Karaoke File Formats
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Karaoke File Format
MP3+G (MP3 plus Graphics) is a
karaoke file format that was created to allow CD+G karaoke to be played from a personal computer easily and quickly. MP3+G was created from the combination of the MP3 audio file (the CD audio is converted and compressed to MP3) and a raw CDG file which contains the RW subchannels from the CD+G track.
What is CD+G Format?
CD-G disks allow you to play audio and display graphics onto a screen. They are commonly used in karaoke and can be played using a karaoke machine, TV, and laptop or PC. This will allow you to hear the backing instrumental, and view the lyrics on-screen.
So CD and CD+G sound pretty similar, but what’s the difference. Well, the “G” in CD-G stands for graphics. This means that this format allows you to play the audio of the instrumental (the CD part) and also the lyric visual (the G part).
If you play a CD+G disk in a normal CD player, then it will still work and you will hear the audio like you would if you used a normal CD.
To be clear, the the CD+G format doesn’t actually play a video, it just displays graphics. But it does mean that you’ll see the lyrics on the screen at the same time as the instrumental audio.
If you’re after an actual video, then you’ll need VCD. But in most cases, CD+G is adequate for karaoke.
CDG or CD+G are the same thing and the terms can be used interchangeable. It stands for Compact Disc + Graphics and is the standard format for most English karaoke discs. These discs can either be played on a karaoke machine that supports CDG or in a regular player that can play CDs.
BIN
Explaining The CDG Format
There seems to be a bit of confusion to what the abbreviation "CDG" actually means. Some search phrases often used to find this site include "download CDG files", "burn CDG files", "create CDG files", etc..
The acronym CDG, which is actually a shortened version of CD+G, originated from "Compact Disc plus Graphics" which is the most popular type of karaoke disc. These discs contain standard audio sound tracks that have graphics (images and lyrics) embedded in the normally unused "subchannel" portion of the tracks. CD+G discs do not contain video.
If you would view the contents of a karaoke CDG disc, in Windows explorer for example, you would find that it contains files of the .cda extension just like any standard audio disc. The .cda extension is actually a shortcut as opposed to an actual file type extension. If you play a CDG disc in a standard CD player you will be able to listen to the audio. You must have a karaoke (CDG) player in order to display the graphics on a monitor or television screen.
The .cdg file extension is used for a variety of purposes. This leads to the confusion of what a CDG file is. The MP3+G format uses a .cdg extension for the graphic file of the file pair that makes up each MP3+G song track. Some karaoke software applications may create BIN files but give them the .cdg extension. Some midi karaoke files have been given a .cdg extension.
The song tracks that are ripped from a CD+G disc are not CDG files. They are typically ripped to the MP3+G format (compressed format for playing with software players from a hard drive) or BIN files (full sized files used to make copies of CDG discs or to create custom compilation discs).