What Is MOD File Format and How to Open/Play MOD Files

Learn about MOD format and the best MOD file players.

Part 1: What is MOD File?

what is mod file format

MOD is an audio module file format that originated from the Amiga module format. It is created in music tracker software and used primarily to represent music on a computer.

Features of The MOD File Format

MOD files usually have an ".MOD" appended onto their name, except on Amiga systems, which do not rely upon the filenames. Instead, they read each header in order to determine what type of media it contains.

A MOD file is composed of instruments (such as samples and patterns) and sequencing information that determine how they're played along and what pattern should be played first. In addition, the file contains sound samples for each track.

mod file structure

History of MOD Format

MOD file format was created initially by the German developer Karsten Obarski in 1987 using the Ultimate Soundtracker. Afterwards, more and more players and trackers adopt it. In the late 90s and the early 00s, MOD has become a popular format for producing music. Nowadays, there are still many musicians using some tracks of MOD files to create retro music or game BGM.

MOD vs. WAV vs. MIDI

MOD
WAV
MIDI
A hybrid file that contains both audio samples and control information for sample playback Pure sample data file Pure sequencing information file

Note: You may find some video files saved with the .mod file extension. These videos are usually captured with a JVC EVERIO digital camcorder, Canon FS, and Panasonic D-Snap SD-card camcorders. You can use the software included when you buy a digital camcorder or File Viewer Plus from Microsoft to open these MOD videos.

Part 2: How to Open/Play MOD Files?

Situation 1: If you want to edit MOD music module files, you can use hardware like Polyend Tracker, or tracker software such as OpenMPT (for Windows), MilkyTrcker (for Windows and macOS), and FamiStudio (for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android). In addition, these music tracker programs are able to convert MOD files to other audio formats like MP3.

Situation 2: If you want to play MOD music files, ensure that the audio player supports MOD format. For example, Nullsoft Winamp (Windows), VLC media player (cross-platform), and Mikmod for (Windows, Mac & Linux). Below is a list of MOD players for different operating systems.

OS
MOD File Player
Windows
  • Nullsoft Winamp
  • VLC media player
  • KMPlayer
  • MikMod
Mac
  • VLC media player
  • MikMod
Linux
  • VLC media player
  • UModPlayer
  • Extended Module Player
  • MikMod
  • XMMS
Android
  • VLC for Android
  • Xmp Mod Player
iOS
  • VLC for Android
  • PureModPla‪y

Note: Some programs no longer work with modern operating systems due to their developer not making updates anymore.

Part 3: How to Recover Lost or Deleted MOD Files

It would be a disaster when you accidentally deleted your MOD files after several days hard-working or lost them due to the following reasons:

  • Your system or external storage device faces a virus or malware attack, you may lose your mod files.
  • The device or audio player might sometimes lose MOD files when system upgrades happen.
  • Formatting your system hard drive or memory card will permanently delete all the data, including your favorite MOD music files you may have been storing.

Luckily, there are ways to recover lost files that have been deleted from your computer — including files with the MOD format. A professional data recovery software like Wondershare Recoverit can help you get all lost files back. This program supports over 1000+ file types, thus making sure that you can recover videos and audio files from almost any type of device.

best data recovery software

Wondershare Recoverit - Recover Your Precious MOD Files

5,481,435 people have downloaded it.

Save your accidentally deleted audio files and videos, and also repair the broken videos.

Restore data from all kinds of storage drives like USB Drive, SD card, SSDs, HDDs, Floppy Disks, Pen Drive, etc.

Besides all popular formats, such as MP4, MOV, WMV, MP3, WAV, MOD etc., corrupted Ultra HD 4K, and 8K videos are scanned, collected, and matched, ensuring that the majority of your videos are recovered.

Preview files before you recover them.

Free version to try and paid version to enjoy more.

Step1Select the MOD file location

Launch the Recoverit application after installing it on your computer. Choose the location where you lost your MOD files.

select mod  file location
Step2Scan

After you have selected the folder, click on "Start" button to begin the scanning of deleted or lost MOD files. This might take a few minutes.

start scanning the deleted mod files
Step3Preview and recover

During the scan, you can filter and preview all the discovered MOD audio files. Select the ones you want to recover and click the "Recover" button to restore it to a safe location.

preview and recover mod files
Try It Free

For Windows 7 or later

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For macOS 10.10 or later

And that’s it! These are the three easy steps to getting your MOD files back.

Tips to Avoid MOD File Loss

Listed below are a few suggestions; these may help you avoid video loss of your mod files.

  • Do not misuse the audio player to prevent losing files.
  • If you have storage devices like memory cards that store audio files: you should never remove them from the device while listening, or face the risk of losing all your valuable data.
  • Maintain regular backups of your MOD files for you not to experience any loss scenarios.