vgmstream

This is vgmstream, a library for playing streamed (pre-recorded) audio from video games.

There are multiple end-user bits:

• a command line decoder called "test.exe/vgmstream-cli"
• a Winamp plugin called "in_vgmstream"
• a foobar2000 component called "foo_input_vgmstream"
• an XMPlay plugin called "xmp-vgmstream"
• an Audacious plugin called "libvgmstream"
• a command line player called "vgmstream123"

Help and newest builds can be found here: https://www.hcs64.com/

Latest development is usually here: https://github.com/losnoco/vgmstream/

Needed extra files (for Windows)

Support for some codecs (Ogg Vorbis, MPEG audio, etc) is done with external libraries, so you will need to have certain DLL files.

In the case of the foobar2000 component they are all bundled for convenience, or you can get them here: https://github.com/losnoco/vgmstream/tree/master/ext_libs (bundled here: https://f.losno.co/vgmstream-win32-deps.zip, may not be latest).

Put the following files somewhere Windows can find them:

• libvorbis.dll
• libmpg123-0.dll
• libg7221_decode.dll
• libg719_decode.dll
• avcodec-vgmstream-58.dll
• avformat-vgmstream-58.dll
• avutil-vgmstream-56.dll
• swresample-vgmstream-3.dll
• libatrac9.dll
• libcelt-0061.dll
• libcelt-0110.dll

For Winamp/XMPlay/command line this means in the directory with the main .exe, or in a system directory, or any other directory in the PATH variable.

Components

test.exe/vgmstream-cli

Installation: unzip the file and follow the above instructions for installing the other files needed.

Converts playable files to wav. Typical usage would be:

• test.exe -o happy.wav happy.adx to decode happy.adx to happy.wav.

If command-line isn't your thing you can also drag and drop files to the executable to decode them as (filename).wav

There are multiple options that alter how the file is converted, for example:

• test.exe -m -o file.wav file.adx: print info but don't decode
• test.exe -i -o file.wav file.hca: convert without looping
• test.exe -s 2 -F -o file.wav file.fsb: play 2nd subsong + ending after 2.0 loops
• test.exe -l 3.0 -f 5.0 -d 3.0 -o file.wav file.wem: 3 loops, 3s delay, 5s fade

Available commands are printed when run with no flags. Note that you can also achieve similar results for other plugins using TXTP, described later.

in_vgmstream

Installation: drop the in_vgmstream.dll in your Winamp plugins directory, and follow the above instructions for installing the other files needed.

Once installed supported files should be playable.

xmp-vgmstream

Installation: drop the xmp-vgmstream.dll in your XMPlay plugins directory, and follow the above instructions for installing the other files needed.

Note that this has less features compared to in_vgmstream and has no configuration. Since XMPlay supports Winamp plugins you may also use in_vgmstream.dll instead.

Because the XMPlay MP3 decoder incorrectly tries to play some vgmstream exts, you need to manually fix it by going to options > plugins > input > vgmstream and in the "priority filetypes" put: ahx,asf,awc,ckd,fsb,genh,msf,p3d,rak,scd,txth,xvag

foo_input_vgmstream

Installation: every file should be installed automatically by the .fb2k-component bundle.

A known quirk is that when loop options or tags change, playlist won't refresh automatically. You need to manually refresh it by selecting songs and doing shift + right click > Tagging > Reload info from file(s).

Audacious plugin

Installation: needs to be manually built. Instructions can be found in the BUILD document.

vgmstream123

Installation: needs to be manually built. Instructions can be found in the BUILD document in vgmstream's source code.

Usage: vgmstream123 [options] INFILE ...

The program is meant to be a simple stand-alone player, supporting playback of vgmstream files through libao. Files compressed with gzip/bzip2/xz also work, as identified by a .gz/.bz2/.xz extension. The file will be decompressed to a temp dir using the respective utility program (which must be installed and accessible) and then loaded.

It also supports playlists, and will recognize a special extended-M3U tag specific to vgmstream of the following form:

#EXT-X-VGMSTREAM:LOOPCOUNT=2,FADETIME=10.0,FADEDELAY=0.0,STREAMINDEX=0

(Any subset of these four parameters may appear in the line, in any order)

When this "magic comment" appears in the playlist before a vgmstream-compatible file, the given parameters will be applied to the playback of said file. This makes it feasible to play vgmstream files directly instead of needing to make "arranged" WAV/MP3 conversions ahead of time.

