Score saved as zip-File?

• Sep 22, 2020 - 10:56

I never changed anything regarding the export-settings. However, my last two scores were only saved as .zip files... Which means, I had to unpack them for Musescore to even be able to re-open them.

Is this normal? How can it be prevented?
I'd like to save stuff as a regular Musescore-file!

Comments

• Sep 22, 2020 - 15:27

Linux (Mint), which is based on Ubuntu.
I'm using the Flatpack-versin of Musescore,

This is what Musescore tells me when I click on "About":
OS: KDE Flatpak runtime,
Arch.: x86_64,
MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.5.0,
revision: 43c5553

Any Ideas what to do? I don't want to be forced to manually change everything I save :(
(Btw, this only happens on the first save, afterwards, if I unpacked the files, they keep getting saved as an unpacked score. If I rename the .zip to .mscz, .mscz will subsequently be used.)

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• Sep 22, 2020 - 19:21

If i type the ".mscz", it works just fine. It's just that I never had thought that
1. Those zip-files (without the .zip-ending) would be musescore-files in disguise.
2. I would need to write a file ending which I didn't even know the name of.

But fortunately, it automatically adds the correct .mscz ending if the settings are changed.

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• Sep 22, 2020 - 19:30

To be clear: the extension is always necessary in order for most OS's to understand the proper file type. If there is no extension, most OS's will need to "guess" the filetype by looking at the first few bytes of the file, and that's why it is being reported as ZIP. But you always need the extension for things to actually work correctly, not just in MuseScore, but for things like file managers etc. It's just that some dialogs happen to add it for you behind the scenes and others don't.

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• Sep 22, 2020 - 19:40

The system doesn't know or care about "kind", it cares about the name of the file only. If the filename ends in ".mscz", good things happen. Just as for an audio file, it needs to end in WAV or MP3 or whatever. The filename is how programs - not just MuseScore - manage types.

So as mentioned, you should really always be in the habit of making sure the correct extension is used, for every program. Again, sometimes the program might go behind your back and dd the extension for you, but yu really shouldn't be depending on this, you should always be verifying the extension is present.

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 13:48

As mentioned, some systems automatically the extension based on the selected type, others require you to add it yourself. The extension is normally there by default, so normally this never comes up. Only if for some reason you delete the extension that was there originally ally does the issue come up.

I’m not sure what the downside of always adding it back if the user deletes it would be, and am it trying to suggest this shouldn’t be changed. I am just trying trying to help people understand how file extensions work, so they can avoid making this same mistake (saving a file with no extension) in the future.

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 12:32

On Windows 10, if I remove the extension in the filename box and then save, when I look at the file in Windows Explorer then it has the .mscz extension - so maybe this depends on the OS rather than on MS.

(Lotus Notes is another system which happily creates files with no extension if they are not manually specified, even when there is also an input box for filetype.)

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 16:46

Just like Lotus Notes then. LN is using the file type field just to define the internal format of the file being saved. It's then up to the user to add an extension to the filename input field – if they want one. If the file is part of some automation process then the extension can be irrelevant and leaving it off can deter casual users from opening the file.

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 17:19

That's not really true. When you first go to save, or use save as, the filename as originally filled in does have the extension. And if you change the filetype using the dropdown, the extension does change as appropriate. But if you go out of your way to delete the extension, the program happily obliges. I guess Linux systems tend to assume their users know what they are doing and don't override their decisions - "you are Linux user, so if you delete the extension, we trust you probably have a good reason and won't go behind your back to add it again" :-). Windows, FWIW, takes the opposite approach: by default, it hides the extension from you completely, causing all sort of Trojan horse possibilities.

Anyhow, again, the extension was there to begin with, and is updated as you change the setting in the dropdown. Preusmably you deleted it inadvertently. I've been guilty of this even though I know better, but it's that much more likely if you don't realize what the extension is for to begin with. Some systems will try to avoid these kinds of errors by not highlighting the entire filename in the input box, only the "basename" portion, so you have to go further out of your way to delete the extension.

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 19:03

> When you first go to save, or use save as, the filename as originally filled in does have the extension.

It's not though. The name-field, when saving a score for the first time, is completely empty. (If the "useNativeDialogues"-checkbox is enabled in the settings)
Only if you disable that checkbox, you get the ugly menu with "[whatEverYourScoreNameHappensToBe].mscz"

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 19:41

How are you creating the score? For me, whatever name I put in the Title field when creating the score with File / New shows up in the Save dialog. For instance, if I type "Song" as my title, the default filename is Song.mscz. If I leave the title blank, the default filename is Untitled.mscz. Even if I just use the default empty score, I get a default filename of Title.mscz. I can't find any combination of actions that will ever lead to the default filename being blank.

This is on Linux, and it's the same whether I use the native dialogs or not.

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• Sep 23, 2020 - 20:34

Interesting, I use the same process (assuming you press Ctrl+N to create a new score and use Ctrl+S to save for the first time).
- With ...native... DISabled, it indeed is "Title.mscz".
- With ...native... ENabled, it is ""

Though usually I place a few random notes before saving.
I use Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon.

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• Sep 24, 2020 - 09:33

Maybe it's because I use the Flatpack (from the software manager)?

This is my installation:
OS: KDE Flatpak runtime,
Arch.: x86_64,
MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.5.0,
revision: 43c5553

I noticed there's the same issue with my Flatpack-Telegram-Desktop istallation (chat client) when trying to save pictures.
Somehow, not all Flatpack applications seem to have the same problem though. Krita, GIMP and, LibreOffice and LMMS all properly add the file format. 3 of those 4 applications use a non-standard saving dialogue... However: LibreOffice shows, that it's not that dialogue's fault.

Basically, I'm confused.

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• Sep 24, 2020 - 17:23

I know nothing about how third-party builds like Flatpak are created or maintained or tested, but to be clear: the only build we create, test, and support ourselves is the AppImage. Others might happen to work, might not, we have no control over them. Unless there is a very strong specific reason to use a build from other sources, you should always be using the AppImage on Linux if you want reliable results.

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• Sep 24, 2020 - 22:44

They do not currently, although it's a capability being considered for the future. It's about the only drawback. but the benefits in return are enormous - only the AppImage is guaranteed to be up to date, built correctly, and tested. In general with other projects, they might indeed not provide their own packages so the best recourse is to use a version installed from a default repository, but MuseScore actively maintains its own AppImage, s that's always your best bet.

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• Jun 9, 2021 - 19:42

I am also using Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon and am using OS: Linux Mint 20.1, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.6.0.487916429, revision: 1977cb3, AppImage release.

When I save a MuseScore file it gets the .mscz extension by default.

Nevertheless, when I double click a .mscz file, it gets opened with the Archive Manager, just like a .zip file does. Or, if I go into the file properties and change the default application to open .mscz files to MuseScore, then if I double click on a .zip file, it tries to open it with MuseScore.

In other words, the assertion above seems to be incorrect: Linux Mint Cinnamon uses the file type, not the extension, to determine which application to use.

So I am left with either not being able to double click on .mscz files, or not being able to double click on .zip files.

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• Jun 9, 2021 - 23:42

I found the answer here:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1286360/set-default-application-by-exte…

(Except that I used ~/.local/share/mime instead of /usr/share/mime. It worked.)

On that page it says:

> BTW, this file was created by MuseScore when I installed it to try it. I don't know why it wasn't created for you by MuseScore too, but I guess there is no point in trying to find out now that you solved it!

Would I be correct in thinking an AppImage instead of an installed package would not be able to make this file? Certainly I did not find it in either /usr/share/mime/packages or ~/.local/share/mime/packages.

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