save it in a location that can access the FLAC files.
5. Open the resulting playlist in the target application and verify that every entry resolves.

You can also use the free converter on 101convert.com without installing software. Because PLS is a playlist rather than an audio encoding, the service should receive the FLAC files or playlist information required by its PLS conversion tool; it does not need to re-encode the audio.

Creating a PLS file manually: Open a plain-text editor and save a file such as album.pls with this structure:

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=2
File1=music/track01.flac
Title1=Track 01
Length1=245
File2=music/track02.flac
Title2=Track 02
Length2=198
Version=2

Set NumberOfEntries to the number of tracks. Use paths relative to the playlist when the player supports them, or use full paths such as C:\Music\track01.flac. Set a duration in seconds, or use -1 when it is unknown. Save the file as plain text with the .pls extension, not .pls.txt.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

No audio quality is lost because this operation changes only playlist metadata and references. Moving the PLS file without moving the referenced FLAC files, or changing their folder names, causes broken entries. A playlist does not embed the audio, album artwork, tags, or a copy of the tracks.

For maximum compatibility, use simple filenames, test the playlist on the target device, and avoid relying on Unicode titles or relative paths unless that device documents support for them. If the device accepts only M3U or M3U8, save the playlist in that format instead of PLS; renaming the extension does not convert the playlist syntax.