How to Play FLAC on iPhone (2026)

To play FLAC files on an iPhone, install a third-party player app — the built-in Apple Music app doesn’t support FLAC. Download a FLAC-capable player such as BTR AMP, transfer your files over Wi-Fi, cloud storage, or USB, and they play natively at full quality, up to 96kHz/24-bit and beyond.

Why won’t my iPhone play FLAC?

Apple has its own lossless format, ALAC (Apple Lossless), and the Music app supports that instead of FLAC. iOS itself can preview a FLAC file in the Files app, but there’s no library, no playlists, no queue — it’s a file viewer, not a player. So you have two real options:

Use a FLAC player app — keep your files exactly as they are. (Recommended.)
Convert FLAC to ALAC — lossless-to-lossless, then sync with the Music app.

Option 1: Play FLAC natively with a player app

This is the simpler path: your files stay untouched, your folder structure survives, and hi-res files play at their real resolution.

Using BTR AMP (free to download):

Install BTR AMP from the App Store.
Transfer your FLAC files. Open Connect → Wi-Fi Transfer in the app and drag files in from any browser on your computer — or connect Google Drive, OneDrive, an SMB share, or WebDAV for bigger moves. The full options are in the importing guide.
Press play. Files land in your library with tags and cover art read from the files themselves. Each track shows its exact codec — e.g. FLAC 2933kbps · 96kHz · 24-bit.

Anything above 48kHz plays at full resolution through an external USB DAC; over the iPhone’s own output, iOS resamples like it does for every app. BTR AMP also plays ALAC, AIFF, APE, WavPack (WV), OGG, DSD, and 8 more formats side by side with your FLAC, so a mixed library needs no cleanup first.

Other apps that play FLAC (per their App Store listings as of July 2026): Doppler, Evermusic, Flacbox, foobar2000, and VLC. See the full comparison.

Option 2: Convert FLAC to ALAC for the Music app

If you specifically want your rips inside Apple’s Music app, convert them. FLAC → ALAC is lossless to lossless: no audio quality is lost.

On your computer, convert with a free tool — XLD (Mac) or foobar2000 (Windows) both do batch FLAC → ALAC and preserve tags.
Add the ALAC files to your Music/iTunes library.
Sync to the iPhone via Finder (Mac) or the Apple Devices app (Windows), or via iTunes Match.

The trade-offs: you now maintain two copies of your library, conversion strips nothing but takes time, metadata edits mean re-syncing, and the Music app’s organization stays fixed — no custom tabs, no rules-based playlists on the device. That’s why most people with serious FLAC collections pick option 1.

FAQ

Does FLAC sound better than Apple Music lossless? No — both are lossless. The difference is ownership and control: FLAC files are yours, play in any app, and carry no DRM.

Can I play 24-bit / 96kHz FLAC on iPhone? Yes, with a player that supports hi-res. For output above 48kHz without resampling, use a USB DAC; BTR AMP supports 96kHz/24-bit and beyond this way.

Do I lose quality converting FLAC to ALAC? No. Both formats are lossless, so conversion is bit-perfect. You only lose time and convenience.

Can the iPhone Files app play FLAC? It can preview one file at a time, with no library, queue, or playlists. For actual listening, use a player app.