VMD File

What are VMD files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a VMD 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 VMD files.

What is a VMD file?

VMD files have multiple uses, and Optical Simulation Rendering VMD Format is one of them. Read more about the other uses further down the page.

Optical Simulation Rendering VMD Format

We have not yet analyzed in detail what these files contain and what they are used for. We're working on it.

How to open VMD files

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

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

Last updated: August 14, 2026

All known file formats using extension .VMD

While Optical Simulation Rendering VMD Format is a popular type of VMD-file, we know of 4 different uses of the .VMD file extension. Different software may use files with the same extension for different types of data.

Sierra Video And Music Data Video

Sierra Video And Music Data Video (.VMD) is a multimedia file format used in several Sierra CD-ROM adventure games from the 1990s. It stores synchronized video and audio content - often full-motion video cutscenes - used for cinematic storytelling inside games like Phantasmagoria, Torin's Passage, Shivers, and others. Sierra Entertainment developed and packaged these files for playback during game runtime.

VMD files are usually written by Sierra game tools or build systems when preparing the game content. Players or engines such as Sierra's games themselves, fan tools, or media libraries like FFmpeg then read and decode these files for display. The format supports different video codecs (palette based, 24-bit, 16-bit, or Indeo-3 compressed), palette updates, and both raw PCM and compressed audio formats (including DPCM and ADPCM).

VMD files begin with a header that indicates among other things video codec version, frame dimensions, presence of audio, audio sample rate, and offsets for the video/audio data and table of contents. The header is followed by block offset tables and frame information records describing which frames are audio, which are video, their sizes, and where in the file the actual data lies.

VMD opener for Windows

We have identified one VMD opener that is compatible with this specific type of VMD file.

Vocaloid Motion Data

We know that one VMD format is Vocaloid Motion Data. We have not yet analyzed in detail what these files contain and what they are used for. We're working on it.

VocalTec Media Descriptor

We know that one VMD format is VocalTec Media Descriptor. We have not yet analyzed in detail what these files contain and what they are used for. We're working on it.

Various apps that use files with this extension

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

Help us help others

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