The tag syntax follows the conventions established in Apple's HTTP Live Streaming standard, whose docs discuss extending M3U with arbitrary tags.

Special cases

vgmstream aims to support most audio formats as-is, but some files require extra handling.

Renamed files

A few extensions that vgmstream supports clash with common ones. Since players like foobar or Winamp don't react well to that, they may be renamed to make them playable through vgmstream.

• .aac to .laac (tri-Ace games)
• .ac3 to .lac3 (standard AC3)
• .aif to .laif or .aiffl or .aifcl (standard Mac AIF, Asobo AIF, Ogg)
• .aiff/aifc to .aiffl/aifcl (standard Mac AIF)
• .asf to .lasf (EA games, Argonaut ASF)
• .flac to .lflac (standard FLAC)
• .mp2 to .lmp2 (standard MP2)
• .mp3 to .lmp3 (standard MP3)
• .mp4 to .lmp4 (standard M4A)
• .mpc to .lmpc (standard MPC)
• .ogg to .logg (standard OGG)
• .opus to .lopus (standard OPUS or Switch OPUS)
• .stm to .lstm (Rockstar STM)
• .wav to .lwav (standard WAV)
• .wma to .lwma (standard WMA)
• .(any) to .vgmstream (FFmpeg formats or TXTH) Command line tools don't have this restriction and will accept the original filename.

The main advantage to rename them is that vgmstream may use the file's internal loop info, or apply subtle fixes, but is also limited in some ways (like standard/player's tagging).

.vgmstream is a catch-all extension that may work as a last resort to make a file playable.

When extracting from a bigfile, sometimes internal files don't have an actual name+extension. Those should be renamed to its proper/common extension, as the extractor program may guess wrong (like .wav instead of .at3 or .wem). If there is no known extension, usually the header id string may be used instead.

Note that vgmstream also accepts certain extension-less files too.

Demuxed videos

vgmstream also supports audio from videos, but usually must be demuxed (extracted without modification) first, since vgmstream doesn't attempt to support them.

The easiest way to do this is using VGMToolBox's "Video Demultiplexer" option for common game video formats (.bik, .vp6, .pss, .pam, .pmf, .usm, .xmv, etc).

For standard videos formats (.avi, .mp4, .webm, .m2v, .ogv, etc) not supported by VGMToolBox FFmpeg binary may work:

• ffmpeg.exe -i (input file) -vn -acodec copy (output file) Output extension may need to be adjusted to some appropriate audio file depending on the audio codec used. ffprobe.exe can list this codec, though the correct audio extension depends on the video itself (like .avi to .wav/mp2/mp3 or .ogv to .ogg).

Some games use custom video formats, demuxer scripts in .bms format may be found on the internet.

Companion files

Some formats have companion files with external looping info, and should be left together.

• .mus (playlist for .acm)
• .pos (loop info for .wav, and sometimes .ogg)
• .ogg.sli or .sli (loop info for .ogg)
• .ogg.sfl (loop info for .ogg)
• .vgmstream.pos (loop info for FFmpeg formats)
  • also possible for certain extensions like .lflac.pos

Similarly some formats split header and/or data in separate files (.sgh+sgd, .wav.str+.wav, (file)_L.dsp+(file)_R.dsp, etc). vgmstream will also detect and use those as needed and must be tegether, even if only one of the two will be used to play.

.pos is a small file with 32 bit little endian values: loop start sample and loop end sample. For FFmpeg formats (.vgmstream.pos) it may optionally have total samples after those.

Decryption keys

Certain formats have encrypted data, and need a key to decrypt. vgmstream will try to find the correct key from a list, but it can be provided by a companion file:

• .adx: .adxkey (derived 6 byte key, in start/mult/add format)
• .ahx: .ahxkey (derived 6 byte key, in start/mult/add format)
• .hca: .hcakey (8 byte decryption key, a 64-bit number)
  • May be followed by 2 byte AWB scramble key for newer HCA
• .fsb: .fsbkey (decryption key, in hex)

The key file can be ".(ext)key" (for the whole folder), or "(name).(ext)key" (for a single file). The format is made up to suit vgmstream.

