MuseScore Studio (branded as MuseScore before 2024) is a free and open-source music notation program for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the Muse Group, which owns the associated online score-sharing platform MuseScore.com and a freemium mobile score viewer and playback app.
History
MuseScore was created as a fork of the MusE sequencer's codebase. In 2002, Werner Schweer, one of the MusE developers, decided to remove notation support from MusE and create a stand-alone notation program from the codebase.
The MuseScore.org website was created in 2008, and quickly showed a rapidly rising number of MuseScore downloads. By December 2008, the download rate had reached 15,000 per month.
Version 0.9.5 was released in August 2009. By October 2009, MuseScore was being downloaded more than 1000 times per day. By the fourth quarter of 2010, it was being downloaded 80,000 times per month.
At the end of 2013, the project moved from SourceForge to GitHub. Continuous download statistics have not been publicly available since then. However, a March 2015 press release stated that MuseScore had been downloaded over eight million times; and in December 2016 the project stated that version 2.0.3 had been downloaded 1.9 million times in the nine months since its release.
The MuseScore company uses income from their commercial sheet music-sharing service to support the free notation software's development.
In 2017, the MuseScore company was acquired by Ultimate Guitar, which added full-time paid developers to the open source team. In 2021, the MuseScore company, Ultimate Guitar, and other properties (including Audacity) were put under a new parent company, Muse Group, in Limassol, Cyprus. In 2022, the MuseScore company finished relocating to Muse Group's Cyprus headquarters. In January 2024, the music notation app formerly known as MuseScore was rebranded MuseScore Studio.
Features
MuseScore Studio's main purpose is the creation of high-quality engraved musical scores in a "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get" environment. It supports unlimited staves, linked parts and part extraction, tablature, MIDI input and output, percussion notation, cross-staff beaming, automatic transposition, lyrics (multiple verses), fretboard diagrams, and in general everything commonly used in sheet music. Style options to change the appearance and layout are available, and style sheets can be saved and applied to other scores. There are pre-defined templates for many types of ensembles. Functionality can be extended by making use of the many freely available plugins.
MuseScore Studio can also play back scores through the built-in sequencer and SoundFont sample library. Multiple SoundFonts can be loaded into MuseScore Studio's synthesizer. It includes a mixer to mute, solo, or adjust the volume of individual parts, and chorus, reverb and other effects are supported during playback. MIDI output to external devices and software synthesizers is also possible.
Supported file formats MuseScore Studio can import and export to many formats, though some are export-only (visual representations and audio) and some are import-only (native files from some other music notation programs).
MuseScore Studio's native file formats are .mscx, which is XML data containing the score; and .mscz, a zip archive containing the .mscx and other data. The .mscz format is the default format, as it occupies less space and supports additional data, such as images.
MuseScore Studio can also import and export compressed (.mxl) and uncompressed (.xml) MusicXML files, which allows a score to be edited in other music notation programs (including Dorico, Sibelius, and Finale). The latest edition of MuseScore Studio uses MusicXML 4.0. It can also import and export MIDI (.mid, .midi, and .kar), which is supported by many other programs (such as Synthesia), although since MIDI is not designed for sheet music, some information may be lost.
MuseScore Studio can also import certain other music software's native formats, including Band-in-a-Box (.mgu and .sgu), Bagpipe Music Writer (.bww), Guitar Pro (.gtp, .gp3, .gp4, .gp5, and .gpx), Capella (must be version 2000 (3.0) or later; .cap and .capx) and Overture formats. It can also import MuseData (.md), which has been superseded by MusicXML.
Audio can be exported to WAV, FLAC, MP3 and OGG files; and graphical representations of scores can be exported to PDF, SVG and PNG formats, as well as printed.
Mobile player Since May 2014 MuseScore has mobile apps available for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire which tie into the MuseScore score-sharing site. The app can play scores, and allows transposition and part extraction, but does not create or edit scores.
Portable application MuseScore Studio also runs as a portable application. It can be installed onto a regular hard disk drive or stored on a removable storage device such as a CD, USB flash drive or flash card, so that it can be run on any compatible Windows computer system.
Custom fonts
A new notation font, Leland, created by Martin Keary and Simon Smith, was introduced in MuseScore 3.6. Its name is a reference to Leland Smith, the creator of SCORE, a notation program formerly used by many publishers. The update also introduced a new text font, Edwin, influenced by the classic New Century Schoolbook typeface.
VST support In Musescore 4.0, support was added for VST3 instrument and effects plugins on Windows and macOS. The Muse Group also released a free orchestral plugin, MuseSounds, designed to provide more realistic playback.
