.RMI File Format

Introduction

An RMI file is a Standard MIDI File wrapped in Microsoft’s Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF), the same container as WAV. Microsoft defined it in the early 1990s, and Windows shipped several RMI files as sample music. The wrapper lets the file carry RIFF metadata, such as a title and copyright, and it can also hold a bank of instrument sounds so that the music sounds the same on every computer.

Structure

The file is one RIFF chunk with the form type RMID. Inside, a data chunk holds a complete Standard MIDI File, beginning MThd. Optional chunks follow: a LIST INFO chunk with text such as the name and copyright, and an embedded instrument bank in Downloadable Sounds (DLS) form. Sizes are 32-bit little-endian, as in every RIFF file, while the MIDI data inside keeps its own big-endian layout.

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