List of File Formats

Overview

This is a list of file formats used in Mario Kart Wii and other games.

Mario Kart Wii File Formats

This table contains a list of file formats found in Mario Kart Wii:

Name	Description
BCP	Controls the intro cameras before countdown.
BDOF	Controls focus, sharpness and blur in tracks.
BFG	Controls fog used in tracks.
BLIGHT	Controls lighting effects on characters, karts, items, and objects in a track.
BMG	Message files containing localized text for use in game screens and menus.
BMM	Mii statue head material settings.
BRCTR	Layout control files.
BREFF	Controls information for effect files. Used together with BREFT.
BREFT	Graphic and texture data for effect files. Used together with BREFF.
BRFNT	Font files used to display text stored in BMG files.
BRLAN	Layout animation files.
BRLYT	Controls the UI layout elements' material, TEV and position settings.
BRRES	Object files containing model, animation and texture information about an object, such as the course model or an item box.
BRSAR	Sound archive.
BRSTM	Music files.
BSP	Controls vehicle hitboxes and space parameters.
BTI	BTI is an image file format.
CHR0	Model movement animation files.
CLR0	Color swapping animation files.
KCL	Collision data files containing information about when and how objects collide with a track or object.
KMP	Track description files containing information on start positions, checkpoints, etc.
KRM	Controls the rumble on the Wii Remote.
MDL0	3D model data.
PAT0	Texture pattern animation files.
REL	Relocatable binary object file.
RKC	Data about tournaments.
RKG	Ghost data.
SCN0	Scene settings files.
SHP0	Vertex shape animation files.
SRT0	Texture movement animation files.
TEX0	Texture files.
THP	Movie files.
TPL	Image file format used for menus.
U8	File archive with a hierarchical file system. Most used together with YAZ0 compression and stored as SZS file.
YAZ0	Compression format. Most U8 files are YAZ0 compressed.

Other File Formats

This table contains a list of file formats found in Nintendo games, but not in Mario Kart Wii:

Name	Description
AST	Sound file for some Wii games.
BDL	Model data for many GameCube and some Wii games.
BMD	Model data for many GameCube and some Wii games.
BCO	Collision information from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
BOL	Contains information about a track's setup.
DAT	Packed model-archive format found in games by HAL Laboratory.
RARC	Archive format for some GameCube and Wii games.

Custom File Formats

This table contains a list of commonly used customized file formats by users:

Name	Author	Description
CT-DEF	Wiimm	CT-DEF (Custom-Track Definition) is a text file format. It is used and scanned by Wiimms SZS Tools to define CT-CODE and LE-CODE distributions.
LE-DEF	Wiimm	LE-DEF (LE-CODE Definition) is a text file format. It is used and scanned by Wiimms SZS Tools to define LE-CODE distributions.
LEX	Wiimm	LEX (LE-CODE Extension) is an extension for custom tracks to provide additional settings and modifications outside of a KMP file. The main idea is that global game settings can be overridden by track dependent settings in cases where it is not possible otherwise.
LFL	Wiimm	LFL (LE-CODE File List) is a simple archive format to store common files within LTA files.
LPAR	Wiimm	LPAR (LE-CODE Parameters) is a text file format to define parameters for LE-CODE.
LTA	Wiimm	LTA (LE-CODE Track Archive) is a archive format to store SZS files of the tracks. The purpose is to reduce the size of the main directory in order to reduce its storage space.
TPLx	Wiimm	TPLx is an extension of TPL that is fully compatible with TPL. It was developed by Wiimm to manage particularly high images with a height of 65536 or more pixels. Such images are required for LE-CODE cup icons.
WBZ	Wiimm	WBZ is an alternative format with compression method bzip2 instead of YAZ0. It is dedicated to the WU8 patching file format to allow small files without copyrighted material.
WLZ	Wiimm	WLZ is an alternative format with compression method LZMA instead of YAZ0. It is dedicated to the WU8 patching file format to allow small files without copyrighted material.
WU8	Wiimm	WU8 is designed to allow exchanging of custom tracks over the internet without any Nintendo stuff and license problems. The design is similar to the file format U8.
YBZ	Wiimm	YBZ is an alternative format. It uses the Yaz0 header, but bzip2 for compression.
YLZ	Wiimm	YLZ is an alternative format. It uses the Yaz0 header, but LZMA for compression. LE-CODE supports this file format to allow much smaller SZS files.

Further Information

This section explains the relation between the file formats U8, YAZ0, SZS, WU8, WBZ and WLZ.

U8 is a file archive containing a hierarchical file system. GameCube and Wii images use U8 archives as a main DVD file system. The U8 file system is optimized as read-only system, and only supports file name, file size and a directory structure with no other file attributes, like time stamps. It it similar to a TAR or ZIP file without compression.

To make U8 archives smaller, the compression method YAZ0 is used. A YAZ0 compressed U8 archive is usually stored as a SZS file. These files are used for tracks. YAZ0 is also used to compress other archives, like RARC and BRRES.

The file format WU8 (Wiimms U8) was developed by Wiimm to make exchanging custom tracks over the internet easier without any original Nintendo files and license and copyright issues. The design is identical to U8, except Nintendo's subfiles.

WBZ and WLZ are alternative compression formats for YAZ0 based on the public compressions bzip2 and LZMA. They are dedicated to the WU8 file format to upload small files without copyrighted material. The alternative compressions should also help to avoid false positives of the copyright file scanners.