How to export a MIDI file from your browser DAW

By Tongkit Leong · July 7, 2026 · 6 min read

A standard MIDI file (.mid) stores the notes, velocities, and timing of your song — not the audio — so you can move an arrangement out of Tracks and into another DAW, a notation app, or a piece of hardware. Open the export menu in Tracks, choose the MIDI option instead of WAV or MP3, and you get a file that any MIDI-compatible program can read.

What a MIDI export actually contains

It helps to be clear about what MIDI is before exporting one. A MIDI file is a set of instructions — which note played, how hard it was hit, when it started, and when it ended — for every track in your project. It does not contain any audio at all. No synth tone, no drum sample, no EQ or compression you applied, no reverb tail. All of that lives in Tracks' engine and stays behind when you export MIDI.

That trade-off is exactly why MIDI export exists as a separate option from exporting to MP3 or WAV. A WAV or MP3 bounce is a finished recording — what you hear is what anyone gets. A MIDI file is closer to sheet music: it is a precise, editable record of what was played, ready to be reinterpreted by whatever instrument or software opens it next.

When you want MIDI instead of audio

Reach for MIDI export rather than an audio bounce when:

• You are moving the project into a different DAW that has instruments or plugins Tracks does not, and you want to keep editing the notes rather than starting over.
• You want to print the arrangement as sheet music. Notation software reads MIDI natively and can turn a piano roll part into standard notation.
• You are sending the part to a hardware synth or another MIDI controller that can play back a standard MIDI file directly.
• You want a backup of the performance itself — the exact notes and timing — independent of whichever synth or sample happened to be assigned to the track at the time.
• You are collaborating with someone who works in a different program and needs the parts, not a locked-down recording of them.

If your goal is instead to share a finished track for listening, upload to a streaming platform, or send to a mastering engineer, you want an audio bounce — see how to export your song to MP3 or WAV for that path.

How to export a MIDI file in Tracks

Step 1: Finish the notes before you export

MIDI export carries whatever is in your piano roll and clip lanes at the moment you export — note pitch, timing, velocity, and length. Anything you have not committed to notes will not appear in the file, so quantize, adjust velocities, and finalize your arrangement first. Audio-only elements — a recorded vocal take, a sampled drum loop, anything captured through a microphone — are not notes and will not be part of the MIDI export at all, since MIDI only describes performances, not recorded sound.

Step 2: Open the export menu and choose MIDI

In Tracks, the export menu offers a standard MIDI file alongside the WAV and MP3 audio bounce options. Select the MIDI option instead of an audio format.

Step 3: Decide between the full song and a single track

You can export the whole arrangement as one multi-track MIDI file, with each instrument on its own channel, or export a single track alone if you only need one part — for example, pulling out just the bassline to rework in another program while leaving the rest of the song in Tracks.

Step 4: Bring the file into its destination

Once you have the .mid file, import it wherever it is headed: another DAW's import dialog, a notation program, or a hardware synth's file loader. Because MIDI is a long-standing, universal format, virtually every music program and a great deal of hardware can read it without conversion.

Step 5: Re-assign an instrument on the other end

Since the file carries no audio, the destination program needs its own instrument sound loaded before the notes will make noise — a synth patch, a sampled piano, whatever fits. This is normal and not a sign anything went wrong with the export; it is simply how MIDI works everywhere, not something specific to Tracks.

MIDI export vs. the other ways to save a Tracks project

Tracks gives you a few different ways to get work out of the browser, and each does a different job:

• WAV or MP3 — a finished audio recording of the mix, for listening or releasing. See exporting to MP3 or WAV.
• Per-track stems — separate audio files for each track, useful for handing a mix to someone else without giving them the whole editable project.
• Standard MIDI file — the notes and timing only, with no audio, for moving performances into other software or hardware.
• A self-contained .tracks.json project file — the full editable project, including every track, effect setting, and arrangement decision, meant for opening back up in Tracks itself later or on another device.

If you are not sure which one you need: choose audio to share a finished sound, choose MIDI to share the notes, and keep the .tracks.json file as your own working backup.

Frequently asked questions

Will my drum machine patterns export as MIDI too?

Yes. Drum machine patterns are note data the same way a synth or piano roll part is, so they export as MIDI notes on their own channel, ready to trigger a different drum kit or sampler in another program.

Does MIDI export include my mixer settings — EQ, compression, reverb?

No. Mixer processing shapes audio, and a MIDI file has no audio in it. If you need the processed sound itself, export audio instead — see how to mix a track: EQ, compression, and reverb basics for what those settings do before you decide which export you need.

Can I import a MIDI file I made elsewhere back into Tracks?

Yes — use the same Open button you use for a saved project, but pick a .mid file instead. See how to import a MIDI file into your browser DAW for the full walkthrough.

I recorded with a MIDI keyboard — does that change anything about exporting?

No — once a part is recorded into a track, it exports the same way whether it was played in on a MIDI keyboard or drawn by hand in the piano roll. See how to use a MIDI keyboard in a browser DAW if you have not connected a keyboard yet.

Is any of this uploaded anywhere?

No. Tracks runs entirely in your browser, and both MIDI and audio exports are generated and saved locally on your device — nothing is sent to a server at any point.