MIDI and tracker file formats

Formats that store music as notes and instructions rather than recorded sound. A MIDI file tells a synthesiser what to play. A tracker module carries its own short samples and a grid of patterns that says when to play them.

Formats

.IT

Impulse Tracker module

64-channel tracker song with enveloped instruments, filters and packed patterns.

.KAR

MIDI karaoke file

A Standard MIDI File with the lyrics added as timed text events.

.MID

Standard MIDI File

Notes and timing for a synthesiser, in header and track chunks.

.MOD

Amiga ProTracker module

Amiga tracker song: 31 samples, an order table and 4-channel patterns.

.RMI

RIFF MIDI

A Standard MIDI File in a RIFF RMID wrapper, with tags and an optional sound bank.

.S3M

Scream Tracker 3 module

DOS tracker song: up to 32 channels, parapointers to samples and packed patterns.

.SID

Commodore 64 SID tune

C64 music as the original 6502 player code, behind a PSID or RSID header.

.VGM

Video Game Music log

Game music as a timed log of writes to the console’s sound chips.

.XM

FastTracker 2 Extended Module

PC tracker song: packed patterns and multi-sample instruments with envelopes.