SBI Converter

Convert SBI files online for free

Select File
Drop or upload your .SBI file

Online File Converter

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How to convert your SBI file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your SBI file.
You'll see a preview.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to save your file in the format you want.

Convert SBI to another file type

The converter easily converts your SBI file to various formats - free and online. No Media Player or extra software needed.

Convert a file to SBI

The converter also works in reverse, so you can convert other Game formats to SBI with high quality output.

About SBI files

An .SBI file is primarily a PlayStation subchannel data file, a critical helper component used by emulators like ePSXe and DuckStation to bypass copy protection schemes. Specifically, these files contain pre-recorded subchannel data required to run PAL-region games protected by LibCrypt (e.g., Final Fantasy VIII, Spyro). Without this small file sitting in the same folder as your BIN or ISO disc image, the game will often freeze, display anti-piracy warnings, or fail to boot entirely.

The primary problem with .SBI files is file management. They are loose "sidecar" files that must be renamed exactly to match your main disc image (e.g., Game.bin, Game.cue, and Game.sbi). If you lose the file or rename it incorrectly, the emulation breaks. Furthermore, older formats like ISO generally do not support this subchannel data natively.

To solve the "clutter" problem and ensure data integrity, the best conversion strategy is to merge the .SBI file along with the main disc image into a modern, compressed container format.

For Archiving & Emulation: Convert the set (BIN/CUE/SBI) to CHD (Compressed Hunks of Data). This creates a single, compressed file that retains the subchannel data, supported natively by RetroArch and DuckStation.
For Portable Play: Convert to PBP if you are running games on PSP hardware or Adrenaline.
For Burning: If you are burning to a physical CD-R, you may need to patch the main image or use a format like CCD (CloneCD) that handles subchannels differently.

*(Note: A rare, secondary use of .SBI is for Sound Blaster Instrument files, an obsolete format for FM synthesis banking on old Creative audio cards.)*

Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your SBI file.

Users also converted SB1, SIB, 65, PNG and HDR files.

FAQ

If you want to convert SBI file to MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG, WMA, M4A, AIFF, OPUS, ALAC, APE or WV, you can use ePSXe or similar software from the "PlayStation Subchannel Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert MIDI, AAC, TTA, AU, WV, DTS, MID, FLAC, RA, MP3, PCM or WAV files to SBI, try ePSXe or another comparable tool in the "PlayStation Subchannel Data" category.

The SBI Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our SBI converter.