What is the GP4 file format?
Guitar Pro 4 is a tablature and score editor for the creation of music through guitar and bass compositions. The .gp4 file format is used to store information about the musical notes, rhythms, and effects being played - this could include guitar, bass, drums, and other musical notations. Beyond pitches and rhythms, each note can carry articulation data for bends, slides, hammer-ons, vibrato, and other performance effects.
.gp4 files are compatible with Guitar Pro or other guitar notation applications such as TuxGuitar and MuseScore 4. The format was developed by Arobas Music and holds complete song information for musicians, accessible using Guitar Pro or compatible free editors.
The .gp4 file is a flat binary format identified by a Pascal-style version string (FICHIER GUITAR PRO v4.06) at the start of the file. It stores no recorded audio - playback is synthesized from the notation via MIDI or the software's RSE engine. The format has been superseded by .gp5 (Guitar Pro 5, 2005) and later .gpx (GP6, 2010) and .gp (GP7/8, 2017), but .gp4 files remain widely readable because the format is fully community-documented and supported by free tools such as TuxGuitar.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWGP4 is a flat binary notation file with no executable code. Safe to open in Guitar Pro, TuxGuitar or MuseScore. Only caution: double-extension files (song.gp4.exe) would be executables in disguise, not tabs. Download tabs only from reputable sources.
Format details
in a nutshellPrograms that open GP4 files
Windows3 apps
TuxGuitar
Open-source File > Open the .gp4 to view and play the tablature for free. TuxGuitar is the main free Guitar Pro-compatible editor. 
Guitar Pro 8
Paid Open the .gp4 directly - Guitar Pro 8 is the native editor and opens all legacy .gp3/.gp4/.gp5 files for viewing, playback and editing.
MuseScore 4
Open-source File > Open the .gp4 - MuseScore imports Guitar Pro scores for free viewing, playback and export to PDF/MIDI/MusicXML. 
macOS3 apps
Linux2 apps
TuxGuitar
Open-source Open the .gp4 - TuxGuitar is the primary free Guitar Pro reader/player on Linux. 
Android1 app
Technical details
deep spec| File encoding | Binary, little-endian |
| Magic bytes / header | 0x18 (length byte = 24) followed by `FICHIER GUITAR PRO v4.06` - Pascal-style length-prefixed version string at offset 0 |
| Compression | None (flat binary; no container wrapper) |
| Typical file size | 5 KB - 300 KB |
| File structure | Version string → song metadata (title/artist/tempo/key) → lyrics → MIDI channel table → measure headers → track headers → per-beat note and effect data |
| Notation types stored | Tablature, standard notation, drum notation, chord diagrams, lyrics, tempo, and tuning |
| Per-note effects | Bend, slide, hammer-on/pull-off, vibrato, tremolo picking, tapping, whammy bar |
| Audio playback | Synthesized from notation (MIDI or RSE engine); no recorded audio embedded |
| Format successor | `.gp5` (Guitar Pro 5, 2005) → `.gpx` (GP6, 2010) → `.gp` (GP7/8, 2017) |
| Community documentation | Fully reverse-engineered spec published by the DGuitar project (dguitar.sourceforge.net/GP4format.html) |
| Platform support | Windows, macOS, Linux (TuxGuitar), Android, iOS |
| Last format version | Guitar Pro 4.06 (final patch); version string frozen at v4.06 |
| Released | 2002 (Guitar Pro 4) |
| Latest version | GP4 format frozen at Guitar Pro 4.x; superseded by .gp5 (GP5, 2005), .gpx (GP6, 2010), .gp (GP7/8, 2017) |
| Specification | dguitar.sourceforge.net |
GP4 conversions
Community Q&A
asked by usersNo questions yet - be the first to ask about GP4 files.
