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Comparison of scorewriters

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This is a comparison of music notation computer programs.

General information

[edit]
Name Guitar tablature WYSIWYG editor MIDI entry[a] Playback File formats Developer(s) Stable release; review date License Cost Operating system(s)
Import Export
Canorus No Yes MIDI CanorusML,[b] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] simple LilyPond[e] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] LilyPond,[e] PDF Reinhard Katzmann, Matevž Jekovec, Georg Rudolph 0.7.3; 18 June 2018 (7 years ago) (2018-06-18) Since 0.7.3: GPL-3.0-only
0.1.0 to 0.7.2: GPL-2.0-only 		No cost Linux
Capella Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, SoundFonts Capella,[f] CapXML,[g] MusicXML,[c] MIDI[d] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, Truevision TGA, PCX, HTML capella-software AG 10.0-06; 8 October 2025 (3 days ago) (2025-10-08) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
Denemo Yes Yes Step-time MIDI Denemo,[h] limited LilyPond,[e] MusicXML[c] LilyPond,[e] MusicXML, WAV, Ogg, PDF, PNG, MIDI Jeremiah Benham, Richard Shann 2.6.0; 11 March 2022 (3 years ago) (2022-03-11) GPL-3.0-or-later No cost Windows, macOS, Linux
Dorico Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST Dorico,[i] MusicXML,[c] MIDI[d] MIDI,[d] MusicXML,[c] WAV, MP3, PDF, PNG, TIFF, SVG Steinberg 6.1; 1 October 2025 (10 days ago) (2025-10-01) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
Early Notation Typesetter No Yes No No ENT[j] ENT,[j] PDF Samuel Gossner, Daniel West, Dieter Theuns 0.9.6; 20 October 2020 (4 years ago) (2020-10-20) Proprietary No charge for single font Windows, macOS, Linux
Encore Yes Yes MIDI Encore,[k] MusicTime,[l] Rhapsody,[m] Compressed MusicXML[n] MIDI,[d] Cakewalk MIDI,[o] Master Tracks Pro,[p] PDF Passport Music Software 5.0.4 (Windows); 5.0.7 (macOS); 2015 (10 years ago) (2015) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
Finale Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU,[q] Garritan library Finale,[r] MusicXML,[c] MIDI[d] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] WAV, MP3, AIFF, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, EPS, BMP, GIF, PICT[q] MakeMusic, Inc. 27.4.1; 12 December 2023 (21 months ago) (2023-12-12) final release Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
Flat Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] MuseScore, TuxGuitar, Guitar Pro (versions 3–8), Power Tab MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] WAV, MP3, PDF, PNG, SVG Tutteo 37.9.0; 17 October 2024 (11 months ago) (2024-10-17) Proprietary Freemium Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
Forte Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST Forte,[s] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] CapXML[g] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] BMP, JPEG Lugert Verlag GmbH 12.1; 12 February 2021 (4 years ago) (2021-02-12) Proprietary Non-free Windows
Frescobaldi No WYSIWYM No MIDI LilyPond,[e] MusicXML,[c] ABC MusicXML,[c] PDF Wilbert Berendsen 4.0.4; 8 August 2025 (2 months ago) (2025-08-08) GPL-2.0-or-later No cost Windows, macOS, Linux
Guitar Pro Yes Yes MIDI, RSE Guitar Pro (versions 1–8),[t] MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] MIDI,[d] ASCII tab,[u] Power Tab,[v] TablEdit[w] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] ASCII tab,[u] PNG, PDF, WAV Arobas Music 8.1.4; 1 April 2025 (6 months ago) (2025-04-01) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS, Linux
