CBA File

What are CBA files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CBA file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your CBA files.

What is a CBA file?

A .CBA file is a Chuck Biscuits/Black Artist Module file.

Chuck Biscuits/Black Artist Module files store music created as tracked audio modules originally used in a DOS-based musicdisk called Expoze by the demoscene group Heretics. These modules are not full tracker projects with editor data; they are final module files intended for playback in musicdisk or tracker-player contexts. They were created for or by Chuck Biscuits / Black Artist inside Expoze, and are meant primarily for listening rather than further editing.

These module files are produced by converting or assembling patterns and samples into a custom format specific to Chuck Biscuits / Black Artist. They are read (imported) by modern trackers such as MilkyTracker and OpenMPT, which have implemented support for this format. They cannot be saved (exported) back into this format by those programs; instead the format is preserved for playback/import only. With OpenMPT version 1.32.01.00 (libopenmpt 0.8.0), support was added to read CBA modules as of mid-2024.

Files begin with a signature at the very beginning: ASCII "CBA" followed by byte 0xF9. The bytes 0x43 0x42 0x41 0xF9 at offset 0 identify this format uniquely.

How to open CBA files

Important: Different programs may use files with the CBA file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your CBA file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested ten different CBA openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 31, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of CBA files. Remember, different programs may use CBA files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

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File.org helps thousands of users every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have additional information about CBA file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.