Convert VOC to FLAC — Free Online Tool
Convert VOC audio files — the classic Creative Labs Sound Blaster format used in DOS-era games — to FLAC, a modern lossless format with efficient compression. Since both formats are lossless, no audio quality is lost: your raw PCM data from the VOC file is preserved perfectly inside a compressed FLAC container.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your VOC file here
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Settings
Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
VOC files store uncompressed PCM audio (either 8-bit unsigned or 16-bit signed little-endian samples) in a Creative Labs proprietary container with a simple block-based structure. During conversion, FFmpeg reads the PCM audio stream directly from the VOC container and re-encodes it using the FLAC codec, which applies lossless compression algorithms (similar to ZIP but tuned for audio waveforms) to reduce the file size without discarding any audio data. The resulting FLAC file is a fully modern, seekable audio file with support for metadata tags — something the original VOC format lacks. The compression level 5 used here is the default FLAC setting, balancing encode speed and file size efficiently.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg program — in this browser tool, it runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly, so the conversion happens entirely on your device without any server upload. |
-i input.voc
|
Specifies the input file — a VOC file in Creative Labs' Sound Blaster format. FFmpeg reads the VOC block structure and extracts the raw PCM audio stream (either 8-bit unsigned or 16-bit signed little-endian, depending on how the VOC was created). |
-c:a flac
|
Sets the audio codec to FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), which re-encodes the raw PCM data from the VOC file using lossless compression. This produces a modern, widely-compatible audio file without any loss to the original audio samples. |
-compression_level 5
|
Sets the FLAC compression effort to level 5 (the default, on a scale of 0–8). All levels produce bit-identical audio output — this only controls the trade-off between encode speed and output file size. Level 5 is a well-balanced choice for archiving DOS game sound effects. |
output.flac
|
The output filename, which tells FFmpeg to write a FLAC container file. The .flac extension is recognized by virtually all modern audio players, DAWs, and game engines, making it far more interoperable than the original VOC format. |
Common Use Cases
- Archiving sound effects from classic DOS games (like those from DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D, or early Sierra titles) into a modern lossless format that media players and DAWs can actually open
- Preserving original game audio samples at full fidelity before using them in audio editing software, where VOC is rarely supported but FLAC is widely accepted
- Adding metadata tags (artist, title, album) to retro game sounds — something the VOC format cannot store — by converting to FLAC and tagging with a tool like foobar2000 or MusicBrainz Picard
- Reducing the storage footprint of large VOC sound libraries from CD-ROM era software collections, since FLAC compression typically shrinks raw PCM files by 40–60%
- Preparing vintage PC sound effects for use in modern game engines (Unity, Godot, Unreal) that support FLAC or require a standard audio container the engine's asset pipeline can import
- Converting VOC recordings from emulators or DOSBox audio capture sessions into an archivable format suitable for long-term digital preservation
Frequently Asked Questions
No — this is a fully lossless conversion in both directions. VOC stores raw PCM audio (uncompressed), and FLAC compresses audio without discarding any data. Every audio sample in the original VOC file is mathematically identical in the resulting FLAC file. FLAC is lossless by specification, so decompressing it always reconstructs the exact original waveform.
Yes. FFmpeg reads the 8-bit unsigned PCM (pcm_u8) audio from the VOC file and converts it into FLAC encoding, which supports bit depths from 4 to 32 bits. The 8-bit character of the audio is preserved — you won't get artificial upsampling or bit depth inflation unless you explicitly add resampling flags. The resulting FLAC file will faithfully represent the original 8-bit sound, complete with its characteristic low-fidelity texture.
Replace the '5' in '-compression_level 5' with any integer from 0 to 8. Level 0 is the fastest encoding with the least compression, and level 8 is the slowest with the smallest file size — but critically, all levels are lossless and produce identical audio output. For example, use 'ffmpeg -i input.voc -c:a flac -compression_level 8 output.flac' to maximize compression. For archiving retro game audio where file size matters, level 8 is a reasonable choice since the files are typically small and the extra encode time is negligible.
Yes, on Linux or macOS you can run: 'for f in *.voc; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a flac -compression_level 5 "${f%.voc}.flac"; done' in a terminal. On Windows Command Prompt, use: 'for %f in (*.voc) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a flac -compression_level 5 "%~nf.flac"'. This is especially useful when ripping an entire game's sound library from a DOS installation or DOSBox configuration where dozens of individual VOC files are present.
No, and that's actually an improvement. The VOC format stores minimal header information and uses a block-based structure that carries no standard metadata like track titles, artist names, or album info. FLAC supports full Vorbis comment tags (title, artist, album, etc.) and other metadata blocks. The conversion extracts only the audio content from the VOC blocks; you can then add proper metadata to the FLAC file using any tag editor after conversion.
This is FLAC compression working as intended. VOC files store raw, uncompressed PCM audio — every sample takes up its full space with no compression whatsoever. FLAC applies a lossless compression algorithm that models the audio signal and stores only the prediction residuals, which are much more compressible. For the simple, often repetitive waveforms found in retro game sound effects (short beeps, blips, gunshots), FLAC can achieve very high compression ratios, sometimes reducing file size by more than 50% with zero quality loss.
Technical Notes
VOC files support only two codecs: pcm_u8 (8-bit unsigned PCM, the most common in Sound Blaster era games) and pcm_s16le (16-bit signed little-endian PCM for higher-quality recordings). FFmpeg correctly identifies and decodes both, mapping them directly into FLAC encoding. One important limitation: VOC files do not support multiple audio channels — they are strictly mono or, in rare Sound Blaster Pro extended blocks, stereo. FLAC handles both gracefully. The VOC format also has no concept of sample rate metadata in all block types, so FFmpeg may infer it from the block headers; if your FLAC output sounds pitched incorrectly, you can explicitly override with '-ar 22050' (or whatever the correct rate is) in the FFmpeg command. FLAC's seekability is a significant upgrade from VOC, which requires linear reading. The compression_level 5 default produces files that are well-compressed for archival purposes without requiring long encode times, making it a sensible default for processing large DOS game sound libraries.