BMS (short for Be-Music Source or Be-Music Script) is a unique file format developed by two japanese people, known as the fathers of BMS. Urao Yane and NBK (not to be confused with NHK.) It was first released way back in 1998 (over 20 years ago.) alongside BM98, a simulator of Beatmania. A popular rhythm game by Konami which was first released in December 1997. The format grew a lot over the years, all thanks to community effort. When it first released, it was only capable of playing 5KEYS (and a turntable) charts, and had a limit of 256 different sounds and BMPs, which over time, has grown to add support for 7KEYS (similar to beatmania IIDX), 10KEYS, 14KEYS, and 9KEYS (pms files based on pop n' music, another popular rhythm game from Konami.) files while expanding its sound limit to 1295 different sounds and receiving support for videos (known is the BMS field as BGAs, short for background animations.) Today, many underground artists who have experience with BMS, release their songs in BMS events. BMS events are online competitions where anyone can submit their song in BMS format to downloaded, played, and rated by anyone. The two longest-running BMS events today, are PABAT! (short for PArty Be-Music ArT) first held in 2013, and the most important event of all, the BMS OF FIGHTERS (abbreviated to BOF), first held way back in 2004. The BMS format is still going strong today, even after more than 20 years since its inception, with a fanbase that spans through all around the world that's growing larger and larger by the pass of time.