File Formats

Chordbaby lets you work with song files directly on your computer. When you save or open a song, everything stays on your device—nothing is uploaded to our servers. This approach offers several benefits:

• You own your data: Your songs are always under your control.
• Privacy: Keep your most precious or secret songs private—no server storage.
• Speed: No need to wait for uploads or downloads; everything is instant.
• Easy collaboration: Use cloud storage apps (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc.) to share and sync files with others, without limitations.

Additionally, Chordbaby saves songs in standard file formats, so you can open them in other compatible software if needed.

Chordbaby Song Files

When you click Download in the editor, Chordbaby saves a .chordbaby.zip file to your computer. We recommend using these ZIP files for your playlists, as the Chordbaby editor can open them directly.

File Structure: artist-title.chordbaby.zip

A Chordbaby song file is a ZIP archive that may contain the following files:

• artist-title.txt (required): The raw chordsheet, including the artist and song name at the top.
• artist-title.mp3 (optional): The MP3 file you uploaded to the editor.
• artist-title.json (optional): Additional song data (transpose info, chord timings, etc.).

Importing an Existing Chordsheet

If you have a chordsheet file on your computer, you can import it into Chordbaby by converting it to a supported .txt format.

Artist - Title
 
[intro]
E A:5 E A:5
E A:5 E A:5
E A:5 B A:5
E A:5 E A:5
E A:5 B A:5
 
[verse 1]
E            A:5                   E
Today is the day that I wanna tell you
A:5
Things that I've been going through
E         A:5              E
I did not eat and couldn't sleep tonight
   A:5
To write this song to you
 
[bridge 1]
C#m      A:5               B
When you are walking by my side
B7
I can't breathe enough
C#m          A:5             B     B7
And when you talk to me, all I can hear

Once you have your .txt file, import it into Chordbaby using the Edit ChordSheet panel or the quick import button near the Open button.

To convert your .txt file into a Chordbaby song file, compress it into a .chordbaby.zip file. You can also add an MP3 file to the ZIP. Then, open the song file in Chordbaby using the Open button.