Versions Version NameDate ReleasedNotable featuresScreenshotPre-releaseMuseScore 0.90.9.5August 2009 First stable version, as well as the first version to support macOS.MuseScore 0.9.5 running on Windows 11.0.9.6June 2010Introduced many new features, including out-of-the-box support for playback of all instruments based on the General MIDI standard, support for multimeasure rests, initial support for custom key signatures, and the "Save Online" feature connecting to sheet music sharing site MuseScore.com. MuseScore 1MuseScore 1.0February 2011 The milestone release focused on delivering a stable package rather than adding new features to the prerelease versions.MuseScore 1.0 running on Windows 11.MuseScore 1.1July 2011Fixed around 60 bugs and featuring improved jazz sheet support. MuseScore Connect, a feature allowing on-line community interaction and publishing, was also included in this release.MuseScore 1.2March 2012This version included over 100 bug fixes, improved MusicXML import/export support, and improved support for special characters. It also introduced Marc Sabatella's original composition "Reunion" as the new demo score loaded when launching MuseScore.MuseScore 1.3February 2013Small update containing mostly bug fixes. MuseScore 2MuseScore 2.02.0.0March 2015A large number of new features were introduced, including full support for tablature and guitar chord diagrams, linked part/score editing, an image capture capability, two new SMuFL-compliant music fonts, and MusicXML 3.0 support.MuseScore 2.0 running on Windows 11.2.0.1May 2015Many bug fixes and introducing Isaac Weiss' "Getting Started" tutorial score along with several additional templates.2.0.2July 2015Many bug fixes and new features, including playback of trills and other ornaments. The professional guide "Mastering MuseScore" was published in tandem with this release.2.0.3April 2016Many bug fixes, and new features including the ability to reorder linked parts, a tool to copy all lyrics to the clipboard, and an AppImage build for all Linux flavors.MuseScore 2.1May 2017Numerous new features, including real-time MIDI input, a new "Swap" function, and a tool to rewrite rhythms for clearer notation.MuseScore 2.2March 2018Over 200 bug fixes and new features, including MIDI output and a new SoundFont. Three regressions affecting playback were fixed one week later in MuseScore 2.2.1.MuseScore 2.3June 2018New extension facility (in addition to the existing system of plugins) and a first extension that customizes MuseScore for drumline music. Two point updates with bug fixes, 2.3.1 and 2.3.2, were released in July 2018. MuseScore 3MuseScore 3.0December 2018 Many new features, including an automatic smart layout system to avoid collisions between score elements, a jazz notation font, support for more advanced notations, more style controls, tours to help new users, a timeline reduction view for faster navigation, redesigned mixer and piano roll editor, and a built-in auto-update facility.MuseScore 3.6 running on Windows 11 in dark mode.MuseScore 3.1May 2019Many new features, including playback of crescendos and diminuendos on single notes and more customization options for fretboard diagrams.MuseScore 3.2June 2019Many new features.MuseScore 3.3October 2019New palette and note input workflow designs and accessibility improvements.MuseScore 3.4January 2020 New telemetry feature and UX improvements.MuseScore 3.5August 2020New chord symbol playback feature, workflow improvements, layout improvements and many more.MuseScore 3.6January 2021New notation and text fonts, and other engraving improvements. MuseScore 4MuseScore 4.0December 2022An almost complete overhaul with many new features added. Version 4.0 added an included orchestral plugin, VST support, a new engraving system and a new playback system and mixer.MuseScore 4.0 running on Windows 11 in dark mode.MuseScore 4.1July 2023New engraving options for ornaments, harp pedal diagrams, and guitar capos, as well as other engraving improvements. Significant performance improvements thanks to an improved playback engine, and a live braille module for visually impaired users.MuseScore 4.2December 2023Improved notation for guitar, with a new system for bends and support for alternate string tunings, engraving refinements for ties and arpeggios, a more versatile system for part scores, and the ability to import and export files in the MEI format.MuseScore Studio 4.34.3.0May 2024"Contains numerous fixes and improvements, including a new sound flags feature that provides advanced control over score playback with MuseSounds." Renamed to MuseScore Studio.4.3.1"Improves CPU performance when using MuseSounds, and resolves a number of playback bugs associated with repeats".MuseScore Studio 4.4August 2024New Muse Drumline sound library, more flexible system for dynamics, overhauled accidentals layout system, and many more improvements. Version 4.4 was the first to use Qt 6, allowing amongst other things for native Apple Silicon support. MuseScore 4.5+MuseScore Studio 4.5March 2025New popup and shortcuts for dynamics. A fully accessible, modern 'drum pad' layout, with faster note input, and seamless integration with MuseSounds percussion libraries. Workflow updates intended to feel familiar to Finale users. New engraving features. MuseScore Studio 4.6September 2025New features: hide empty staves, realtime playback, PVG (piano, voice, guitar) scores, chord symbols (polychord vs. slash chord), loading any SMuFL-compliant fonts, Linux VST3 support, workflow and engraving enhancements around measure numbers, horizontal note spacing, repeat count text over barline, selection filter, text formatting widget.MuseScore Studio 4.7May 2026New features: guitars dive lines and capo transcription, improved chord selection, searchable sounds and effects, and mp4 export.
Development
MuseScore Studio is free and open-source software and is written mainly in C++, with the graphical user interface making use of the cross-platform Qt toolkit. Originally founded by Werner Schweer, Nicolas Froment and Thomas Bonte, the project is now headed by Bradley Kunda (Product Owner) with a wider community also contributing. Google Summer of Code has sponsored students to help develop MuseScore in 2013, 2014 and 2016 to 2021. MuseScore Studio's development takes place on GitHub.