KAR
audio/midi
Magic Bytes
Offset: 0
4D 54 68 64
The KAR file format is a legacy audio standard developed by Tune 1000 Corporation to store MIDI music sequences combined with synchronized text lyrics. It is primarily used for computer-based karaoke, enabling specific software applications to display time-aligned words while synthesizing instrumental backing tracks. While structurally identical to standard MIDI files and generally safe to open, this format is now considered obsolete and has been largely replaced by modern digital audio solutions.
Validation Code
How to validate .kar files in Python
Python
def is_kar(file_path: str) -> bool:
"""Check if file is a valid KAR by magic bytes."""
signature = bytes([0x4D, 0x54, 0x68, 0x64])
with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
return f.read(4) == signatureHow to validate .kar files in Node.js
Node.js
function isKAR(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
const signature = Buffer.from([0x4D, 0x54, 0x68, 0x64]);
return buffer.subarray(0, 4).equals(signature);
}
Go
func IsKAR(data []byte) bool {
signature := []byte{0x4D, 0x54, 0x68, 0x64}
if len(data) < 4 {
return false
}
return bytes.Equal(data[:4], signature)
}API Endpoint
GET
/api/v1/kar
curl https://filesignature.org/api/v1/kar