Artificial/generic headers

In some cases a file only has raw data, while important header info (codec type, sample rate, channels, etc) is stored in the .exe or other hard to locate places.

Those can be played using an artificial header with info vgmstream needs.

GENH: a byte header placed right before the original data, modyfing it. The resulting file must be (name).genh. Contains static header data. Programs like VGMToolbox can help to create GENH.

TXTH: a text header placed in an external file. The TXTH must be named ".txth" or ".(ext).txth" (for the whole folder), or "(name.ext).txth" (for a single file). Contains dynamic text commands to read data from the original file, or static values.

TXTP: a text playing configurator. Can contain a list of filenames to play as one (ex. "intro.vag" "loop.vag"), list of separate channel files to join as a single multichannel file, subsong index (ex. bgm.sxd#10), per-file configurations like number of loops, and many other features.

Creation of those files is meant for advanced users, docs can be found in vgmstream source.

Plugin conflicts

Since vgmstream supports a huge amount of formats it's possibly that some of them are also supported in other plugins, and this sometimes causes conflicts. If a file that should isn't playing or looping, first make sure vgmstream is really opening it (should show "VGMSTREAM" somewhere in the file info), and try to remove a few other plugins.

foobar's ffmpeg plugin and foo_adpcm are known to cause issues, but in recent versions (1.4.x) you can configure plugin priority.

Channel issues

Some games layer a huge number of channels, that are disabled or downmixed during gameplay. The player may be unable to play those files (for example foobar can only play up to 8 channels, and Winamp depends the your sound card). For those files you can set the "downmix" option in vgmstream, that can reduce the number of channels to a playable amount. Note that this type of downmixing is very generic, not meant to be used when converting to other formats.

Tagging

Some of vgmstream's plugins support simple read-only tagging via external files.

Tags are loaded from a text/M3U-like file named !tags.m3u in the song folder. You don't have to load your songs with that M3U though (but you can, for pre-made ordering), the file itself just 'looks' like an M3U.

Format is:

# ignored comment
# $GLOBAL_COMMAND value (extra features)
# @GLOBAL_TAG value (applies all following tracks)

# %LOCAL_TAG value (applies to next track only)
filename1
# %LOCAL_TAG value (applies to next track only)
filename2

Accepted tags depend on the player (foobar: any; winamp: see ATF config), typically ALBUM/ARTIST/TITLE/DISC/TRACK/COMPOSER/etc, lower or uppercase, separated by one or multiple spaces. Repeated tags overwrite previous (ex.- may define @COMPOSER for multiple tracks). It only reads up to current filename though, so any @TAG below would be ignored.

Playlist formatting should follow player's config. ASCII or UTF-8 tags work.

GLOBAL_COMMANDs currently can be:

• AUTOTRACK: sets %TRACK% tag automatically (1..N as files are encountered in the tag file).
• AUTOALBUM: sets %ALBUM% tag automatically using the containing dir as album.

Note that since you can use global tags don't need to put all files inside. This would be a perfectly valid !tags.m3u:

# @ALBUM    Game
# @ARTIST   Various Artists

foobar2000/Winamp can apply the following replaygain tags (if ReplayGain is enabled in preferences):

# %replaygain_track_gain N.NN dB
# %replaygain_track_peak N.NNN
# @replaygain_album_gain N.NN dB
# @replaygain_album_peak N.NNN

If your player isn't picking tags make sure vgmstream is detecting the song (as other plugins can steal its extensions, see above), .m3u is properly named and that filenames inside match the song filename. For Winamp you need to make sure options > titles > advanced title formatting checkbox is set and the format defined.

Supported codec types

Quick list of codecs vgmstream supports, including many obscure ones that are used in few games.

