Opening an OSU File

The OSU file type is primarily associated with osu!.

OSU	File extension: OSU
	File type:	Rhythm game beatmap

What is an OSU file?

OSU files mostly belong to osu!. An .OSU file stores a beatmap for the rhythm game osu!. It defines the circles, sliders, and spinners that the player must hit in time with the music, as well as the timing and difficulty settings. The internal structure of .OSU files is a custom format specific to the game, containing sections for general information, editor settings, metadata, difficulty settings, timing points, hit objects, and events. These files are primarily used by the osu! game client to load and play beatmaps. They are created using the osu! editor or downloaded from online repositories. The vast majority of .OSU files represent beatmaps for the game.

How do you open OSU files?

You need a suitable software like osu! to open an OSU file. You need a suitable software like osu! to open an OSU 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 OSU file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a OSU file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online OSU Text Viewer

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Unable to Open a .OSU File? Quick Solutions:

OSU files can come from different programs and aren't universally openable.

1. Identify the Source: These files are usually rhythm game beatmaps shared by players or gaming communities, strongly suggesting they belong to the game osu!.
2. Check the Header: Open the file in a text editor to inspect its opening lines.
   • Seeing osu file format confirms it is a standard osu! beatmap script.
   • Seeing "PK" or garbled characters implies a compressed archive.
3. Use the Original Software: The original program is usually required; try using osu!, osu!lazer, or a beatmap editor. If uncertain, ask the sender.
4. Use this Webpage: Drag and drop the file into our viewer to detect the format, extract readable text/metadata, and preview when possible.

OSU file format details:

Why is it important to know the file format? This is the only way to find out which program to use to open the file. The file format can be deduced from the file extension and the signature. Nonetheless, different programs can utilize the same file extension to represent distinct file formats. Double-clicking on the file often results in an error when opening. Knowledge is power - this also applies when dealing with unknown or faulty files. Below is our analysis of the OSU files:

The OSU file extension is not common and predominantly uses a uniform format. But the following two file formats are common:

• 90% of all OSU files belong to Osu! script. If you open these files in a text editor, you can view and read the content yourself. The average file size is 43 KB with most files being between 6 KB and 140 KB in size. The file type is relatively new. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. [General], PreviewTime, AudioLeadIn: 0, osu file format v14, Countdown: 0, LetterboxInBreaks: 0, StackLeniency: 0.7, AudioFilename: audio.mp3, Mode: 3, SampleSet: Soft, SampleSet: Normal and SpecialStyle: 0. These files are attributed to music, camellia, easy, feat, sahuang, kaijuu, insane, hard, remix and size.
• 6% of all OSU files are based on the popular UTF-8 file format. UTF-8 is the World Wide Web's most common character encoding for Unicode. UTF-8 files can be viewed with any text editor. These files start with the 3 bytes  (hex: EF BB BF), the so called byte order mark (BOM). These files are text files and can therefore be read using a text editor. The file size is in the range of 18 KB to 61 KB.

All the rest of the OSU files (4%) have different formats. The category is kurokotei, artists, hatsune, naritai, sakuzyo, various, freeze, galaxy, blue, miku or this. Drag & drop your file here to see the file format and a preview of your OSU file!