Extract text from Sega 3D audio files (STQ)
To convert STQ audio files to another format, you need CRI ADX2 or other Audio software.
To convert other file formats to the "Game Audio Stream File" file type, you need software like CRI ADX2 or a similar tool.
The .STQ file is a proprietary game audio stream format used to store background music, dialogue, and sound effects in video games. It is primarily associated with CRI Middleware ADX2 audio engines and legacy Sega titles. These files are engineered for rapid loading and minimal CPU overhead during gameplay, often incorporating unique seamless loop points.
Opening or editing an .STQ file poses significant challenges. The main disadvantage of this format is its proprietary, closed-source nature. Standard media players like VLC, iTunes, or web browsers cannot decode the audio out of the box. Users are forced to rely on niche, reverse-engineered community plugins like vgmstream via foobar2000 just to listen to the files.
Most users need to convert .STQ files to standard formats like WAV, MP3, or OGG for soundtrack archival, modding, or video editing. However, converting these files means losing the specialized game-engine metadata, such as dynamic loop regions and multi-channel interactive layers.
Because .STQ is a highly specialized game asset, standard online converters consistently fail to process it. The encoding relies on proprietary algorithms, meaning that usually, only the original game software or specific audio extraction tools can properly read or export the raw PCM data. Despite these heavy limitations, convert.guru offers a realistic workaround. Just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your STQ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SDM, STW and JIS files.
If you want to convert STQ file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use CRI ADX2 or similar software from the "Game Audio Stream Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to STQ, try CRI ADX2 or another comparable tool in the "Game Audio Stream Storage" category.
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 STQ converter.