Introduction
A KAR file is a Standard MIDI File with the words of the song added, so a karaoke player can show and highlight the lyrics in time with the music. The convention was started by the company Tune 1000 in the 1990s and spread through shared karaoke collections. Any MIDI player can play the music; only a karaoke-aware player shows the words.
Structure
The file is an ordinary MIDI file: an MThd header chunk and
MTrk track chunks. The lyrics are text meta events (FF 01),
usually in their own track, each placed at the tick where that syllable is sung. Text
starting with @ carries information rather than lyrics, such as
@KMIDI KARAOKE FILE, @T for the title and @L
for the language. Within the lyrics, a / starts a new line and a
\ starts a new paragraph.
The format was never formally specified, and players differ in the details. Some
files use the standard MIDI lyric event (FF 05) instead.
Links
Software
- vanBasco’s Karaoke Player (Windows)
- TiMidity++ (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Developers
- Mido, Python library that reads the MIDI events, lyrics included