Free Synthesia MIDI Files – Adding Songs to Synthesia
By Brian ClarkLast Updated:
October 2, 2026
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Synthesia is a very useful software app for learning piano. With it you can learn how to play any song on a piano easily, essentially using your keyboard as a controller.
The great thing about this is that you can add any song you like (using MIDI files), and the program will automatically read it and make it available for you to play in Synthesia.
In this article, we are going to list some great places online where you can find free MIDI files that are perfect for Synthesia to play. Also, you will find step-by-step instructions on how to add MIDI files to Synthesia.
BitMIDI is an easy-to-use database with more than 100,000 MIDI songs on there. All of the songs are made by volunteers around the world, but the quality of the songs is really good. The website itself is actually quite easy to use and you can listen to all of the files before downloading them.
This is a great way to check upfront whether you actually want that file or not. It is an all-growing database with many different
MIDIfind is another great website for free MIDI files. It has a large selection of MIDI files available for download. You can browse or search either by name or alphabetically.
The amazing collection of files contains various film, animation, game, and program samples that you can use. There are also numerous original and cover tracks on the platform, as well as solo guitar, bass, and vocal parts from tracks.
Another large MIDI database, freeMIDI is a great website with tons of quality music. It’s a free website and it works on volunteer work – members are free to download and upload songs as much as they wish.
A great feature on this site is a request page. Through this page, you can ask the community if they have a particular MIDI file that you want but can’t find. There is always someone out there who is ready to help you out and vice versa.
MIDIWORLD is another free source for MIDI files with a decent selection. You can browse via name, genre, or artists/composers.
The platform is fairly straightforward to use. Simply choose/find the MIDI files you want and select download. You can also get a glimpse of the top artists and composers at the moment.
Midis101 is another entry for free, high-quality MIDI files. You can check out the top downloads for the current week and browse MIDI files via artist/band name, cartoons, movies, games, TV shows, and regional criteria.
There is a huge selection available for download. Additionally, you can search by name for any given MIDI file to see if the platform has it.
How to import MIDI files into Synthesia
Adding MIDI files to Synthesia is quite easy. On Windows or Mac, keep the files in a folder you can find again, then add that folder to Synthesia’s song list. The same desktop steps also work with MusicXML files. See Synthesia’s song guide for the current controls.
Open Synthesia
Click on the Settings button on the main screen
In Settings, open the Songs tab
Click the + button below the list of song folders
Browse to the folder containing your MIDI or MusicXML files, open it, then click Add. Synthesia will scan that folder for songs.
Your songs should now appear in the list. To play a single file without adding its folder, you can also open it directly in Synthesia from Windows or Mac.
Can Synthesia read sheet music?
Synthesia can display sheet music while you play, and it accepts both MIDI and MusicXML song files. It cannot turn a photographed page or ordinary PDF score into playable notes by itself. If you have a score, export it as MusicXML or MIDI from notation software, then open that file in Synthesia. The official import guide explains the supported formats.
You can find many MIDI files online, but check the file before practicing because arrangements vary in quality. If you already have a digital score, exporting it from a notation app is usually a better route than trying to convert a scan or an audio recording. Once a song is loaded, you can show its notation in Synthesia alongside, or instead of, the falling notes.
Is Synthesia good for learning piano?
Depending on your level and understanding of music, Synthesia can be a good tool for practicing and learning some new techniques on your piano. There are, as always, some ups and downs for this particular technique of learning how to play.
For the ups, you do not have to get into the learning notation system and how to read sheet music. This is what usually puts off people who don’t have any previous connection to music.
It will also help you with your precision in a fun way with the use of technology.
The downside is that you will not learn how to play the piano properly. Using Synthesia to learn how to play the piano means that you will learn some songs that you have in MIDI files, but nobody will explain to you how the music works and why the songs are the way they are.
Also, you will not be spending much time learning scales and stuff, but you will be playing songs that you just mechanically learned without any understanding. This is a real downside for a beginner who needs to get his basics done first in order to properly advance in the piano-playing world.
If you have some previous experience with music and piano playing, you could use this software for some precision practice, but other than that, it’s probably better to treat it as a computer game and enjoy it at that level.
Summary
Synthesia is a nice tool if you know how to play the piano or just want to learn some songs without getting into a deeper understanding of music as such.
There are tons of MIDI files on the web, so you will not have to worry about finding the right songs for you to play with and practice. As you can see, adding them and playing with them is not that big of a deal at all, so head on and find the hits you want.
I’ve been a writer with Musician Wave for six years, turning my 17-year journey as a multi-instrumentalist and music producer into insightful news, tutorials, reviews, and features.
