A BFSAR file is an archive containing sound effects. In NSMBU, it also contains all music streams, but I don't think this is the case for MK8.

See the RHCafe page for much more detailed documentation of the file format.

Format

I found this information by reverse engineering NSMBU and analyzing the bfsar files of NSMBU, SM3DW and Splatoon. I think the same applies to MK8, but since I don't have MK8's files, I can't assure this.

Header

Offset	Size	Type	Description
0x00	4	Char[4]	Magic ("FSAR")
0x04	2	UInt16	Endianness. 0xFEFF is big endian, 0xFFFE is little endian
0x06	2	UInt16	Header size. Always 0x0040.
0x08	4	UInt32	Version number
0x0C	4	UInt32	File size of the entire file.
0x10	2	UInt16	Section count. Always 3.
0x12	2	—	Padding.
0x14	3 × 12	SectionInfo[3]	Section info. 3 structures describing the offsets to and sizes of the bfsar sections.
0x38	8	?	Unknown, possibly alignment. Always 0.

Section information

Offset	Size	Type	Description
0	2	UInt16	Identifier. Specifies which section it describes. 0x2000 is the STRG section, 0x2001 is INFO and 0x2002 is FILE.
2	2	—	Padding.
4	4	UInt32	Offset
8	4	UInt32	Size

STRG Section

This section contains a string table and data about the string.

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	ASCII identifier ("STRG")
0x04	4	Section size
0x08	4	Unknown. Always 0x24000000
0x0C	4	String table offset, relative to field 0x08 of the STRG section.
0x10	4	Unknown. Always 0x24010000
0x14	4	Offset to lookup table, relative to field 0x08 of the STRG section.

String table

The string table contains structures that point to null terminated strings. All offsets are relative to the start of the string table. It starts with a string count and then contains:

Offset	Size	Description
0	4	Unknown. Always 0x1F010000.
4	4	Offset to null terminated string.
8	4	Unknown.

Lookup table

This table is used to get the string table index and other data for a string. It starts with 8 bytes of data:

Offset	Size	Description
0	4	Index of the table entry where it starts.
4	4	Unknown. Seems to be some kind of index too. Must be higher than the other index.

And is then followed by 0x14 byte structures:

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	2	Endpoint. 0 if this is an entry that links to another list entry. 1 if the string has been found and the entry contains data about it.
0x02	2	String bit. This bit in the string that's being searched for decides with which entry the search should continue.
0x04	4	This is the table index of the next entry if the string bit is 0.
0x08	4	This is the index of the next entry if the string bit is 1.
0x0C	4	String table index if this structure is an endpoint.
0x10	1	Data about the file. 1 if it's an audio file (SE/WSD/STRM), 2 if it's a WSDSET or SEQSET, 3 is a BANK, 4=PLAYER and 6=GROUP.
0x11	3	File id

INFO Section

All offsets in this header are relative to the start of the INFO section + 8.

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	4	Magic ("INFO")
0x04	4	Size of INFO section.
0x08	4	Unknown. Always 0x21000000
0x0C	4	Audio list offset (SE/WSD/STRM)
0x10	4	Unknown. Always 0x21040000
0x14	4	Audio set list offset (WSDSET/SEQSET)
0x18	4	Unknown. Always 0x21010000
0x1C	4	Bank list offset
0x20	4	Unknown. Always 0x21030000
0x24	4	Unknown offset.
0x28	4	Unknown. Always 0x21050000
0x2C	4	Group list offset
0x30	4	Unknown. Always 0x21020000
0x34	4	Player list offset
0x38	4	Unknown. Always 0x21060000
0x3C	4	Unknown offset.
0x40	4	Unknown. Always 0x220B0000
0x44	4	Unknown offset.

Each list starts with the amount of list entries and is then followed by these structures:

Offset	Size	Description
0	4	Unknown
4	4	Offset

BFSAR (File Format)

Contents