.VMD File Extension
Sierra VMD Video File
| Developer | Sierra Entertainment |
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A VMD file may also be a multimedia file used by various CD-ROM video games developed by Sierra Entertainment, most notably Phantasmagoria. It contains video and audio data in the Sierra Video and Music Data (VMD) format. VMD files are typically used for title and logo animations and in-game cutscenes.
More Information
You will most likely only encounter a VMD file if you have installed a game that utilizes the TGV format on your computer. Some games that use VMD files besides Phantasmagoria include Betrayal in Antara, SWAT, RAMA, Shivers, Lighthouse, The Last Dynasty, and Torin's Passage.
VMD was developed by Sierra On-Line (now Sierra Entertainment) in the 1990s to store video featured in their CD-ROM video games. Many of the video games that utilize this format are interactive games that feature a large number of cutscenes with human actors in real or 3D animated environments.
The VMD format begins with a header that includes information about the video, such as the video codec version, the width and height of the video frame, and the audio sample rate. Video data is encoded with the Lempel-Ziv (LZ77) algorithm and run-length encoding (RLE). If audio data is included it may be 8-bit raw Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM) samples or 16-bit data encoded with Differential Pulse-Code Modulation (DPCM).
How to open a VMD file
There are few programs that support VMD files since they are rare. The files are primarily only used in games developed by Sierra On-Line in the 1990s.
However, you can open and play VMD videos with the free VLC media player, which is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
You can also convert a VMD file to a more common video format with FFmpeg, then open the converted file with a media player, such as Microsoft Windows Media Player (Windows) or Apple QuickTime Player (macOS).