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| Filename extension | .smi, .sami |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Microsoft |
| Initial release | 25 June 1998; 26 years ago (1998-06-25) |
| Type of format | Timed text |
| Extended from | HTML |
| Open format? | Yes |
| Free format? | Proprietary |
Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI) is aMicrosoft accessibility initiative released in the summer of 1998.[1] The structuredmarkup language is designed to simplify creatingsubtitles for media playback on a PC.
A SAMI file providesclosed caption support for multimedia formats. Generally, a multimedia file (such as a video or a sound file) is played by amedia player such asWindows Media Player. Media players that support closed captioning and SAMI format may display the contents of the included SAMI file.
A SAMI file is aplain text file and therefore can be created or modified in any text editor. Its structure is very similar toHTML. The files may have either.smi or.samifilename extensions, although using.smi may cause a filename extension collision, sinceSynchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) files and Macintoshself mounting images also use this filename extension.
SAMI format is similar toHTML andCSS; in fact, SAMI implements a subset of both. SAMI does not require strict tag matching.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| B | Bold text style |
| BASEFONT | Base font size |
| BDO | I18N BiDi override |
| BIG | Large text style |
| BLOCKQUOTE | Long quotation |
| BR | Forced line break |
| CAPTION | Table caption |
| CENTER | Shorthand for DIV align=center |
| COL | Table column |
| COLGROUP | Tablecolumn group |
| DD | Definition description |
| DIV | Generic language/style container |
| DL | Definition list |
| DT | Definition term |
| FONT | Local change to font |
| H1 | Heading |
| H2 | Heading |
| H3 | Heading |
| H4 | Heading |
| H5 | Heading |
| H6 | Heading |
| HR | Horizontal rule |
| I | Italic text style |
| IMG | Embedded image |
| LI | List item |
| OL | Ordered list |
| P | Paragraph |
| PRE | Preformatted text |
| Q | Short inline quotation |
| S | Strike-through text style |
| SMALL | Small text style |
| SPAN | Generic language/style container |
| STRIKE | Strike-through text |
| SUB | Subscript |
| SUP | Superscript |
| TABLE | N/A |
| TBODY | Table body |
| TD | Table data cell |
| TFOOT | Table footer |
| TH | Table header cell |
| THEAD | Table header |
| TR | Table row |
| TT | Teletype or monospaced text style |
| U | Underlined text style |
| UL | Unordered list |
Here's an example SAMI file. It sets the time to milliseconds. It uses CSS for formatting both the source and text lines and it supports language selection. (English and faux-French shown). Each SYNC block sets the start time for the caption. A new caption is displayed every second (1000ms). TheClass= identifies the language. TheID=Source (matching the#Source in the CSS identifier definition) indicates the source/speaker line; the default is the closed caption. The identifier name need not be "Source"; it may be any name.
The Microsoft parser is fragile. Formatting information can be added to the closed caption information, but adding format information to the source line can have unpredictable results. Defining more than one ID can have unpredictable results.
<SAMI><HEAD><TITLE>SAMIExample</TITLE><SAMIParam>Media{cheap44.wav}Metrics{time:ms;}Spec{MSFT:1.0;}</SAMIParam><STYLETYPE="text/css"><!-- P { font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; color: white; background-color: black; text-align: center; } #Source {color: red; background-color: blue; font-family: Courier; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; } .ENUSCC { name: English; lang: en-US ; SAMIType: CC ; } .FRFRCC { name: French; lang: fr-FR ; SAMIType: CC ; }--></STYLE></HEAD><BODY><!-- Open play menu, choose Captions and Subtiles, On if available --><!-- Open tools menu, Security, Show local captions when present --><SYNCStart=0><PClass=ENUSCCID=Source>TheSpeaker</P><PClass=ENUSCC>SAMI0000text</P><PClass=FRFRCCID=Source>Lenarrateur</P><PClass=FRFRCC>TexteSAMI0000</P></SYNC><SYNCStart=1000><PClass=ENUSCC>SAMI1000text</P><PClass=FRFRCC>TexteSAMI1000</P></SYNC><SYNCStart=2000><PClass=ENUSCC>SAMI2000text</P><PClass=FRFRCC>TexteSAMI2000</P></SYNC><SYNCStart=3000><PClass=ENUSCC>SAMI3000text</P><PClass=FRFRCC>TexteSAMI3000</P></SYNC></BODY></SAMI>
The player needs to know how to associate a particular media file to a SAMI file. Sometimes that is achieved by using the same filename as the underlying media file. For example, when Windows Media Player (WMP) opens the sound file cheap44.wav, it checks to see if the file cheap44.smi exists in the same folder. If it does, WMP uses that file to display closed captions.
Alternatively, the association can be made explicit using an entry in anAdvanced Stream Redirector (ASX) file. The user opens the ASX file instead.
<asxversion="3.0"previewmode="No"><abstract>ASXHEADThisistheshowsabstract</abstract><title>ASXHEADTheshowtitlegoeshere</title><author>AuthorName</author><copyright>(c)2002-companyname</copyright><entry><refhref="cheap44.wav?sami=cheap44.smi"/><abstract>ASXThisistheclipsabstract</abstract><title>ASXThetitlefortheclipgoeshere</title><author>ASXYourName</author><copyright>ASX(c)2000-companyname</copyright></entry></asx>
The following is a list of software that can play SAMI along with multimedia content: