Opening an APE File

The APE file type is primarily associated with Monkey's Audio.

APE	File extension: APE
	File type:	music

What is an APE file?

APE files mostly belong to Monkey's Audio by Matthew T. Ashland. APE is the filename extension of audio files saved in Monkey's Audio file format. It uses a lossless data compression method to reduce file size without reducing the quality of audio data. Monkey's Audio achieves this by using a simple neural network and traditional lossless compression methods including linear prediction and channel coupling. It then stores the output of the prediction step using range coding, modified to work well with continuous values. Altogether, the result is files with better compression rates than FLAC and WavPack compression. APE music files are typically saved alongside APL files containing track metadata. An APE files also uses its own APE tags saved as key-value metadata. A different type of APE file contains effects used by the Advanced Visualization Studio plugin of Winamp audio player. Such APE files contain programmable visual effects for simulating audio playback.

How can I open an APE file?

You need a suitable software like Monkey's Audio to open an APE file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your APE file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a APE file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online APE File Viewer

Choose your .ape file to play

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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How do you convert APE files to MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, AIFF, ...

1. To do so, click the "Choose your .ape file to play" button above.
2. After your file is opened in browser,
3. click "Save as..." in the menu.
4. Then choose the audio format (e.g. MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, AIFF, ...) you want.
5. Your file will be converted and downloaded.

APE file format details:

To find out what program is needed to open APE files, you need to determine the file format. Each file format has a unique extension and almost always a unique signature. For example, Microsoft Word documents have the extension .docx and the signature (usually the first 3 characters in this file) PK. However, different programs can use the same file extension. Furthermore, a file extension can be renamed incorrectly and double-clicking on it will then display an error when it is opened. So you need a detailed analysis of a file to find out the format and the associated program. Our examination of the APE files comes to the following conclusion:

The APE file extension is not widely used. Such a file mainly uses a special format. The file formats most commonly found in APE files are:

• 80% of all APE files are associated with Monkey's Audio. If you open these files in a text editor, you will see only illegible characters. Most of these files are 35 KB to 370 MB in size. The file type was created 10 years ago, but is still used today. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. MAC. Files like these have the following tags: music, track, sles, disc, japan, evil, world, sces, cdimage, family, medi and slps.
• 10% of all APE files have the same signature LOCUS . If you open these files in a text editor, you can view and read the content yourself. APE files can be up to 34 KB in size, but are often around 6 KB - 29 KB. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. LOCUS, ACCESSION, COMMENT, VERSION, DEFINITION , ORGANISM , SOURCE   , circular, COMMENT   ApEinfo:methylated:1 and linear. Files like these have the following tags: cherry, ires and mscv.

All other APE files (10%) have no uniform format. These files are often connected to discharge, resident, symphony, romance or various. If you want to find out which format your APE file belongs to, just click on the button "Choose your .ape file to play".