.mid files
.mid file
MIDI Sequence
Not audio at all — a list of notes and instructions for a synthesiser to perform.
What opens a .mid file
- Windows
- Media Player (built in), MuseScore, VLC
- macOS
- GarageBand, MuseScore, VLC (with a SoundFont)
- Linux
- MuseScore, VLC (with a SoundFont), TiMidity++
What a .mid file is
A MIDI file stores which note is played, when, how hard and on which instrument; it contains no recorded sound, which is why a three-minute song fits in a few kilobytes. How it sounds depends entirely on the synthesiser playing it, so the same file is tinny in one program and orchestral in another. Windows Media Player plays MIDI with the built-in wavetable; on macOS and Linux you generally need GarageBand, MuseScore or a player configured with a SoundFont.
Converting it
A .mid file is commonly converted to .mp3, .wav, .musicxml or .pdf. It is a binary format, so a text editor will show unreadable characters rather than its contents.
Details
- Extension
- .mid
- Full name
- MIDI Sequence
- Category
- Audio
- MIME type
- audio/midi
- Created by
- MIDI Manufacturers Association
- Format
- Binary
Common questions
- How do I open a .mid file?
- On Windows use Media Player (built in); on macOS use GarageBand; on Linux use MuseScore. Not audio at all — a list of notes and instructions for a synthesiser to perform.
- What is a .mid file?
- MIDI Sequence. A MIDI file stores which note is played, when, how hard and on which instrument; it contains no recorded sound, which is why a three-minute song fits in a few kilobytes. How it sounds depends entirely on the synthesiser playing it, so the same file is tinny in one program and orchestral in another.
- Can I convert a .mid file?
- Yes. It is usually converted to .mp3, .wav, .musicxml or .pdf, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.
Related pages
- .mp3 — MPEG-1 Audio Layer III The lossy audio format that made digital music portable, and still plays on ever
- .wav — Waveform Audio File Uncompressed audio — perfect quality, very large files, universal support.
- .m4a — MPEG-4 Audio Audio in an MP4 container — what iTunes, Voice Memos and most modern recorders p
- .flac — Free Lossless Audio Codec Compressed audio that throws nothing away — about half the size of WAV, bit-for-
- .aac — Advanced Audio Coding The successor to MP3 — better sound per byte, used by YouTube, Apple and broadca
- .ogg — Ogg Vorbis Audio The open, patent-free audio format used by Spotify, Wikipedia and countless game
- .opus — Opus Audio The modern low-latency codec behind WhatsApp voice notes, Discord and web calls.
- .m3u — Media Playlist A plain-text list of tracks or stream URLs — it holds no audio itself.
- .wma — Windows Media Audio Microsoft's music format from the Windows XP years, now legacy.
- .aiff — Audio Interchange File Format Apple's uncompressed audio format — the Mac equivalent of WAV.
- .m4b — MPEG-4 Audiobook An audiobook file that remembers your place and supports chapters.
- .amr — Adaptive Multi-Rate Audio The narrow-band speech codec behind old phone voice recordings and MMS messages.
Sources
- Media Types Registry — IANA
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place