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MusicXML is an XML-based file format for representing Western musical notation. The format is proprietary, but fully and openly documented, and can be freely used under a Public License.^[4]

History [edit]

MusicXML was developed by Recordare LLC, deriving several key concepts from existing academic formats (such as Walter Hewlett's MuseData and David Huron's Humdrum). It is designed for the interchange of scores, particularly between different scorewriters. MusicXML development is currently managed by MakeMusic following the company's acquisition of Recordare in 2011.^[5][6]

Version 1.0 was released in January 2004. Version 1.1 was released in May 2005 with improved formatting support. Version 2.0 was released in June 2007 and included a standard compressed format.^[7] All of these versions were defined by a series of document type definitions (DTDs). An XML Schema Definition (XSD) implementation of Version 2.0 was released in September 2008. Version 3.0 was released in August 2011 with improved virtual instrument support, in both DTD and XSD versions.^[8][9] The MusicXML DTDs and XSDs are each freely redistributable under the MusicXML Public License.^[10]

Support [edit]

As of August 2012, MusicXML is supported to varying degrees by over 160 notation programs.^[11][12] These programs include:

• Most scorewriting programs, including Finale, Sibelius, capella, and MuseScore.
• Most Music OCR programs, including SmartScore and PhotoScore.
• Some music sequencer programs, including Cubase, SONAR, and Rosegarden.

Additionally, web support is possible through the use of the HTML5 canvas element and JavaScript resulting in the rendering of legible music within a web browser.^[13]

Example [edit]

Like all XML-based formats, MusicXML is intended to be easy for automated tools to parse and manipulate. Though it is possible to create MusicXML by hand, interactive score writing programs like Finale and MuseScore greatly simplify the reading, writing, and modifying of MusicXML files.

The following example is a score consisting of a single whole note middle C in the key of C major on the Treble Clef.^[14]

Representation of middle C on the treble clef created through MusicXML code.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE score-partwise PUBLIC
    "-//Recordare//DTD MusicXML 3.0 Partwise//EN"
    "http://www.musicxml.org/dtds/partwise.dtd">
<score-partwise version="3.0">
  <part-list>
    <score-part id="P1">
      <part-name>Music</part-name>
    </score-part>
  </part-list>
  <part id="P1">
    <measure number="1">
      <attributes>
        <divisions>1</divisions>
        <key>
          <fifths>0</fifths>
        </key>
        <time>
          <beats>4</beats>
          <beat-type>4</beat-type>
        </time>
        <clef>
          <sign>G</sign>
          <line>2</line>
        </clef>
      </attributes>
      <note>
        <pitch>
          <step>C</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>4</duration>
        <type>whole</type>
      </note>
    </measure>
  </part>
</score-partwise>

The textual representation listed above is verbose; MusicXML v2.0 addresses this by adding a compressed zip format with a .mxl suffix that can make files roughly 20 times smaller than their uncompressed version.^[15]

See also [edit]

• List of document markup languages
• Comparison of document markup languages
• Notation Interchange File Format (NIFF)
• Wikifonia, a MusicXML repository

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• MusicXML homepage