• PCM 16-bit
• PCM 8-bit (signed/unsigned)
• PCM 4-bit (signed/unsigned)
• PCM 32-bit float
• u-Law/a-LAW
• CRI ADX (standard, fixed, exponential, encrypted)
• Nintendo DSP ADPCM a.k.a GC ADPCM
• Nintendo DTK ADPCM
• Nintendo AFC ADPCM
• ITU-T G.721
• CD-ROM XA ADPCM
• Sony PSX ADPCM a.k.a VAG (standard, badflags, configurable)
• Sony HEVAG
• Electronic Arts EA-XA (stereo, mono, Maxis)
• Electronic Arts EA-XAS (v0, v1)
• DVI/IMA ADPCM (stereo/mono + high/low nibble, 3DS, Omikron, SNDS, etc)
• Microsoft MS IMA ADPCM (standard, Xbox, NDS, Radical, Wwise, FSB, WV6, etc)
• Microsoft MS ADPCM (standard, Cricket Audio)
• Westwood VBR ADPCM
• Yamaha ADPCM (standard, Aska)
• Procyon Studio ADPCM
• Level-5 0x555 ADPCM
• lsf ADPCM
• Konami MTAF ADPCM
• Konami MTA2 ADPCM
• Paradigm MC3 ADPCM
• FMOD FADPCM 4-bit ADPCM
• Konami XMD 4-bit ADPCM
• Argonaut ASF 4-bit ADPCM
• Ocean DSA 4-bit ADPCM
• Circus XPCM ADPCM
• OKI 4-bit ADPCM (16-bit output, PC-FX)
• Ocean DSA 4-bit ADPCM
• SDX2 2:1 Squareroot-Delta-Exact compression DPCM
• CBD2 2:1 Cuberoot-Delta-Exact compression DPCM
• Activision EXAKT SASSC DPCM
• Xilam DERF DPCM
• InterPlay ACM
• VisualArt's NWA
• Electronic Arts MicroTalk a.k.a. UTK or UMT
• CRI HCA
• Xiph Vorbis (Ogg, FSB5, Wwise, OGL, Silicon Knights)
• MPEG MP1/2/3 (standard, AHX, XVAG, FSB, AWC, P3D, etc)
• ITU-T G.722.1 annex C (Polycom Siren 14)
• ITU G.719 annex B (Polycom Siren 22)
• Electronic Arts EALayer3
• Electronic Arts EA-XMA
• Sony ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus
• Sony ATRAC9
• Microsoft XMA1/2
• Microsoft WMA v1, WMA v2, WMAPro
• AAC
• Bink
• AC3/SPDIF
• Xiph Opus (Ogg, Switch, EA, UE4, Exient)
• Xiph CELT (FSB)
• Musepack
• FLAC
• Others

Note that vgmstream doesn't (can't) reproduce in-game music 1:1, as internal resampling, filters, volume, etc, are not replicated. Some codecs are not fully accurate compared to the games due to minor bugs, but in most cases it isn't audible.

Supported file types

As manakoAT likes to say, the extension doesn't really mean anything, but it's the most obvious way to identify files.

This list is not complete and many other files are supported.

