CPI File Extension

What is the .CPI file type?

The .cpi extension is mainly encountered in association with the AVCHD Clip Information (CPI) file type/format. AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) is a proprietary video compression codec, jointly developed by Sony and Panasonic. Based on the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 technology, AVCHD is widely implemented in digital camcorder devices.

Video clips made with an AVCHD camera are saved as .mts (.m2ts) files. For each .mts file, a separate .cpi file is automatically created. It is a small binary file that holds metadata information (aspect ratio, resolution, exposure, time/date stamps, etc.) for its related clip file. CPI files always have the same filenames as .mts clips, e.g. "001523.cpi" for "001523.mts".

Stored under "AVCHD/BDMV/CLIPINF", such CPI clip information files are often mistaken for actual AVCHD video. When an attempt is made to open a .cpi file with a media player, the player will be redirected to the associated .mts file instead. CPI files are not meant to be opened directly, yet metadata they contain are used by video processing software.

Differently, the .cpi extension is also used in association with the CPC Compressed Image (CPI) file format and type. CPC stands for Cartesian Perceptual Compression and represents a very efficient data compression method suggested by Cartesian Products, Inc. CPC allows to achieve much better compression ratios than TIFF it is often compared to.

CPC-compressed images can have both .cpc and .cpi extensions. A .cpi file is a relatively small binary file with the "CPC" signature at the file's header. To open and view such CPC-compressed images (.cpi), one needs to use the CPC View utility or a CPC web-browser plugin.

Lastly, the .cpi extension also belongs to the MS-DOS/Windows Codepage Information (CPI) format and file type. Historically, the binary CPI format was used in the now obsolete MS-DOS and early MS Windows to provide codepage, keyboard layout information as well as bitmap fonts for different languages and display setups (CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA).

Software to open or convert CPI files

VLC media player by VideoLAN

 

Movie Maker by Microsoft Corporation

 

Internet Explorer

 

Windows Live™ Movie Maker

 

XnView

 

Free File Viewer Pro

Download