MuseScore product description

Updated 1 year ago
This page shows old instructions for MuseScore 1.
For MuseScore 4 users, see MuseScore product description.

Keywords

music, notation, software, free, open source, composition, composing, arranging, making, sheet music, lead sheet, leadsheet, score, full score, scorewriter, sibelius, finale, capella, midi, musicxml, print, playback

45 char description

Create, play, and print sheet music for free

80 char description

Create, play back, and print sheet music with free open source notation software

250 char description

Create, play back, and print sheet music for free. MuseScore is cross-platform, multi-lingual, open source music notation software. It features an easy to use WYSIWYG editor with audio score playback for results that look and sound beautiful.

450 char description

Create, play back, and print sheet music for free. MuseScore is cross-platform, multi-lingual, open source music notation software. It features an easy to use WYSIWYG editor with audio score playback for results that look and sound beautiful. It supports unlimited staves with up to four voices each, dynamics, articulations, lyrics, chords, lead sheet notation, import/export of MIDI and MusicXML, export to PDF and WAV, plus online score sharing.

2000 char description

Create, play back, and print sheet music for free. MuseScore is open source music notation software that runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and is available in over fourty different languages. It features an easy to use WYSIWYG editor with audio score playback for results that look and sound beautiful, rivaling commercial offerings like Finale and Sibelius.

Features supported by MuseScore include:

Unlimited score length
Unlimited number of staves per system
Up to four independent voices per staff
Score creation wizard and templates
Automatic part extraction and transposition
Repeats, including segnos, codas, and measure repeats
Dynamics, articulations, and other expression markings, with playback support for most
Custom text markings
Lyrics
Chord symbols
Jazz notation, including lead sheets, slash notation and a “handwritten” font for text
Swing and shuffle playback
Mixer for instrument levels and effects
Percussion notation
Early music notation
Cross-staff beaming
Import of graphics
Custom key signatures
Additive time signatures
User-defined score styles

Most elements in MuseScore are laid out automatically but can also be positioned manually. The capabilities of MuseScore can be extended via plugins, and the growing repository on musescore.org contains many plugins submitted by users.

MuseScore includes a set of sounds that reproduce common instruments (as defined by General MIDI) without taking up a lot of disk space or memory, but you can also substitute any SoundFont you prefer for a wider variety of sounds or for more realism.

MuseScore can import and export MIDI and MusicXML files, and it can also import from Capella and several other programs. MuseScore can export to PDF, PNG, and other graphic formats, to WAV and other audio formats, or to Lilypond for an alternative layout and print option.

MuseScore can upload scores directly to the score sharing site musescore.com. Program support is provided on musescore.org.