Filename extension .sfz Type of format Markup language | Developed by Rene Ceballos | |
SFZ is a plain text file format for storing instrument data for software synthesizers. The SFZ format was developed by René Ceballos (founder of RGC Audio) and is now maintained by Cakewalk. SFZ is a royalty-free format and can be used by software developers for both free and commercial purposes. The SFZ Format is widely accepted as the open standard to define the behavior of a musical instrument from a bare set of sound recordings.
Similar file formats are the proprietary standards of Native Instruments Kontakt .nki, .nkm.
A simple example of an SFZ file:
The SFZ format isn't maintained by a single company or group, and supported features can vary between individual synthesizers. The official page at the Cakewalk web-site is no longer available, however descriptions of the SFZ opcodes can be found on various websites.
There are applications for creating SFZ files that provide a point and click GUI, which provides an alternative to editing the text directly.