Finding free MIDI files online to listen to or download is a relatively simple task and, if you’ve ever done this, then bitmidi.com is likely a familiar website to you. But you may be asking yourself “is bitmidi safe?” Luckily, we tested it and found the answer.
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Is Bitmidi.com Safe? (Quick Answer)
Yes, bitmidi.com is perfectly safe. MIDI files can’t contain viruses by themselves because they aren’t executable files. If they come in a folder with an executable file they might. However, after trying and testing bitmidi we found it to be 100% safe to use.
What Is Bitmidi?
Bitmidi.com is a website, developed by Feross Aboukhadijeh, that has old midi files available for you to listen to and/or download. Think of it like a Wayback Machine but for midi files.
You can grab MIDI from old games, or even MIDI from songs that were created before MIDI ever existed! It’s extremely useful for getting chord progressions you can import into your DAW, and then use them as ideas to morph into fully fleshed tracks.
One of the best things about Bitmidi.com is the fact that you can actually preview MIDI files before you download them to see if you like them or not!
Testing Out Bitmidi.com To Verify Its Safety
To ensure bitmidi.com is safe for you to use, we went ahead and downloaded some files ourselves, and used them to show you.
Nothing happened to our computer, and the files were completely virus-free, as you can see from the images below.
The files work completely fine when dragged into Ableton, or any DAW, and are a great starting point for your tracks.
Bitmidi is completely safe. It hosts clean, MIDI files and nothing else. You don’t need to create an account or give away any information either.
Can Midi Files Be Copyrighted And Are They Royalty Free?
MIDI files can be copyrighted. If they are, then you’ll need permission from the copyright owner to use them. If the original recording is still in the public domain, then the MIDI for it can’t be used. If it isn’t then it can.
Downloading MIDI from bitmidi is free, however, we recommend only using the MIDI for inspiration for your own ideas.
When it comes to music copyright there are two types:
- Composition – includes all the musical elements, such as melodies, chord progressions, and lyrics.
- Master recording – for the finished recording of the song/composition. Notice how there’s no mention of MIDI here and that’s why many people believe they can’t be copyrighted. However, since MIDI files contain programmed instructions, they can be copyrighted as a computer program.
There are composers/producers who do this, so you’ll either have to purchase these files or make sure you have permission from the copyright owner before you reproduce, distribute, or use them in your music.
There are lots of MIDI files out there that aren’t copyrighted and are royalty-free, which means you won’t need permission or have to pay any royalties to use them. Although bitmidi.com allows you to download MIDI files for free, if the original recording is not in the public domain then you shouldn’t use the MIDI for commercial purposes.
In the U.S and Europe, a piece of music goes into the public domain 70 years after the last composer passes away.
So, any MIDI you download where the original recording is less than 70 years old (which will probably be most of them) will still be in the public domain and you should only use them for inspiration or educational purposes.
Otherwise, as stated before, you will need to have permission to use/distribute them and will have to pay royalties.
But please do your research on this before as we are not music lawyers.
How Does Bitmidi Work?
Bitmidi is a community-based project, built by a single developer that hosts over 100,000 MIDI files. It relies on users submitting MIDI to the platform. You can search for this user-generated MIDI and download it to your computer, then drag and drop it into your chosen DAW platform.
Bitmidi is a historical archive of over 100,000 midi files from the early web era, with more midi files being curated by volunteers around the world. Unlike previous sites, bitmidi allows you to listen to the file beforehand, rather than having to download and play them in an external program.
Finding MIDI files on bitmidi.com is very easy. At the top of the home page is a search bar which you can use to search for the midi file you want.
The home page also has a ‘random’ button that will find a random midi file for you, as well as a list of popular midi files. Once you’ve found what you want you can download it straight away, or you can play it first if you want to hear what it sounds like. Getting it into your DAW is the same process as with any other midi file. Either insert the midi file or drag and drop.
When it comes to the more technical side, the developer of bitmidi himself has explained that it uses instrument voices from the General MIDI sound set released by FreePats. He then compiled Libtimidity (a MIDI player written in C) to WebAssembley using Emscripten. He also made sure to optimise the build size and include a minimal amount of code.
Can MIDI Files Contain Viruses?
MIDI files do not contain viruses because they aren’t executable files. This means they can’t run or do anything to take control of your computer, making any MIDI file 100% safe to download.
An executable file causes a computer to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions. MIDI files are data files, and these must be interpreted by a program to perform any function.
In simpler terms, when you click on an executable file your computer will immediately follow the instructions within, whereas with a data file like MIDI, you first have to put it on a midi track within your daw and with a virtual instrument loaded before you hear any sound.
Only executable files can contain viruses so with midi you will be safe. But, be cautious if your midi is within a zip folder as the folder may contain other potentially dangerous files.
Where Can I Find More MIDI Files?
There are plenty of websites online you can use to find MIDI files easily. Bitmidi.com is among those, but there are a few more you can make use of, and we’ve listed them for you below for ease.
Here’s a list of websites you can find free MIDI files from:
Adam is a TV & Film composer who is an avid music theorist. He plays the Guitar and Piano to an expert level, with over 10 years of experience and classical lessons under his belt. He heads most of the Orchestral Library Review Content and Music Theory Tutorial content on our site. Give Adam any task related to chords, scales, progressions, and composition, and he’ll return an absolutely stellar result. Adam is also a Songwriting graduate from BIMM Institute.