fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD ripper for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It converts between formats including MP3, M4A/AAC, FLAC, WMA, Opus, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, Monkey’s Audio, WavPack, and WAV, and can process whole music libraries while preserving their folder and filename structure. Its CD ripper converts discs into supported formats and can retrieve artist and title details from freedb-compatible databases, then write them into tags. The software supports Unicode filenames and tags, including Japanese, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Indian scripts. Its integrated MP3, M4A/AAC, Opus, and Speex encoders use multicore CPUs. fre:ac can also run from a USB stick or external drive with its configuration stored there. The maker lists FreeBSD and Haiku as supported systems as well, and says the interface is available in 43 languages. Gracenote CDDB is not supported because of licensing issues.
Who it is for
fre:ac suits people converting audio collections, ripping CDs, or working with multiple formats and language scripts. Its portable configuration option may suit users who want to keep the application and settings on an external drive.
What is good
- Free audio conversion across many listed formats
- Converts entire libraries while keeping folder structure
- CD ripping includes online metadata lookup
- Supports Unicode tags and filenames
- Portable use from USB or external drives
What to know first
- Gracenote CDDB support is unavailable
- No cloud conversion
Verdict
fre:ac combines broad audio conversion with CD ripping, library conversion, and metadata lookup. Its support for portable use and Unicode filenames adds useful flexibility for varied music collections.
fre:ac plans and pricing
All plansCompared on audio converter software
- Free plan
- Yes
- Batch conversion
- Yes
- Supported formats
- MP3, M4A/AAC, FLAC, WMA, Opus, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, Monkey's Audio (APE), WavPack, WAV
- Quality controls
- Yes
- Metadata editing
- Yes
- CD ripping
- Yes
- Cloud conversion
- No
