Free online GP3 to MIDI converter

A DAW, hardware sequencer, keyboard, or notation program may require MIDI when it cannot open an older Guitar Pro score. Converting the file also separates editable note data from Guitar Pro's proprietary tablature format for sharing and playback.

What the GP3 format is

GP3 is the binary Guitar Pro 3 file format for guitar tablature and standard notation. It can contain multiple tracks, tuning, tempo, time signatures, lyrics, instrument assignments, and notation or performance details such as bends, slides, harmonics, and palm muting. Guitar Pro 3 creates GP3 files; newer Guitar Pro releases and TuxGuitar can generally import them. GP3 files are commonly found in older guitar-tab collections and personal composition archives.

What the MIDI format is

MIDI is an event-based music format, not a recording of audio. A Standard MIDI File stores timed note, velocity, channel, program-change, tempo, and selected controller events. MIDI files are usually much smaller than audio files and can be imported into DAWs, sequencers, notation software, and hardware instruments for editing or playback.

MIDI contains no guitar recording or fixed instrument sound. The receiving application or device supplies the sounds, so the same file can produce different results depending on its synthesizer, soundfont, effects, and instrument assignments.

How to convert GP3 to MIDI

With Guitar Pro

1. Open the .gp3 file in Guitar Pro 3 or in a newer Guitar Pro version that supports GP3 import.
2. Check the imported tracks, tuning, tempo, time signatures, voices, and instrument assignments. Correct any import problems before exporting.
3. Choose File → Export → MIDI. Menu wording can vary slightly by Guitar Pro version.
4. Save the output with a .mid or .midi extension.
5. Open the MIDI file in the destination DAW or notation program and check the track count, tempo, octaves, channels, and playback.

With TuxGuitar

1. Open TuxGuitar and choose File → Open to load the GP3 file.
2. Inspect the imported score and mute, delete, or edit tracks that should not be included.
3. Choose File → Export → MIDI and save the result as .mid or .midi.

If no desktop software is available, the built-in converter on 101convert.com can convert a GP3 file to MIDI for free: upload the file, select MIDI as the output, run the conversion, and download the result. Do not upload compositions that must remain private unless the service's handling of uploaded files is acceptable.

Quality and compatibility limits

The export converts musical timing and performance instructions into MIDI events; it does not preserve Guitar Pro's page layout, tablature appearance, fingering text, chord diagrams, or most notation symbols. Guitar-specific effects may be simplified, omitted, or expressed with pitch-bend and controller events that different MIDI instruments interpret differently.

Check bends, slides, tremolo, tuplets, grace notes, repeating sections, multiple voices, and tempo changes after export. Channel assignments, program changes, and octave placement can also change during import or playback. Reassign instruments in the destination application and verify the file in a second MIDI-capable program when compatibility matters.