SF2 File Extension
Have a problem opening a .SF2 file? We collect information about file formats and can explain what SF2 files are. Additionally we recommend software suitable for opening or converting such files.
Have a problem opening a .SF2 file? We collect information about file formats and can explain what SF2 files are. Additionally we recommend software suitable for opening or converting such files.
The SF2 file extension is associated with SoundFont 2 sound bank files used for composing and playing back digital music. SF2 files define digital samples of musical instruments that can be played back using MIDI data. The SoundFont technology is supported by SoundBlaster and E-mu sound cards.
A .sf2 file contains a collection of base audio samples and music synthesis parameters. Since .midi files don't store any actual audio information and just contain a set of instructions for notes, sounds, volumes, etc., it is necessary to use sample banks to generate certain sounds through MIDI files.
The first version of the SoundFont file format was created in the beginning of the 90s for the Sound Blaster AWE32 sound card. Files in this format had the SBK extension. The SoundFont version 2.0 was developed in 1996. It was released as an open source project with the aim to popularize the SoundFont format.
There are many free and commercial .sf2 banks available online with different sizes and sound quality. Larger SoundFont files often come with a better sound quality, but they consequently require more memory and storage space. That is why .sf2 files are often compressed using external archive formats such as ZIP.