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audiocompressionmidifile-type

Is a MIDI file defined as a sound file type?

I've just finished an assessment on Data Structures where one of the questions given was regarding MIDI files. In the descriptor (a criteria for assessors) it states the following:

"Candidates will need to demonstrate their knowledge... by showing they can describe:

  • At least two Standard File types for images, sounds, video or compression."

Does a MIDI file fall under any of these categories? From what I have searched online, it doesn't. So I am somewhat bemused at a question regarding MIDI files being in this assessment.

Cheers

Solution

  • Not really, no. MIDI tells a synthesizer how to make sounds, where what you can make is constrained by the synthesizer. It cannot be used to represent arbitrary sound data. Though it has been used in a way not originally intended to send small sound samples to a synthesizer.

    Compressed sound formats are an entirely different thing from MIDI.

    (By the way, the quoted question needs some commas to make sense.)