🎤 CDG Demystified

How Karaoke Players Actually Work

Click each card to learn about the CDG format — the technology behind every karaoke machine since 1986.

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What is CDG?

CD+Graphics (CDG) is a subcode format standardized in 1986 as part of the Red Book CD specification. It embeds low-resolution graphics data alongside audio on a standard CD. The format uses a 300×216 pixel display with 16 colors active at any time, chosen from a palette of 4,096 possible colors (12-bit RGB). This is the technology that powers virtually every commercial karaoke machine.

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Packet Structure

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Instruction Types

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The 16-Color Palette

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Rendering Pipeline

CDG Fun Fact:CDG was standardized in 1986 as part of the Red Book CD specification