Recordare Announces MusicXML 2.0 Sheet Music Format

Recordare LLC, an Internet music software and publishing company, has released version 2.0 of its popular MusicXMLT sheet music file format. MusicXML files are commonly used today in sheet music preparation and publishing. Version 2.0 adds consumer-oriented features designed to make MusicXML files the sheet music equivalent of MP3 files.

MusicXML files have historically been very large. While not a problem for the format's original role in sheet music interchange, it has been a barrier to distributing sheet music files online. Version 2.0 of the MusicXML format adds a compressed format that makes MusicXML files about 20 times smaller than before, similar in size to the corresponding MIDI files. The compressed format also allows multimedia content to be distributed with digital sheet music.

Unlike the MP3 format, the MusicXML format is available for anyone to use under a royalty-free license. Version 2.0 adds 95 new features to version 1.1, including the compressed format and enhancements to capturing the full appearance of a musical score. Version 4 of Recordare's DoletR for Finale plug-in supports the new MusicXML 2.0 format. Currently in beta test, it is scheduled for release this summer.

The MusicXML format was originally designed as an interchange format between different music notation applications running on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux systems. It is now supported by over 75 applications. These include leading music notation editors (Finale, Sibelius, and capella), leading music scanning programs (SharpEye Music Reader and capella-scan), PDF and MIDI music acquisition programs (PDFtoMusic Pro and Notation Composer), electronic music stands for organ and piano, and more. This combined support makes MusicXML far and away the most widely adopted music notation format since MIDI.