Harmony Assistant Yes Yes Step-time and real-time Integrated free soundbank (Gold 2 sold separately), SoundFonts, MIDI, partial support of VST (Windows and Mac only) Myriad,[x] MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] CMF,[z], Module,[aa] Encore,[k] MusicTime,[l] Rhapsody,[m] NoteWorthy,[ab] ABC,[ac] Guitar Pro (versions 1–5),[t] TablEdit,[w] Finale (.mus),[r] ETF[ad], audio formats imported as sound "digital" track MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] HTML (MyrWeb), MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] ABC,[ac] WAV, MP3, Ogg, AIFF, PDF, PNG, SVG, TIFF, video using FFmpeg Myriad software 9.9.9i; 11 October 2025 (0 days ago) (2025-10-11) Proprietary Non-free Windows, MacOS, Linux
Impro-Visor No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI Impro-Visor[ae] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] PDF Bob Keller 10.2; 1 August 2019 (6 years ago) (2019-08-01) GPL-2.0-or-later No cost Windows, macOS, Linux
LilyPond Yes No No MIDI LilyPond;[e] using converters: ABC,[ac] ETF,[ad] MIDI,[d] MusicXML[c] PDF, PNG, PS, SVG Han-Wen Nienhuys, Jan Nieuwenhuizen 2.24.4; 21 July 2024 (14 months ago) (2024-07-21) GPL-3.0-or-later No cost Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
MagicScore Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, SoundFonts SFD,[af] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] WAV, MP3 MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] WAV, MP3, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, EMF, WMF Maestro Music Software 8.280; 2017 (8 years ago) (2017) Proprietary Non-free Windows
Mozart Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI Mozart,[ag] MusicXML,[c] NIFF,[ah] MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] ABC[ac] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] ABC,[ac] BMP, EMF, GIF, JPEG, PBM, PNG, TIFF Mozart Music Software 17.0.3; August 2025 (2 months ago) (2025-08) Proprietary Non-free Windows
Mus2 No Yes MIDI Mus2[ai] MIDI,[d] AIFF, WAV, PDF, SVG, BMP, JPEG, PNG Utku Uzmen (Data-Soft Ltd.) 3.3.1; 23 September 2025 (18 days ago) (2025-09-23) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
MuseScore Studio Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, SoundFonts, SFZ, VST3 MuseScore,[aj] MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] MuseData,[ak] Bagpipe Music Writer,[al] Band-in-a-Box,[am] Overture,[an] Capella,[f] CapXML,[g] Guitar Pro (versions 1–6),[t] Power Tab (experimental),[v] PDF (experimental), ABC[ac] (with plugin) MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] PDF, PNG, SVG, MIDI,[d] WAV, FLAC, Ogg, MP3 The MuseScore developer community 4.6.2; 10 October 2025 (1 day ago) (2025-10-10) GPL-3.0-only for desktop tools; online and mobile tools are proprietary and freemium No cost for most tools Windows, macOS, Linux
MusiCAD No Yes MIDI MusiCAD,[ao] MIDI,[d] ABC[ac] MIDI,[d] ABC,[ac] PDF, JPEG, PNG, BMP Musys Software 4.0; 1 May 2015 (10 years ago) (2015-05-01) Proprietary Prompt to purchase license appears when saving[2] Windows
MusicEase Yes Yes MIDI MusicEase,[ap] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] ABC,[ac] SongWright[aq] MIDI,[d] PDF MusicEase Software 10.1m; November 2024 (11 months ago) (2024-11) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
Musink No WYSIWYM MIDI Musink[ar] MIDI,[d] PDF, PNG, XPS Lee Reid 1.3.0.3 Proprietary No cost Windows, macOS
MusiXTeX Yes No No No TeX (incl. PMX and M-Tx),[as] MusicXML[c] (with converters) DVI,[at] PS, PDF, MIDI[d] (for PMX input) Daniel Taupin, Ross Mitchell, Andreas Egler 1.39; 9 September 2025 (32 days ago) (2025-09-09) GPL-2.0-or-later No cost Windows, macOS, Linux
