A 64K intro is a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

where the size of the executable file is limited to 64

kibibyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

s, or 65,536

byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

s. At demo parties, there is a category for this kind of demo, where the one that gives the best impression wins. 64K intros generally apply many techniques to be able to fit in the given size, usually including

procedural generation In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated assets and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. In ...

sound synthesis A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, and

executable compression Executable compression is any means of compressing an executable file and combining the compressed data with decompression code into a single executable. When this compressed executable is executed, the decompression code recreates the original ...

. The size of 64 kibibytes is a traditional limit which was inherited from the maximum size of a

COM file A COM file is a type of simple executable file. On the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX operating systems of the 1970s, .COM was used as a filename extension for text files containing commands to be issued to the operating system (simi ...

History

Demos traditionally were limited by the system memory size, or later on the storage that was available (although demos on multiple discs weren't unheard of). By the early 1990s, especially after machines started to get large hard discs and internet connections, demo sizes grew, and as a reaction limited size categories that forced devs to not simply stream data from storage started to become common at demo parties. As the scene evolved, the size of limited PC demos settled down to 64k. fr-08, a 64k PC demo by

Farbrausch Farbrausch, or Farb-rausch, is a German group of demogroup, demomakers who became well known in the demoscene in December 2000 with a 64k intro called "fr-08: .the .product". The demo achieved its small size through the use of procedural textures, a ...

released at The Party 2000 in

Aars Aars or Års, () is a Danish town with a population of 8,474 (1 January 2022)Chaos Theory Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, and were once thought to have co ...

Conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

, 2006 * Gaia Machina, Approximate, 2012 * F — Felix's Workshop, Ctrl-Alt-Test, 2012 * Fermi paradox, Mercury, 2016 * Darkness Lay Your Eyes Upon Me, Conspiracy, 2016

References

External links

The annual scene.org awards - best 64Kscene.org file archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:64k Intro Demoscene Articles containing video clips