Converting MIDI ticks to actual playback seconds

midi
Taha picture Taha · Jan 10, 2010 · Viewed 30.7k times · Source

I want to know how to convert MIDI ticks to actual playback seconds.

For example, if the MIDI PPQ (Pulses per quarter note) is 1120, how would I convert it into real world playback seconds?

Answer

Aaronaught picture Aaronaught · Jan 10, 2010

The formula is 60000 / (BPM * PPQ) (milliseconds).

Where BPM is the tempo of the track (Beats Per Minute).

(i.e. a 120 BPM track would have a MIDI time of (60000 / (120 * 192)) or 2.604 ms for 1 tick.

If you don't know the BPM then you'll have to determine that first. MIDI times are entirely dependent on the track tempo.

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