Notation Composer No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, SoundFonts Notation,[au] MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] MIDI,[d] Karaoke[y] MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] PDF, MIDI,[d] Karaoke,[y] PNG, BMP, JPEG, GIF, WAV, FLAC, Ogg, MP3 Notation Software 5.1.2; 8 May 2025 (5 months ago) (2025-05-08) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS, Linux
NoteWorthy Composer Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI NWC,[ab] MIDI,[d] Karaoke[y] MIDI[d] NoteWorthy Software 2.75a.2; 2017 (8 years ago) (2017) Proprietary Non-free Windows
Notion Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST MusicXML,[c] Compressed MusicXML,[n] MIDI,[d] Guitar Pro[t] (versions 4–5) MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] WAV PreSonus 6.8.2; 24 August 2021 (4 years ago) (2021-08-24) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Overture Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU[q] Overture,[an] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Score Writer[av] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] WAV, MP3 Sonic Scores 5.6.1.1; 2 December 2019 (5 years ago) (2019-12-02) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
Philip's Music Writer Yes No No MIDI PMW[aw] MIDI,[d] PS Philip Hazel 5.32; 25 June 2025 (3 months ago) (2025-06-25) GPL-2.0-or-later No cost Linux (older versions for RISC OS)
Power Tab Editor Yes Yes MIDI Power Tab,[v] MIDI[d] MIDI,[d] ASCII tab,[u] BMP, HTML Brad Larsen 2.0.22; 29 June 2025 (3 months ago) (2025-06-29) GPL-3.0-or-later for version 2.0 and later No cost Windows, macOS, Linux
Rosegarden No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI Rosegarden,[ax] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Hydrogen[ay] LilyPond,[e] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Csound,[az] Mup,[ba] PDF Chris Cannam, Richard Bown, Guillaume Laurent 25.06; 4 June 2025 (4 months ago) (2025-06-04) GPL-2.0-or-later No cost Linux
SCORE Yes No Step-time MIDI SCORE (.mus) EPS Leland Smith,
San Andreas Press 		5.01; 1 November 2013 (11 years ago) (2013-11-01) Proprietary Non-free MS-DOS, Windows
ScoreCloud Studio No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST MIDI,[d] live audio MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] WAV, PDF Doremir Music Research AB 4.9.0; August 2025 (2 months ago) (2025-08) Proprietary Free without file saving Windows, macOS, iOS
Sibelius Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU,[q] Avid library Sibelius,[bb] MusicXML,[c] MIDI[d] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] MP3, PDF, SVG, EPS, PNG Avid Technology, Inc. 2025.7; 31 July 2025 (2 months ago) (2025-07-31) Proprietary No cost up to 8 staves[3] Windows, macOS, RISC OS, Android, iOS
SmartScore 64 NE Yes Yes MIDI SmartScore,[bc] scanned images, MusicXML,[c] NIFF[ah] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Finale,[r] NIFF,[ah] PDF Musitek Corporation 11.6.114; 1 July 2025 (3 months ago) (2025-07-01) Proprietary Non-free Windows, macOS
TuxGuitar Yes Yes MIDI TuxGuitar,[bd] MusicXML,[c] MIDI,[d] Guitar Pro (versions 1–6),[t] Power Tab,[v] TablEdit[w] MIDI,[d] Guitar Pro (versions 3–5),[t] LilyPond,[e] ASCII tab,[u] PDF Julian Gabriel Casadesus 1.6.6; 27 December 2024 (9 months ago) (2024-12-27) LGPL-2.1-only No cost Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Android
Name Guitar tablature WYSIWYG editor MIDI entry[a] Playback Import Export Developer(s) Stable release; review date License Cost Operating system(s)
File formats