• PS2/PSX ADPCM:
  • .ads/.ss2
  • .ass
  • .ast
  • .bg00
  • .bmdx
  • .ccc
  • .cnk
  • .dxh
  • .enth
  • .fag
  • .filp
  • .gcm
  • .gms
  • .hgc1
  • .ikm
  • .ild
  • .ivb
  • .joe
  • .kces
  • .khv
  • .leg
  • .mcg
  • .mib, .mi4 (w/ or w/o .mih)
  • .mic
  • .mihb (merged mih+mib)
  • .msa
  • .msvp
  • .musc
  • .npsf
  • .pnb
  • .psh
  • .rkv
  • .rnd
  • .rstm
  • .rws
  • .rxw
  • .snd
  • .sfs
  • .sl3
  • .smpl (w/ bad flags)
  • .ster
  • .str+.sth
  • .str (MGAV blocked)
  • .sts
  • .svag
  • .svs
  • .tec (w/ bad flags)
  • .tk5 (w/ bad flags)
  • .vas
  • .vag
  • .vgs (w/ bad flags)
  • .vig
  • .vpk
  • .vs
  • .vsf
  • .wp2
  • .xa2
  • .xa30
  • .xwb+xwh
• GC/Wii/3DS DSP ADPCM:
  • .aaap
  • .agsc
  • .asr
  • .bns
  • .bo2
  • .capdsp
  • .cfn
  • .ddsp
  • .dsp
    • standard, optional dual file stereo
    • RS03
    • Cstr
    • _lr.dsp
    • MPDS
  • .gca
  • .gcm
  • .gsp+.gsp
  • .hps
  • .idsp
  • .ish+.isd
  • .lps
  • .mca
  • .mpdsp
  • .mss
  • .mus (not quite right)
  • .ndp
  • .pdt
  • .sdt
  • .smp
  • .sns
  • .spt+.spd
  • .ssm
  • .stm/.dsp
  • .str
  • .str+.sth
  • .sts
  • .swd
  • .thp, .dsp
  • .tydsp
  • .vjdsp
  • .waa, .wac, .wad, .wam
  • .was
  • .wsd
  • .wsi
  • .ydsp
  • .ymf
  • .zwdsp
• PCM:
  • .aiff (8 bit, 16 bit)
  • .asd (16 bit)
  • .baka (16 bit)
  • .bh2pcm (16 bit)
  • .dmsg (16 bit)
  • .gcsw (16 bit)
  • .gcw (16 bit)
  • .his (8 bit)
  • .int (16 bit)
  • .pcm (8 bit, 16 bit)
  • .kraw (16 bit)
  • .raw (16 bit)
  • .rwx (16 bit)
  • .sap (16 bit)
  • .snd (16 bit)
  • .sps (16 bit)
  • .str (16 bit)
  • .xss (16 bit)
  • .voi (16 bit)
  • .wb (16 bit)
  • .zsd (8 bit)
• Xbox IMA ADPCM:
  • .matx
  • .wavm
  • .wvs
  • .xmu
  • .xvas
  • .xwav
• Yamaha ADPCM:
  • .adpcm
  • .dcs+.dcsw
  • .str
  • .spsd
• IMA ADPCM:
  • .bar (IMA ADPCM)
  • .pcm/dvi (DVI IMA ADPCM)
  • .hwas (IMA ADPCM)
  • .dvi/idvi (DVI IMA ADPCM)
  • .ivaud (IMA ADPCM)
  • .myspd (IMA ADPCM)
  • .strm (IMA ADPCM)
• multi:
  • .aifc (SDX2 DPCM, DVI IMA ADPCM)
  • .asf/as4 (8/16 bit PCM, DVI IMA ADPCM)
  • .ast (GC AFC ADPCM, 16 bit PCM)
  • .aud (IMA ADPCM, WS DPCM)
  • .aus (PSX ADPCM, Xbox IMA ADPCM)
  • .brstm (GC DSP ADPCM, 8/16 bit PCM)
  • .emff (PSX APDCM, GC DSP ADPCM)
  • .fsb/wii (PSX ADPCM, GC DSP ADPCM, Xbox IMA ADPCM, MPEG audio, FSB Vorbis, MS XMA)
  • .msf (PCM, PSX ADPCM, ATRAC3, MP3)
  • .musx (PSX ADPCM, Xbox IMA ADPCM, DAT4 IMA ADPCM)
  • .nwa (16 bit PCM, NWA DPCM)
  • .p3d (Radical ADPCM, Radical MP3, XMA2)
  • .psw (PSX ADPCM, GC DSP ADPCM)
  • .rwar, .rwav (GC DSP ADPCM, 8/16 bit PCM)
  • .rws (PSX ADPCM, XBOX IMA ADPCM, GC DSP ADPCM, 16 bit PCM)
  • .rwsd (GC DSP ADPCM, 8/16 bit PCM)
