File extension DAT is used for multimedia files stored on VCD disks. A DAT sample file is provided. Free DAT file players and editors are listed.

File Extension: .DAT

MIME Type: video/x-mpeg

File Content: Audio and video data.

What is DAT? DAT is a file extension used for audio and video files stored on VCD disks.

.DAT files on VCD disks are stored under the "MPEGAV (MPEG Audio and Video" directory. For example:

 Directory of D:\MPEGAV

07/23/1996  12:34 AM    <DIR>          .
07/23/1996  12:34 AM    <DIR>          ..
07/22/1996  11:49 PM        36,166,748 AVSEQ01.DAT
07/22/1996  11:50 PM        34,315,724 AVSEQ02.DAT
07/22/1996  11:52 PM        35,103,644 AVSEQ03.DAT
...

A single .DAT file represents only one segment of the audio and video information on the VCD. Other files on the VCD prevides play menu and other control information

Usually, .DAT files use RIFF as the container format, with audio and video data encoded with MPEG-1 standards.

Audio information encoded with MPEG-1:

Bit Rate: 224 kbps (kilo bits per second)
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz (kilo Hertz)
Number of Channels: 2 (stereo)

Video information encoded with MPEG-1:

Frame Rate: 29.97 Hz (NTSC) or 25 Hz (PAL)
Resolution: 352x240 pixel (NTSC) or 352x288 pixel (PAL)
Bit Rate: About 1.13 mbps (mega bits per second)

Here are the first 128 bytes of a sample DAT file dumped in HEX values:

52 49 46 46 c4 9d 0b 02 43 44 58 41 66 6d 74 20 RIFF....CDXAfmt.
10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 11 11 58 41 02 00 00 00 ..........XA....
00 00 00 00 64 61 74 61 a0 9d 0b 02 00 ff ff ff ....data........
ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 03 40 46 02 02 00 60 00 ..........F.....
02 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

"RIFF" is the magic number of RIFF files.

DAT sample file: Click sample.dat to download.

Audio and video data stored in DAT files can be retrieved, played or edited by popular free software:

• Windows Media Player - Plays DAT and other multimedia files.
• MPlayer - Plays DAT files and other multimedia files.
• VirtualDub - Edits DAT files and other multimedia files.