An audio file of your favorite guitar solo will contain a recording of the solo this audio file can be edited in multiple ways, but the sonic characteristics of the recorded guitar solo will always be there. To better understand the difference between a MIDI file and an audio file, consider your favorite guitar solo. A MIDI file, on the other hand, can be used as a set of instructions to play any given instrument. Whereas MIDI files contain just musical information (i.e., pure musical data), audio files contain actual recorded sounds.Ī piano audio file can be processed, but it will always be a piano audio file. What is the difference between MIDI files and audio files? In other words, MIDI files are like sheet music that can be instantly processed by any sound-generating source, from analog synthesizers to modern-day VST instruments.

A MIDI file is like a piece of sheet music, with the difference that it can be loaded to multiple computers programs and musical devices to generate sound.

These instructions are pure musical data, such as the notes that are being played, the tempo they’re being played at, or the velocity (intensity) used to play them.Ī good way to understand MIDI files is thinking of them as the 20th-century equivalent of sheet music. MIDI files are files that contain a set of music instructions used to communicate between instruments and music software. What is the difference between MIDI files and audio files?.

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