What is CDG CD+G CD+Graphics?

A CDG also known as CD+Graphics is a special audio compact disc that contains graphics data in addition to the audio data on the disc.
The disc can be played on a regular audio CD player, but when played on a special CDG player, can output a graphics signal, typically, the CDG player is hooked up to a television set or a computer monitor.
These graphics are almost exclusively used to display lyrics on a television set for karaoke performers to sing along with.

Technical Information about CDG

CDG, or CD+Graphics, is a standard that was defined to take advantage of the extra unused space on a regular CD audio disc.
This area is used to hold graphical data, in the form of pictures and text and special instructions to display that data synchronized to the audio playback. Because of the limitation of computer technology at the time the standard was designed the graphics are limited to a resolution of 300x216 in 16 colors (from a total of 4096 colors).

How to play Cdg's on your computer

CDG discs require a dedicated CDG player in order to display the graphics. Standard home stereo players will play the audio fine, but without the graphics. Most CDG discs are designed for Karaoke purposes however a few mainstream CD's have used CDG to enhance the listening experience by including animated images, pictures, lyrics or group bios to the disc. Because of the size of a Cdg disc it is not practical to store them on a computer. Somthing must be done to reduce the size of the files. There now exists a technology that allows us to reduce the Cdg file size and store our karaoke discs on our computer.
It is called MP3+G.

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