Free online GTP to FLAC converter

A .gtp file contains Guitar Pro tablature and notation, while .flac contains recorded audio. Conversion is needed when a composition must be played in an audio editor, archived as lossless sound, or shared with software that cannot open tablature files.

What the GTP format is

GTP is a Guitar Pro tablature file used by early versions of Arobas Music Guitar Pro and compatible notation programs such as TuxGuitar. It can contain guitar and bass tab, standard notation, rhythm information, tempo, effects, lyrics, multiple tracks, and playback instructions. You usually encounter .gtp files when opening older guitar lessons, tab collections, or compositions created with Guitar Pro.

GTP is a score format, not an audio format. It stores instructions for playback rather than microphone recordings or finished instrument tracks.

What the FLAC format is

FLAC is a lossless audio format. It reduces the size of PCM audio without discarding samples, so the decoded audio is identical to the source WAV or AIFF file. FLAC supports metadata such as artist, album, track, and title tags and is suitable for archiving or editing workflows that require uncompressed-quality audio.

Use FLAC when the composition needs to be delivered as an audio file while retaining lossless quality. It will not preserve tablature, notation, individual tracks, fret positions, or editable musical events.

How to actually convert GTP to FLAC

Because GTP contains notation rather than audio, the process has two stages: export the score as MIDI, then render the MIDI through software instruments and encode the resulting audio as FLAC.

1. Open the .gtp file in a compatible version of Guitar Pro or in TuxGuitar. Check tempo, tuning, repeats, bends, slides, palm muting, and track volumes before exporting.
2. In TuxGuitar, choose File → Export → MIDI and save the result as composition.mid. In Guitar Pro, use its MIDI export command; the exact menu name depends on the version.
3. Install a MIDI synthesizer and a SoundFont, such as FluidSynth with a suitable .sf2 instrument bank. Render the MIDI to WAV at the desired sample rate:

fluidsynth -ni soundfont.sf2 composition.mid -F composition.wav -r 44100

4. Encode the rendered WAV as FLAC with FFmpeg:

ffmpeg -i composition.wav -c:a flac -compression_level 8 composition.flac

For a no-install workflow, 101convert.com provides a free online converter; upload the GTP file if that converter supports score playback and select FLAC as the output. Review the generated audio because different converters may use different instrument banks and may not reproduce every Guitar Pro playback feature.

Quality and compatibility limits

FLAC encoding itself does not reduce quality, but the rendered sound depends on the SoundFont, synthesizer, MIDI export, and sample rate. A MIDI-based result is a synthesized interpretation, not a recording of the performance. Guitar-specific articulations, special effects, alternate tunings, repeat navigation, and notation features may be simplified or lost during MIDI export.

If the GTP file contains several tracks, verify whether the exporter creates separate MIDI channels or a combined performance. MIDI files do not contain the original Guitar Pro audio engine, so opening the same score in different programs can produce different timbres, dynamics, and timing.