.PTX File Format

Introduction

A .ptx file is a session saved by Pro Tools, Avid’s audio workstation and the long-time standard in recording studios and film post-production. It holds the tracks, clips, edits, mixer, plug-in settings and automation. The audio lives in an Audio Files folder beside the session, which refers to it.

The extension has changed with the versions: .pts for Pro Tools 5 and 6, .ptf for Pro Tools 7 to 9, and .ptx from Pro Tools 10 onwards. Avid does not publish the format.

Structure

A session is a single binary file. Its content is obfuscated rather than stored plainly, and it is known only through reverse engineering. The open-source ptformat library undoes the obfuscation and reads the audio files, regions and their positions on the tracks, which is how Ardour imports Pro Tools sessions. Much of the rest of the file, such as plug-in and mixer data, is not publicly understood. Between studios, sessions are usually exchanged as AAF or as separate audio files instead.

Also used for

• Leica text point cloud – A text point cloud: a count, then one line per point with intensity and colour.

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