  • .rsd (PSX ADPCM, 16 bit PCM, GC DSP ADPCM, Xbox IMA ADPCM, Radical ADPCM)
  • .rrds (NDS IMA ADPCM)
  • .sad (GC DSP ADPCM, NDS IMA ADPCM, Procyon Studios NDS ADPCM)
  • .sgd/sgb+sgh/sgx (PSX ADPCM, ATRAC3plus, AC3)
  • .seg (Xbox IMA ADPCM, PS2 ADPCM)
  • .sng/asf/str/eam/aud (8/16 bit PCM, EA-XA ADPCM, PSX ADPCM, GC DSP ADPCM, XBOX IMA ADPCM, MPEG audio, EALayer3)
  • .strm (NDS IMA ADPCM, 8/16 bit PCM)
  • .sb0..7 (Ubi IMA ADPCM, GC DSP ADPCM, PSX ADPCM, Xbox IMA ADPCM, ATRAC3)
  • .swav (NDS IMA ADPCM, 8/16 bit PCM)
  • .xwb (PCM, Xbox IMA ADPCM, MS ADPCM, XMA, XWMA, ATRAC3)
  • .xwb+xwh (PCM, PSX ADPCM, ATRAC3)
  • .wav/lwav (unsigned 8 bit PCM, 16 bit PCM, GC DSP ADPCM, MS IMA ADPCM, XBOX IMA ADPCM)
  • .wem [lwav/logg/xma] (PCM, Wwise Vorbis, Wwise IMA ADPCM, XMA, XWMA, GC DSP ADPCM, Wwise Opus)
• etc:
  • .2dx9 (MS ADPCM)
  • .aax (CRI ADX ADPCM)
  • .acm (InterPlay ACM)
  • .adp (GC DTK ADPCM)
  • .adx (CRI ADX ADPCM)
  • .afc (GC AFC ADPCM)
  • .ahx (MPEG-2 Layer II)
  • .aix (CRI ADX ADPCM)
  • .at3 (Sony ATRAC3 / ATRAC3plus)
  • .aud (Silicon Knights Vorbis)
  • .baf (PSX configurable ADPCM)
  • .bgw (PSX configurable ADPCM)
  • .bnsf (G.722.1)
  • .caf (Apple IMA4 ADPCM, others)
  • .dec/de2 (MS ADPCM)
  • .hca (CRI High Compression Audio)
  • .pcm/kcey (DVI IMA ADPCM)
  • .lsf (LSF ADPCM)
  • .mc3 (Paradigm MC3 ADPCM)
  • .mp4/lmp4 (AAC)
  • .msf (PCM, PSX ADPCM, ATRAC3, MP3)
  • .mtaf (Konami ADPCM)
  • .mta2 (Konami XAS-like ADPCM)
  • .mwv (Level-5 0x555 ADPCM)
  • .ogg/logg (Ogg Vorbis)
  • .ogl (Shin'en Vorbis)
  • .rsf (CCITT G.721 ADPCM)
  • .sab (Worms 4 soundpacks)
  • .s14/sss (G.722.1)
  • .sc (Activision EXAKT SASSC DPCM)
  • .scd (MS ADPCM, MPEG Audio, 16 bit PCM)
  • .sd9 (MS ADPCM)
  • .smp (MS ADPCM)
  • .spw (PSX configurable ADPCM)
  • .stm/lstm [amts/ps2stm/stma] (16 bit PCM, DVI IMA ADPCM, GC DSP ADPCM)
  • .str (SDX2 DPCM)
  • .stx (GC AFC ADPCM)
  • .ulw (u-Law PCM)
  • .um3 (Ogg Vorbis)
  • .xa (CD-ROM XA audio)
  • .xma (MS XMA/XMA2)
  • .sb0/sb1/sb2/sb3/sb4/sb5/sb6/sb7 (many)
  • .sm0/sm1/sm2/sm3/sm4/sm5/sm6/sm7 (many)
  • .bao/pk (many)
• artificial/generic headers:
  • .genh (lots)
  • .txth (lots)
• loop assists:
  • .mus (playlist for .acm)
  • .pos (loop info for .wav: 32 bit LE loop start sample + loop end sample)
  • .sli (loop info for .ogg)
  • .sfl (loop info for .ogg)
  • .vgmstream + .vgmstream.pos (FFmpeg formats + loop assist)
• other:
  • .adxkey (decryption key for .adx, in start/mult/add format)
  • .ahxkey (decryption key for .ahx, in start/mult/add format)
  • .hcakey (decryption key for .hca, in HCA Decoder format)
  • .fsbkey (decryption key for .fsb, in hex)
  • .txtp (per song segment/layer handler and player configurator)

Enjoy! hcs