While MP3 is one of the most popular audio formats, you may come across strange formats like MIDI (.MID) files on your computer or other device. While you can curiously open and play it. However, you can’t play them on your Windows 11 PC until and unless you use specific programs.
With that in mind, this post explains everything about MIDI files and some ways to easily open them on your Windows 11 PC.
What is a MIDI file?
Commonly used by music producers to record the sounds produced by an electronic synthesizer, a MIDI Instrument Digital Interface file or musical instrument contains detailed information about which note/key is being played. broadcast at a time. It also includes details like the length or volume of each note so that any software that supports MIDI playback can reproduce that sequence of sounds.
While the data recorded in a MIDI file may seem rudimentary, MIDI offers much more flexibility than your typical MP3 or WAV audio file for two reasons:
- Lower file size: Compared to other audio files, MIDI files do not contain the actual sound, but only the data needed to reproduce the sound as a sequence of notes. Therefore, the amount of storage space required to store a typical MIDI file is very small (in Kbs).
- Editable even after being recorded: Unlike MP3 and WAV files, MIDI files can be edited on a note-by-note basis. Furthermore, the same MIDI file can be opened with different virtual instruments to reproduce the sound of any instrument, since MIDI stores only the data needed to reproduce the note sequence, not the actual sound.
How to open Midi files on Windows 11
From using Windows Media Player that came pre-installed with an earlier version of Windows to using third-party tools, there are many ways you can open MIDI files on your Windows 11 PC. Let’s take a look at a few of them:
1. Open Midi files with Windows Media Player
One of the easiest ways you can play MIDI files is by using Windows Media Player in Windows 10 and earlier. However, to play MIDI files on Windows 11, you need to enable Windows Media Player Legacy as an extra feature. That’s because the completely redesigned Media Player in Windows 11 doesn’t support MIDI playback.
Here’s how you can enable Windows Media Player Legacy as an extra on your PC and play MIDI files using it:
Step 1: Simultaneously press the Windows + I key combination to open the Settings application.
Step 2: In the Settings app, click Apps from the left sidebar. Then, from the right pane, click Optional Features.
Step 3: Click the ‘View Features’ button on the right hand side of the ‘Add Optional Features’ section.
Step 4: Scroll down to the Windows Media Player Legacy option, select the checkbox next to it, and click the Next button.
Step 5: On the following screen, click the Install button.
Then Windows 11 will automatically download and install the files needed to activate Windows Media Player Legacy on Windows 11 and ask you to Restart your PC. You can then use Windows Media Player Legacy to open and play MIDI files on your computer.
2. Open MIDI files with VLC Media Player
The second best method that can be used to play MIDI files is to use VLC Media Player. However, you cannot play MIDI files with VLC Media Player right away. After installing VLC Media Player on your PC, you will need to install an audio codec that supports MIDI playback. Here’s how to go about it.
Step 1: Click the Download button below and download VLC Media Player on your PC.
Step 2: Once the download is complete, click on the VLC installer, select Yes and follow the onscreen instructions to install VLC Media Player on your PC.
Step 3: Now that VLC Media Player is installed, you will need to download the SoundFont file from the FluidSynth codec to play MIDI files.
Step 4: After downloading the SF2 file, open VLC Media Player and click on Tools then Options to install the codec into VLC.
Step 5: When the Simple Options dialog box appears on the screen, click on the All option located at the bottom left corner.
Step 6: From the list of codecs that appear, click the Audio codecs drop-down menu and select FluidSynth.
Step 7: On the right panel, click the Browse button to open the Choose a file to install new codec dialog box.
Step 8: Locate the SF2 (SoundFont) file on your computer and click on it, then click Open.
Step 9: Click Save to confirm the changes.
Step 10: Now Press Ctrl + O keys simultaneously inside VLC Media Player and select the MIDI file(s) you want to play. Then click Open.
3. Open MIDI files with DAW
One of the best ways you can play or even edit flying MIDI on your PC is by using a DAW or Digital Audio Workstation. DAWs allow music producers and artists to record, arrange, edit, and layer virtual instruments and synthesizers stored as MIDI templates to create soundtracks.
For this article, we will be using an open source DAW called Audacity to open MIDI files.
Step 1: Click the Download button below and download Audacity on your PC.
Step 2: Once the download is complete, click on its installer and follow the onscreen instructions to install Audacity on your PC.
Step 3: Now that Audacity is installed, right click on the MIDI file you want to open and click Open With, followed by ‘Audacity.
Step 4: When the MIDI Files (Audacity) window appears on the screen, press the Space key or click the Play button to play the MIDI file.
4. Convert MIDI files to MP3 files with Online File Converter
While the previous methods might do the trick, now they won’t let you play MIDI files on your other devices.
In such cases, you may want to use an online file converter to easily convert the MIDI file to the much more popular MP3 format, which is compatible with almost any device. Here are the steps for the same:
Step 1: Open the Zamzar website and click the Choose File button.
Note: You can use another online file converter, but please note that the steps may be slightly different for them.
Step 2: When the Open window appears on the screen, select the MIDI file you want to convert and then click Open.
Step 4: After you select the MIDI file, click the Convert To drop-down menu and select the mp3 file format.
Step 5: After selecting the MIDI file and mp3 file format, click Convert Now. It may take a few seconds to process the file.
Step 6: Next, click the Download button and double-click the downloaded file to play the MP3 file using any media player you like.
Easily Open MIDI Files on Windows 11
It’s quite a lot. After reading this post, you should know what MIDI files are, how they work, and how you can quickly play them on your Windows 11 PC. Let us know which method to play MIDI files is easiest to do or if there is a better way to open MIDI files on Windows 11.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
