What is MP3+G?

MP3+G is a way to store CDG tracks on your computer, using a CDG to MP3+G conversion program.
A CDG disc is a standard audio CD with the addition of graphics (hence the "+G").
A typical CDG disc can hold around 700 MEGABYTES of information making it very difficult to store on your computer. Something must be done to reduce the size.. The answer is MP3+G. MP3+G actually consist of two files; an MP3 file and a CDG file. Both files must have the same "base" name (the part before the extension) in order to be properly played back.

MP3+G Zipped is an extension of the MP3+G format by compressing the MP3+G file pair into a zip (one single file). Most people by now are familiar with MP3 files. MP3 is basically a format designed to compress audio down to a usable size for storage and playback on the computer (and many other devices now too). A typical audio track from a CD would normally take about 40 MEGABYTES of space if stored in it's native PCM format as found on the CD.

An MP3 file of the same track might only take 3 to 4 MEGABYTES. In order to achieve this tremendous compression the sound is analyzed and broken down into frequencies some of which may be discarded (because they are not normally heard). The frequency data is then stored in a highly compressed format. When the computer plays back the MP3 file it re-assembles that data back to audio that, while not identical, sounds very much like the original file.

When you make an MP3 you can choose different compression amounts in order to save space. The less space it uses, the less it sounds like the original. A typical MP3 will use a compression of "160" or "192" in order to sound very close to the original sound. Because of their space-saving abilities, MP3 files are well suited for storing the audio part of a CDG disc. MP3 is an open and flexible standard and there are many programs available to create, edit, and play MP3.

What are the .CDG Files?

Just as MP3 is a way to store the audio of a CD+G disc, a CDG file is a way to store the graphics portion. Unlike MP3 however, CDG
data is RAW. In other words, there is no compression or manipulation of the graphics data, it is simply stored as is in the file.
Luckily, a CDG file is generally smaller than the MP3 file even without compression. That's not to say that a CDG file couldn't be
compressed, but for historical reasons, and for ease of playback the CDG "standard" is the raw data.

How To Play Mp3+G files on your computer.

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