TS to FLAC Converter

How to Convert TS to FLAC Online

1. Upload Your TS File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select one or more .ts (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) recordings. Concatenated HLS segments and DVR captures are accepted. Batch processing is supported.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: Default is Very High (Recommended). The preset controls the audio decode/resample path; FLAC itself is lossless, so picking a higher preset doesn't add information that wasn't in the source. Choose Highest for archival of high-bitrate broadcast audio (DVB AC-3 at 384–448 kbps), Medium or Low for podcast/voice extraction where storage matters more than headroom.
3. Set Audio Channel, Sample Rate, and Compression Level (Optional): Leave Audio Channel on Original to preserve broadcast 5.1 down-mix metadata, or force Mono / Stereo. Audio Sample Rate defaults to Original — most DVB/ATSC TS streams are 48000 Hz, so changing it forces a resample (don't unless you need to). The Compression Level slider (1–12) only affects file size and encoder time; it does not change audio fidelity per RFC 9639.
4. Trim and Convert: Use Trim with start time and duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss to extract a single song or interview from a longer recording. Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Why Convert TS to FLAC?

.ts is the file extension for MPEG-2 Transport Stream, the container ATSC, DVB, and HLS use to deliver broadcast and streamed video. The audio inside a TS file is almost always lossy: ATSC mandates AC-3 (Dolby Digital), DVB allows AC-3 or MP2, and HLS encoders typically use AAC or AC-3. FLAC is a lossless codec — standardized as IETF RFC 9639 in December 2024 — that compresses PCM audio to roughly 50–70% of its uncompressed size with bit-exact decoding.

Converting TS to FLAC extracts the audio elementary stream, decodes it to PCM, and re-encodes losslessly. The resulting FLAC will be larger than the original AC-3/AAC payload because lossless storage of decoded PCM has more entropy than the lossy bitstream — the upside is no further generation loss in your library.

• Concert and live-music recordings — Pull the audio track from an off-air or IPTV concert capture so it plays in any audio app without dragging a video decoder along.
• Radio / talk / podcast captures — Many DVB radio multiplexes ride inside TS containers; FLAC keeps the source-rate samples intact for editing in Audacity or Reaper.
• Stem archival — Lossless FLAC is the format of choice for libraries where you may later re-encode to MP3, Opus, or AAC; transcoding lossy → lossy compounds artifacts, transcoding lossless → lossy does not.
• HLS segment audio — When you've concatenated segment-001.ts … segment-NNN.ts from a .m3u8 playlist, FLAC gives you a single durable audio file you can tag and ship.
• Tagging and metadata — FLAC supports Vorbis comments and embedded cover art, both of which TS does not carry natively, so the conversion is also where your file becomes library-ready.
• Mac / Linux compatibility — Native FLAC playback is supported in macOS Catalina (2019) and later via Music.app and QuickTime, and on virtually every Linux distro out of the box.

TS vs FLAC — Format Comparison

TS Audio Codec → What You Get in FLAC

Frequently Asked Questions

Will converting from TS to FLAC actually improve my audio quality?

No. The TS file already contains lossy audio (almost always AC-3, MP2, or AAC). FLAC stores whatever PCM samples come out of the decoder bit-exactly, but it cannot reconstruct frequencies and dynamics the original lossy encoder discarded. What you get is a lossless preservation of the broadcast audio at its current quality level — useful for archival because no further loss accumulates if you later edit or re-encode.

Why is my FLAC larger than the original TS?

You're comparing a lossy bitstream to a near-uncompressed PCM representation. A 1-hour AC-3 5.1 track at 384 kbps is about 165 MB inside the TS; the same audio decoded to 48 kHz 16-bit stereo PCM and re-encoded to FLAC is roughly 270–330 MB. If you only care about lossy storage, convert TS to MP3 instead — you'll land around 60–90 MB at 192–256 kbps.

What's the difference between TS and M2TS for FLAC extraction?

Both are MPEG-2 Transport Stream variants. .ts is the generic broadcast/HLS form; .m2ts (BDAV) is the Blu-ray variant with extra timestamp information per packet. The audio decoders are the same. If your file is from a Blu-ray rip, use the M2TS to FLAC page instead.

My TS came from concatenated HLS segments — will it still convert?

Yes, as long as the segments were joined correctly (e.g., with cat seg-*.ts > full.ts or via FFmpeg's concat demuxer) and the PAT/PMT tables at the start are intact. HLS audio is usually AAC-LC; the converter demuxes the audio elementary stream and encodes it to FLAC at the source sample rate.

Should I change the sample rate or leave it on Original?

Leave it on Original unless your downstream tool requires a specific rate. ATSC and DVB broadcasts standardize on 48000 Hz; HLS streams are typically 44100 or 48000 Hz. Forcing a different rate triggers resampling, which is a small but unnecessary precision loss for an archival workflow.

Does the Compression Level slider affect sound quality?

No. FLAC's compression levels (1–12 here, which maps to FFmpeg's -compression_level 0–12) only trade encoder CPU time for file size. Level 8 is a good default; level 12 saves perhaps 1–2% more space for substantially more time. The audio output is bit-identical at every level.

Can I extract just one song or segment from a long broadcast?

Yes. Open the Trim controls and set a start time and duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss form. The trim happens in the time domain after decoding, so frame-accurate cuts are possible without any audio re-encoding penalty since FLAC is lossless.

What plays FLAC files? Will my phone or car stereo open them?

VLC, foobar2000, Audacity, Reaper, and Audirvana all play FLAC natively. Apple added FLAC support in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra (2017+). Android has supported FLAC since 3.1 (2011). Most modern car head units list FLAC under "Hi-Res Audio." If you specifically need MP3 for an older device, run FLAC to MP3 afterwards.

Is there a better target than FLAC for broadcast captures?

FLAC is the right call for archival. If you want a smaller lossy file for casual listening, target TS to AAC (good codec match, since AAC is often the source) or TS to WAV (uncompressed PCM — larger than FLAC, no advantage for storage, but useful if a tool requires WAV input).