In a power converting apparatus which converts AC power into DC power, an inverter circuit including at least one series-connected single-phase inverter is connected in a downstream of a stage in which an AC input is rectified in series therewith. In the downstream stage of the inverter circuit, there are provided a smoothing capacitor connected via a rectifier diode and a short-circuiting switch for bypassing the smoothing capacitor. The short-circuiting switch is set to an ON state only in each of short-circuiting phase ranges of which midpoint matches each of zero-crossing phases and an output of the inverter circuit is controlled by using a current command so that a DC voltage of the smoothing capacitor follows a target voltage and an input power factor is improved.