Free online MIDI visualizer

midee is a free online MIDI visualizer. Drop a .mid or .midi file onto the page and it plays as falling notes over a full 88-key piano, with each track in its own colour, a sampled instrument for sound, and an export button for when the result is worth keeping. It runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and there is no watermark.

This page explains what a MIDI visualizer is, how to use this one, what it shows you about a file that listening alone does not, and where it stops and a dedicated learning or video tool begins.

What is a MIDI visualizer?

A MIDI file stores a performance as data: which notes were played, when, how hard, for how long, plus tempo changes and pedal presses. It contains no sound and no picture. A MIDI visualizer reads that data and draws it, so you can see the structure of the music as it plays.

The most common style is the falling-notes piano roll made familiar by Synthesia and by the piano channels on YouTube. Notes descend toward a keyboard, light the key as they land, and stay lit for as long as the note is held. Pitch runs left to right, time runs top to bottom, and note length is the height of each bar. Once you have watched a piece this way, the sheet-music version of it is much easier to read.

Quick steps

1. Open midee in any current browser. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all work, on desktop and mobile.
2. Drag a .mid or .midi file onto the page, or click to browse.
3. Press play. Notes fall onto the keyboard in sync with the audio.
4. Pick a theme, an instrument, and a particle style from the toolbar.
5. Hide or mute tracks in the track panel to focus on one part.
6. Export from the top-right when you want a file: MP4 video, MP3 or WAV audio, or the MIDI itself.

What you see

The piano roll. Notes are drawn as bars in the track's colour above a full 88-key keyboard. Longer notes are taller bars. Chords line up horizontally. Held notes keep their key lit until they release.

Track colours. Every track in the file gets its own colour, so a left hand, right hand, melody, and bass line are distinguishable at a glance in a multi-track file. The track panel lists them by name, and you can hide or mute any of them.

Sustain pedal. Pedal presses in the file are shown by a pedal indicator, and notes held by the pedal ring out for their full pedalled length, so a piano MIDI sounds like a piano performance rather than a sequence of detached notes.

Tempo. Tempo changes inside the file are followed exactly. A ritardando in the MIDI is a ritardando on screen.

Themes and particles. Five themes, Dark, Midnight, Neon, Sunset, and Ocean, set the palette. Particle styles such as sparks, sparkle, and embers fire off the keys as notes land, or can be switched off for a cleaner look.

Sound. Thirteen sampled instruments, from a warm grand piano and an upright to Rhodes, guitar, strings, marimba, bells, and a synth pad. The default piano is multi-sampled, so a MIDI file sounds like a recording rather than a 1990s sound card.

Playback controls

• Speed. Slow a fast passage down without changing pitch. Useful for figuring out a run by eye.
• Transpose. Shift the whole file up or down in semitones. The keyboard and the audio follow.
• Loop a section. In Learn mode, mark a passage and let it repeat while you practise it.
• Track panel. Hide, mute, or isolate tracks.
• Seek. Click anywhere on the timeline to jump.

Using it as a MIDI viewer

Not every use is about watching a performance. The same view works as a MIDI file viewer for checking what a file actually contains before you use it:

• Is this arrangement playable? Hand spans, stretches, and note density are obvious in the roll before you sit down at the piano.
• What is in each track? Hide everything but one track to hear and see exactly what it carries. Files downloaded from the web often have surprises: a duplicate melody track, a click track, or a drum part left in.
• Did my export come out right? Open a MIDI you exported from a DAW or notation app and confirm the notes, tempo changes, and pedal events survived the trip.
• Where does the piece change? Key changes, tempo changes, and section boundaries are easy to spot visually and hard to hear on a first pass.

Privacy: your MIDI file never leaves your device

midee is a static web app. The file you drop in is parsed by your browser, drawn by your browser, and, if you export, encoded by your browser. There is no upload step and no server-side render queue. That matters when the MIDI is unreleased music, a paid arrangement, student work, or a film cue you are not supposed to share. Upload-based converters send your file to someone else's machine. This one does not.

Sharing what you see

When the visualization is worth keeping, the export dialog produces a normal file with no account and no watermark:

• MP4 video with the piano roll and audio, at 720p, 1080p, or 4K, in landscape, vertical 9:16 for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok, or square. See MIDI to MP4.
• MP3 or WAV audio from the same render, without the video. See MIDI to MP3 and MIDI to WAV.
• The MIDI file itself, for example after recording a live session.

For tips on making a video that does not look generic, read the piano roll video maker guide.

Beyond visualizing: practice and live play

The visualizer is one part of a larger app:

• Learn mode turns any MIDI file into a play-along exercise. Wait mode holds each note until you play it on a connected keyboard. See play-along piano and the sight-reading trainer.
• Live mode visualizes a MIDI keyboard in real time, with a built-in loop station for layering. See live MIDI keyboard.

MIDI visualizer vs MIDI player vs learning app

For side-by-side comparisons, read Synthesia vs midee, midee vs SeeMusic, and Midi2Vidi vs midee. For a shortlist of other options, see best MIDI visualizers.

Limitations

• One instrument at a time. The whole file plays through the instrument you choose. General MIDI program changes are not read, so an orchestral arrangement plays as piano, or as whichever instrument you pick.
• Piano roll only. There is no sheet-music or notation view.
• Drum tracks are shown as pitched notes. Mute them in the track panel if a file has one.
• Very large files with tens of thousands of notes render, but older phones may drop frames. A laptop handles anything typical.

Frequently asked questions

Is the MIDI visualizer free? Yes. midee is open source. No paid tier, no signup, no watermark.

Does it upload my MIDI file? No. The file is read and rendered by your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.

Which file types work? Standard MIDI files, .mid and .midi, type 0 and type 1. Multi-track files get one colour per track.

Can I export the visualization as a video? Yes, as an MP4 with audio, up to 4K, in landscape, vertical, or square. See the MIDI to MP4 guide for sizes and browser support.

Can I see the notes without sound? Yes. Turn the volume down or mute tracks; the roll keeps playing.

Does it work on a phone? Yes. Playback and visualization work in mobile browsers. Video export also works where the browser supports it, which includes current Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS 16.4 and later.

Can I use it with a MIDI keyboard? Yes. Live mode visualizes a connected keyboard in real time, and Learn mode uses it for play-along practice. Web MIDI works on desktop in Chrome, Edge, Safari 18 and later, and current Firefox; see live MIDI keyboard for details.

Is midee a Synthesia clone? It shares the falling-notes view and wait-mode practice, but it is a browser app with no install, live mode, a loop station, and free video export. See Synthesia vs midee.

Try it

Open midee, drop in a MIDI file, and watch the piano roll. Free, open source, browser-based, and private by default.