Free online MKA to FLAC converter

Some media players, editors, and music libraries support FLAC but do not recognize Matroska Audio containers with the .mka extension. Converting extracts the audio into a widely supported format for editing, playback, or storage.

What the MKA format is

MKA is the Matroska Audio container format. It can store one or more audio streams, metadata, chapters, and attached artwork; the audio may be encoded as FLAC, PCM, AAC, Opus, Vorbis, or another supported codec.

MKA is used in the Matroska ecosystem by media-authoring tools, disc-ripping software, MKVToolNix users, archivists, and people who separate soundtracks, audiobooks, concert recordings, or multichannel audio from video. The .mka extension identifies the container, not the audio codec inside it.

What the FLAC format is

FLAC is both a lossless audio codec and its commonly used file format. It reduces the size of uncompressed audio without discarding audio samples, so decoding produces the same samples as the source when the source is lossless.

FLAC is supported by many desktop players, music servers, audio editors, portable players, and tagging tools. A native FLAC file normally contains one audio stream and can carry common metadata and embedded pictures, but it does not preserve every Matroska container feature.

How to convert MKA to FLAC

Using FFmpeg

1. Install FFmpeg from the official package source for your operating system.
2. Inspect the container with ffprobe input.mka to identify its audio streams and codecs.
3. Convert the first audio stream with:

ffmpeg -i input.mka -map 0:a:0 -vn -c:a flac -compression_level 8 output.flac

-map 0:a:0 selects the first audio stream and avoids accidentally processing an attachment or another stream. For a second audio track, use -map 0:a:1; create a separate output file for each track. Compression level 8 reduces the output size somewhat more than the default without changing FLAC's decoded audio quality; it increases encoding time rather than affecting playback quality.

If inspection shows that the MKA already contains FLAC audio, avoid re-encoding it with:

ffmpeg -i input.mka -map 0:a:0 -vn -c:a copy output.flac

Stream copying preserves the existing FLAC bitstream and is faster. It applies only when the selected stream is already FLAC and can be written to a standalone FLAC file.

Using the built-in converter

You can convert the file for free on 101convert.com without installing software: upload the .mka file, select FLAC as the output format, start the conversion, and download the resulting .flac file. Uploading exposes the source audio to the service, so use a desktop tool instead for confidential recordings or files subject to storage restrictions.

Quality and compatibility limits

If the MKA contains FLAC or PCM, encoding the decoded audio as FLAC preserves the audio samples, provided the source fits FLAC's supported channel, sample-rate, and sample-depth limits. If it contains AAC, Opus, Vorbis, or another lossy codec, FLAC cannot restore detail that the original encoding removed; the output will usually be larger while retaining the source's existing quality.

FFmpeg generally transfers standard metadata, but Matroska chapters, attachments, unusual tags, and embedded artwork may not transfer automatically. Check the output tags and cover art after conversion and add them with a FLAC-compatible tag editor if necessary. MKA files with multiple audio tracks require separate FLAC files, because a standard FLAC file is not a multi-track Matroska container.