Free online SMF to CSV converter

What the SMF format is

SMF means Standard MIDI File, the format commonly stored with .mid or .midi extensions. It contains MIDI performance and composition events—not recorded audio—including note-on and note-off messages, instrument changes, controller values, pitch bends, tempo, time signatures, key signatures, track names, and other metadata.

Digital audio workstations, MIDI sequencers, notation applications, and hardware keyboards commonly create SMF files. Type 0 files store all events in one track; Type 1 files separate events into multiple synchronized tracks. An SMF stores musical instructions and timing data, so it does not preserve the sound of a particular synthesizer or the rendered audio.

What the CSV format is

CSV is a plain-text, comma-separated table format. For MIDI work, a specialized MIDI-to-CSV representation normally uses one row per event, with fields such as track number, time in ticks, event type, channel, note number, velocity, and event-specific values.

CSV is useful for spreadsheet inspection, scripting, database import, statistical analysis, and version control because its contents are readable and easy to process. It is not a universal music notation or MIDI interchange standard: a generic spreadsheet export may preserve only selected note fields, while a MIDI-aware CSV converter can represent a much larger set of SMF events.

How to convert SMF to CSV

Using MIDI CSV

The most direct desktop method is MIDI CSV, a command-line utility that translates Standard MIDI Files into a documented event table.

1. Install the MIDI CSV package for your operating system and place the source file in an accessible folder.
2. Open a terminal or command prompt and change to that folder.
3. Run midicsv input.mid output.csv, replacing input.mid with the actual SMF filename.
4. Open output.csv in a text editor, spreadsheet, or analysis program. Import it as comma-separated data and preserve the first row or event columns exactly as exported.

To convert the resulting event table back to a MIDI file, use csvmidi output.csv restored.mid. This is useful for checking whether an edited CSV remains valid, but it does not guarantee that every application-specific MIDI event will survive unchanged.

Using the online converter

You can convert the file for free on the 101convert.com website without installing software: upload the SMF/MIDI file, select CSV as the output format, start the conversion, and download the generated file. Use the desktop method instead when the MIDI contains confidential material or when you need control over event representation.

Quality and compatibility limits

• CSV does not inherently define musical timing. MIDI-aware exports commonly retain the SMF division value and express event positions in ticks; converting ticks to seconds or beats requires the file's tempo map and time-division settings.
• A spreadsheet may automatically change large numbers, remove leading zeros, alter text encoding, or interpret commas and quotes incorrectly. Import the file with the correct delimiter and UTF-8 encoding, and avoid saving it through software that rewrites fields without quoting.
• Note duration is usually represented by matching note-on and note-off events rather than a single duration field. Analysis software must pair events by track, channel, note number, and musical order.
• Track names, tempo changes, controllers, program changes, pitch bends, sysex messages, and text metadata can be retained by MIDI-aware converters but may be discarded by custom scripts or simplified spreadsheet exports.
• CSV normally omits the instrument sounds themselves. To preserve playback, keep the original SMF and any required sound-bank or synthesizer settings alongside the CSV.