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For Developers

What’s New

Version 3.0 of the MusicXML™ format was released in August 2011. Version 3.0 includes both a Document Type Definition (DTD) and W3C XML Schema Definition (XSD).

MusicXML 3.0 has three main areas of improvement compared to MusicXML 2.0:

1. A standard taxonomy of 886 instrument sounds to allow better transfer of virtual instrument playback between applications.
2. Coverage of more sheet music repertoires, including Chinese jianpu numbered notation, Turkish maqam music, Persian and Iranian music, and improved support for educational music.
3. Support for newer and more detailed features of common Western music notation. This includes 20 features described in the Elaine Gould’s new notation reference book, Behind Bars.

MusicXML 3.0 adds 76 new features compared to MusicXML 2.0, while staying compatible with earlier versions. All valid MusicXML 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 files are also valid MusicXML 3.0 files. The MusicXML version history summarizes the changes since version 1.0.

Files

If you start doing a MusicXML implementation, you will need to refer to the actual MusicXML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) or W3C XML Schema Definitions (XSD). These are distributed under the MusicXML Public License Version 3.0.

Download the MusicXML 3.0 definitions here: