
Monkey's audio format with the .ape filename extension is a lossless format with slightly better compression rates than other lossless formats like FLAC and WavPack. APE audio files are compatible with only a limited number of digital devices and operating systems (in fact, Ape is only fully supported on Windows). FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), Monkey's Audio's main competitor, has more features and supported by many hardware devices from Philips, Onkyo and Pioneer, e.t.c. If you find the compression ration is not so important, then converting APE to FLAC is better solution for lossless compression, quality as well as capability with players.
1 Compatibility issue
I can't say anything bad about the format itself and the compression algorithm used. Everything is ok here. The codec is slightly superior to the widespread FLAC by all parameters.
But there is one nuance that forever discouraged me from using this format for personal use. A few years ago the developer broke backward compatibility in the latest versions of the APE encoder. Worse, the format version hasn't changed, so older decoders don't throw an error and report successful processing. As you can realize, this can cause all your recordings to be lost during conversion. If you want to continue using the APE format to store your audio collection, use version 4.75 or earlier.
Now let's see how significant the backward compatibility issue is. Most converters use ffmpeg libraries, which is known for its alternative implementations of audio codecs. At the moment of writing this article the latest version of ffmpeg 6.1 does not support ape files compressed with the latest versions of Monkey's Audio codec from the official developer. Thus, 90% of all players and converters do not have full support for this format.

How to avoid problems? The developer recommends using its own application or converters that use the reference implementation of the algorithm. Let's start with the official application.
2 Official Monkey's Audio App
The official app immerses us in the atmosphere of the 2000s. The converter is not capable of transcoding formats and offers two separate modes for encoding and decoding. And even such a simple implementation is not without bugs (see screenshot).

No transcoding from APE to FLAC is out of the question here. First we decode all files to uncompressed WAV format, and then to encode to FLAC we need to switch the application mode, add WAV files to the list and select an external FLAC encoder.
Of course, this approach wastes not only time but also all the metadata from the original file, since the intermediate WAV format does not support tags.
3 More convenient way to convert APE to FLAC
Now let's try to use a modern transcoder that, unlike others, uses the official SDK to decode APE. In our case it will be Audio Converter Plus. It has proven itself in transcoding lossless formats and supports almost all of them. And it does it directly, without creating huge intermediate files. At the same time, it supports all known metadata formats and is capable of transferring artist information and album art from APE to FLAC. Let's take a closer look at its use.

Run the downloaded file audioconverter.exe to start installation, which is fast and requires no knowledge. After installation, double click on the new icon, you will see the user interface above.
Step 2: Add APE files to Conversion ListAdd the APE audio files from the "File" menu in batches. You can add few files at once or entire folder with APE audio collection. Audio Converter Plus can scan all subdirectories if you wish.
Step 3: Choose the proper output folderAt the right bottom field you can see an Output Folder option. Click the "Browse" button to set an output path, which will be the destination folder of converted FLAC files. Also, you can use the same folder as original APE audio.
Step 4: Set the Compression OptionsSelect FLAC encoder from dropdown list and click the "Encoder options". Use the "Same as original" choices to keep original audio format. "Compression" slider lets you choose between compression speed and volume of the output FLAC file.
Step 5: Start converting audio from APE to FLAC formatClick the orange "Convert" button, the conversion task will be started immediately.
4 Conclusion
As you can see, the free method is significantly less convenient to use and loses important data. The proposed alternative is free of these drawbacks and offers a much larger selection of formats.
Usually I also provide a method for converting using an online service, but today this will not happen. Guess why? Yes, because all the tested online services are based on ffmpeg and decode APE files with an error.