Burning FLAC Files Directly to CD Audio?

Question

Is there a simple, direct way to burn FLAC files to audio CDs? I would like to do it without first converting my FLAC files to a WAV format first. I am aware the official FLAC site has a list of solutions for Windows, but I was wondering if there are any other (better) ones?

I have Nero v 6.6.1.4 on Windows XP SP3, so I am not aware of an easy built-in solution without the conversion step. I don't have a preference for plugins or standalone programs, although if it's a standalone program I'd like it to have data verification built in. Free solutions are preferable.

Answer 1

ImgBurn is a free CD burning software and it supports the FLAC audio format amongst others (AAC, APE, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV).

ImgBurn is often recommended on SuperUser and on other sites (LifeHacker for instance) for all its features.

Answer 2

Install the free version of Nero 9. Open Nero and create a New Audio CD. Drag the .flac files directly into Nero the same way you would with .wav or .mp3 files. If Nero doesn’t report any errors, you should be able to click Burn and create the CD.

If Nero does report an error, you need to download and install the Nero Mega Plugin Pack (which is free). After it’s installed, try dragging the flac files directly into Nero again and this time you shouldn’t get any errors.

Answer 3

my favorite:

Burrrn is a little tool for creating audio CDs with CD-Text from various audio files. Supported formats are: wav, mp3, mpc, ogg, aac, mp4, ape, flac, ofr, wv, tta, m3u, pls and fpl playlists and cue sheets. You can also burn EAC’s noncompliant image + cue sheets! Burrrn can read all types of tags from all these formats (including ape tags in mp3). Burrrn uses cdrdao.exe for burning.

Burrrn is freeware.