Automatically convert flac files to mp3 when transferring to phone?

[ZJE123]

As the title says, I have a lot of music on my pc that is in flac format and in different folders. I have always transferred this music to my phone as is when I downloaded new songs however, it is now starting to take up too much space on my phone. I would like to know if there is a utility on Windows that would automatically convert my flac files to mp3 when I transfer them to my phone. I know that the files can be converted in Audacity, but I have too many to practically convert individually. Thank you.

 

[MoodyBlues]

if there is a utility on Windows that would automatically convert my flac files to mp3

This is simple on Linux, through a variety of methods. One would be using SoundConverter within a bash script; you could convert all your files with a few keystrokes. I don't know if there's anything similar for window$. If not, maybe find a friend who uses Linux and sweet talk them into doing it for you!

 

[ZJE123]

This is simple on Linux, through a variety of methods. One would be using SoundConverter within a bash script; you could convert all your files with a few keystrokes. I don't know if there's anything similar for window$. If not, maybe find a friend who uses Linux and sweet talk them into doing it for you!

This would be a doable option perhaps with Linux. Maybe I'm deviating from my original question to some extent, but do you think running a Linux Emulator through Windows would work? Thank you for your help!

 

[MoodyBlues]

This would be a doable option perhaps with Linux.

Correction: no 'perhaps' about it.

Maybe I'm deviating from my original question to some extent, but do you think running a Linux Emulator through Windows would work?

Honestly, I don't know. I have no experience with Linux emulators, and haven't even touched a window$ machine since wiping my mom's hard drive and installing Kubuntu Linux on it--in 2006.

But don't despair! We have people here who can probably help. If none of them stops by this thread, I'll put a call out for them in our Linux thread, or you're welcome to pop in there.

Thank you for your help!

You're very welcome! We'll get you going, one way or another.

 

[mikedt]

Rather than converting and reducing audio quality with lossy compression. Buying a large capacity micro-SD might be easier and better? Assuming the phone takes removable storage of course.

You can run a Linux OS from something like Virtual Box within Windows. How well that works or not all depends on your PC specs and configuration. Much better to run a Linux OS natively though.

 

[svim]

Since you mentioned Audacity you can use it to batch convert a folder full of audio files to mp3 files. Instructions to set up an Audacity 'chain' here:
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-convert-a-folder-of-audacity-files-to-mp3
Just so you're aware, what you're asking for does involve adequate system resources to do. Converting a flac file to a mp3 file isn't a significant RAM hog but it will involve an adequate amount of processor resources. Do a couple conversions manually while monitoring your Windows System Resource Manager so you can gauge what's going on.
Even if you were to take the time to write a shell script, it's not like you just execute the it all those files will magically get converted on-the-fly. There's going to be something like ffmpeg or whichever utility you opt to use that will be churning away in the background to do all those conversions. If you have a really large number of files this is going to a while, no matter if you're doing through a GUI application or CLI script.

 

[Dannydet]

Yeah, sadly there's nothing that can do it on the fly...
Take Svim's advice

 

[ZJE123]

Correction: no 'perhaps' about it.

Honestly, I don't know. I have no experience with Linux emulators, and haven't even touched a window$ machine since wiping my mom's hard drive and installing Kubuntu Linux on it--in 2006.

But don't despair! We have people here who can probably help. If none of them stops by this thread, I'll put a call out for them in our Linux thread, or you're welcome to pop in there.

You're very welcome! We'll get you going, one way or another.

I will have to give it a try myself and see if the emulator would work. Otherwise, I can probably create a Linux boot USB and use that. I have dabbled with Linux myself many times in the past, but the programs I use, unfortunately, require Windows Thank you again!

Rather than converting and reducing audio quality with lossy compression. Buying a large capacity micro-SD might be easier and better? Assuming the phone takes removable storage of course.

You can run a Linux OS from something like Virtual Box within Windows. How well that works or not all depends on your PC specs and configuration. Much better to run a Linux OS natively though.

Yes, unfortunately my phone does not have an SD card slot and my music, so far, is taking up about 31 GB of the 64 GB internal storage already. While I like the audio quality of the Flac files, I mainly use my phone to play music in the car or while I'm working out, so I will hardly notice the difference in those situations if at all; I will still have the high quality format on my PC.

Since you mentioned Audacity you can use it to batch convert a folder full of audio files to mp3 files. Instructions to set up an Audacity 'chain' here:
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-convert-a-folder-of-audacity-files-to-mp3
Just so you're aware, what you're asking for does involve adequate system resources to do. Converting a flac file to a mp3 file isn't a significant RAM hog but it will involve an adequate amount of processor resources. Do a couple conversions manually while monitoring your Windows System Resource Manager so you can gauge what's going on.
Even if you were to take the time to write a shell script, it's not like you just execute the it all those files will magically get converted on-the-fly. There's going to be something like ffmpeg or whichever utility you opt to use that will be churning away in the background to do all those conversions. If you have a really large number of files this is going to a while, no matter if you're doing through a GUI application or CLI script.

I will give this a try as well and see if it works. I believe my pc is up to the task as I do a lot of audio rendering from other audio programs I use to create music. Thanks for the help!

 

[MoodyBlues]

Yeah, sadly there's nothing that can do it on the fly...

Perhaps it depends on one's definition of "on-the-fly." To me, issuing a command and having that result in the goal I wanted, that's on-the-fly. SoundConverter by itself can do what the OP wants, but by using it in a shell script it can traverse all the directories and subdirectories containing the original files, storing all the resulting files in one convenient location, or scattered in the original directories, whatever is wanted.

Take Svim's advice

To manually do one directory at a time, sure, that'll work! Or, to do them all, automatically, take mine.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Even if you were to take the time to write a shell script, it's not like you just execute the it all those files will magically get converted on-the-fly. There's going to be something like ffmpeg or whichever utility you opt to use that will be churning away in the background to do all those conversions. If you have a really large number of files this is going to a while, no matter if you're doing through a GUI application or CLI script.

Yes, but on any reasonably modern computer, this shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I will have to give it a try myself and see if the emulator would work. Otherwise, I can probably create a Linux boot USB and use that. I have dabbled with Linux myself many times in the past, but the programs I use, unfortunately, require Windows
Thank you again!

You're welcome.

About how many files are there, and in how many directories/subdirectories? I'm just curious.

 

[lunatic59]

I can probably create a Linux boot USB and use that.

You could do that, but live media generally don't save settings very well. If you've got some free space on your hard drive, you could install Linux and have your PC dual boot Windows and Linux. Or you could install a second (or third) hard disk, install Linux there and use the BIOS settings as a boot manager. It's not elegant, but if you only intend to use Linux infrequently, it's a viable alternative.