user10738: How can I convert an MP3 file to MIDI on Windows?  Since MP3 is not losssless, is it possible to get MIDI out of a MP3 file?

user6273: That is not possible because MIDI is not an audio file format. It's a description on how to create music. Think of a midi file as a sheet music for a piece of music, whereas an mp3 would be a recording of someone playing the piece. So in order to create a midi file from audio recordings, you'd need some kind of score recognition program, which - to my knowledge - doesn't exist. A quick google search brought up a website and some software claiming to do that, but I wouldn't trust any of them. You can try it if you really want to, but even if they work at all the results will most likely be terrible.
If you need a midi file for a given piece of music, try to find the original score / sheet music! It's quite easy to create a midi version if you have the sheets.

user8079: There are several tools out there. The free but rather dated AmazingMIDI which takes in .wav files and generates the corresponding MIDI. You can convert to .wav from .mp3 using Audacity or ffmpeg.
Then there are a few commercial products such as AthTek DigiBand, WidiSoft, and others.
Note that figuring the tune from the recording can be done only as an approximation, and the resulting accuracy depends on the sound profile of the audio content. So don't expect a 100% accuracy, you'll have to try several tools and find the one that yields the better result for your specific case.

10738: <p>How can I convert an MP3 file to MIDI on Windows?  Since MP3 is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_compression#Audio" rel="nofollow noreferrer">not losssless</a>, is it possible to get MIDI out of a MP3 file?</p>
 6273: <p>That is not possible because MIDI is not an audio file format. It's a <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI" rel="nofollow">description on how to create music</a>. Think of a midi file as a sheet music for a piece of music, whereas an mp3 would be a recording of someone playing the piece. So in order to create a midi file from audio recordings, you'd need some kind of score recognition program, which - to my knowledge - doesn't exist. A quick google search brought up a website and some software claiming to do that, but I wouldn't trust any of them. You can try it if you really want to, but even if they work at all the results will most likely be terrible.</p>

<p>If you need a midi file for a given piece of music, try to find the original score / sheet music! It's quite easy to create a midi version if you have the sheets.</p>
 8079: <p>There are several tools out there. The free but rather dated <a href="http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~araki/amazingmidi/" rel="nofollow">AmazingMIDI</a> which takes in <code>.wav</code> files and generates the corresponding MIDI. You can convert to <code>.wav</code> from <code>.mp3</code> using <a href="http://web.audacityteam.org/" rel="nofollow">Audacity</a> or ffmpeg.</p>

<p>Then there are a few commercial products such as <a href="http://www.athtek.com/digiband.html" rel="nofollow">AthTek DigiBand</a>, <a href="http://www.widisoft.com" rel="nofollow">WidiSoft</a>, and others.</p>

<p>Note that figuring the tune from the recording can be done only as an approximation, and the resulting accuracy depends on the sound profile of the audio content. So don't expect a 100% accuracy, you'll have to try several tools and find the one that yields the better result for your specific case.</p>
