Filename extension .xml, .mxl Latest release 3.0
(August 2011) Extended from XML | Developed by Recordare, MakeMusic Type of format Musical notation | |
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Internet media type application/vnd.recordare.musicxml+xml, application/vnd.recordare.musicxml | ||
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.
Contents
History
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.
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. 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. The MusicXML DTDs and XSDs are each freely redistributable under the MusicXML Public License.
Support
As of December 2015, MusicXML is supported to varying degrees by over 210 notation programs. These programs include:
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.
Features include key and time signatures, clefs, beaming information, stem directions, slurs, ornaments, barlines, and written repeats.
Example
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.
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 one-twentieth the size of the uncompressed version.