File formats and extensions

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  1. ^ a b When entering notes, "step-time" means one first selects the note duration then enters notes and chords one a time, while "real-time" means one plays the notes to enter with correct rhythm and the software recognizes the note durations.
  2. ^ Canorus native format, .can
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq MusicXML, open standard XML-based music notation exchange format, .xml or (version 3.1 or later) .musicxml
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az Standard MIDI file format, .mid or .midi
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h LilyPond plain text native format, .ly
  6. ^ a b Capella native format, binary file, .cap
  7. ^ a b c Capella native format, compressed ZIP containing XML, .capx
  8. ^ Denemo native format, .denemo
  9. ^ Dorico native format, .dorico
  10. ^ a b Early notation typesetter native format, .ent
  11. ^ a b Encore native format, .enc
  12. ^ a b MusicTime (by the same developer as Encore) native format, .mto, .mus (different to Finale .mus)
  13. ^ a b Rhapsody (by the same developer as Encore) native format, .rhp
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i MusicXML version 2.0 or later, compressed as a ZIP, .mxl
  15. ^ Cakewalk MIDI file format, .mff[clarification needed]
  16. ^ Master Tracks Pro (by the same developer as Encore) native format, .mts
  17. ^ a b c d Mac version only
  18. ^ a b c Finale native format, .mus (2012 and earlier) or .musx (2014 and later)
  19. ^ Forte native format, .fnf
  20. ^ a b c d e f Guitar Pro native format version 1–2, .gtp; version 3, .gp3; version 4, .gp4; version 5, .gp5; version 6, .gpx; version 7, .gp
  21. ^ a b c d ASCII tablature plain text format, .txt, .tab, or .btab
  22. ^ a b c d Power Tab Editor native format, .ptb
  23. ^ a b c TablEdit native format, .tef
  24. ^ Harmony Assistant native format, .myr (formerly .mus), .mux (sound bank independant), .mu3 (compressed)
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i Standard MIDI file format including standard MIDI lyrics, used for karaoke, .kar
  26. ^ Creative Music File, a cut-down MIDI format by Creative Labs, .cmf
  27. ^ Module file, .mod, .s3m (ScreamTracker 3)
  28. ^ a b NoteWorthy Composer native format, .nwc or .nwctxt
  29. ^ a b c d e f g h i ABC plain text format, .abc
  30. ^ a b Finale Enigma Transport Format, .etf[1]
  31. ^ Impro-Visor native format, .ls
  32. ^ Maestro software family native format, .sfd
  33. ^ Mozart native format, .mz
  34. ^ a b c Notation Interchange File Format, .nif
  35. ^ Mus2 notation and tuning file format, .mus2, .mu2
  36. ^ MuseScore native format, .mscz; uncompressed XML-based format, .mscx; style sheet, .mss; score album, .album
  37. ^ MuseData project format, .md
  38. ^ Bagpipe Music Writer native format, .bww
  39. ^ Band-in-a-Box native format, .mgu or .sgu
  40. ^ a b Overture native format, .ove
  41. ^ MusiCAD plain text native format, .mc
  42. ^ MusicEase native format, .mez
  43. ^ SongWright native format, .sw
  44. ^ Musink native format, .musink
  45. ^ PMX, preprocessor language for MusixTeX, .pmx; M-Tx, processor for PMX, .mtx
  46. ^ TeX device independent file format, .dvi
  47. ^ NoteSoft file, Notation Software native format, .not
  48. ^ Score Writer (by the same developer as Overture) native format, .scw
  49. ^ Philip's Music Writer native format, human-readable text, .pmw
  50. ^ Rosegarden native format, .rg
  51. ^ Hydrogen drum machine song XML file format, .h2song
  52. ^ Csound audio domain-specific language format, without orchestra data, .csd
  53. ^ Music Publisher Score file format, .mup
  54. ^ Sibelius (scorewriter) native format, .sib
  55. ^ SmartScore native format, .enf
  56. ^ TuxGuitar native format, .tg

See also

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Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ "An incomplete description of the Enigma Transport Format". LilyPond.org. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. ^ Restrictions
  3. ^ Version Comparison
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