1MSCORE(1)                 BSD General Commands Manual                MSCORE(1)
2

NAME

4     mscore, musescore — MuseScore 3 sheet music editor
5

SYNOPSIS

7     mscore [-deFfhIiLmnOPRstvw] [-a | --use-audio driver]
8            [-b | --bitrate bitrate] [-c | --config-folder pathname]
9            [-D | --monitor-resolution DPI]
10            [-E | --install-extension extension file] [-j | --job file.json]
11            [-M | --midi-operations file] [-o | --export-to file]
12            [-p | --plugin name] [-r | --image-resolution DPI]
13            [-S | --style style] [-T | --trim-image margin]
14            [-x | --gui-scaling factor] [--debug] [--diff] [--dump-midi-in]
15            [--dump-midi-out] [--experimental] [--export-score-parts]
16            [--factory-settings] [--force] [--help] [--layout-debug]
17            [--load-icons] [--long-version] [--new-score] [--no-fallback-font]
18            [--no-midi] [--no-synthesizer] [--no-webview] [--raw-diff]
19            [--revert-settings] [--run-test-script] [--score-media]
20            [--score-mp3] [--score-parts-pdf] [--template-mode] [--test-mode]
21            [--version] [file ...]
22

DESCRIPTION

24     MuseScore is a Free and Open Source WYSIWYG cross-platform multi-lingual
25     music composition and notation software, released under the GNU General
26     Public Licence (GPLv2).
27
28     Running mscore without any extra options launches the full graphical Mus‐
29     eScore program and opens any files specified on the command line.
30
31     The options are as follows:
32
33     -a | --use-audio driver
34             Use audio driver: one of jack, alsa, portaudio, pulse
35
36     -b | --bitrate bitrate
37             Set MP3 output bitrate in kbit/s
38
39     -c | --config-folder pathname
40             Override configuration and settings directory
41
42     -D | --monitor-resolution DPI
43             Specify monitor resolution (override autodetection)
44
45     -d | --debug
46             Start MuseScore in debug mode
47
48     -E | --install-extension extension file
49             Install an extension file; soundfonts are loaded by default
50             unless -e is also specified
51
52     -e | --experimental
53             Enable experimental features, such as layers
54
55     -F | --factory-settings
56             Revert all settings, shortcuts, workspaces, extensions, transla‐
57             tions, etc. to factory defaults; compare with the -R option
58
59     -f | --force
60             Ignore score corruption and version mismatch warnings in
61             “converter mode”
62
63     -h | --help
64             Display an overview of invocation instructions
65
66     -I | --dump-midi-in
67             Display all MIDI input on the console
68
69     -i | --load-icons
70             Load icons from the filesystem; useful if you want to edit the
71             MuseScore icons and preview the changes
72
73     -j | --job file.json
74             Process a conversion job (see EXAMPLES below)
75
76     -L | --layout-debug
77             Start MuseScore in layout debug mode
78
79     -M | --midi-operations file
80             Specify MIDI import operations file (see EXAMPLES below)
81
82     -m | --no-midi
83             Disable MIDI input
84
85     -n | --new-score
86             Start with the New Score wizard regardless whether it's enabled
87             or disabled in the user preferences
88
89     -O | --dump-midi-out
90             Display all MIDI output on the console
91
92     -o | --export-to file
93             Export the given (or currently opened) file to the specified out‐
94             put file.  The file type depends on the extension of the filename
95             given.  This option switches to “converter mode” and avoids the
96             graphical user interface.
97
98     -P | --export-score-parts
99             When converting to PDF with the -o option, append each part's
100             pages to the created PDF file.  If the score has no parts, all
101             default parts will temporarily be generated automatically.
102
103     -p | --plugin name
104             Execute the named plugin
105
106     -R | --revert-settings
107             Revert user preferences to factory default but retain shortcuts,
108             workspaces, extensions, translations, etc.; compare with -F.
109
110     -r | --image-resolution DPI
111             Set image resolution for conversion to PNG files.
112
113             Default: 300 DPI (actually, the value of “Resolution” of the PNG
114             option group in the Export tab of the preferences)
115
116     -S | --style style
117             Load a style file first; useful for use with the -o option
118
119     -s | --no-synthesizer
120             Disable the integrated software synthesiser
121
122     -T | --trim-image margin
123             Trim exported PNG and SVG images to remove whitespace surrounding
124             the score.  The specified margin, in pixels, will be retained
125             (use 0 for a tightly cropped image).  When exporting to SVG, this
126             option only works with single-page scores.
127
128     -t | --test-mode
129             Set test mode flag for all files
130
131     -v | --version
132             Display the name and version of the application without starting
133             the graphical user interface
134
135     -w | --no-webview
136             Disable the web view component in the Start Centre
137
138     -x | --gui-scaling factor
139             Scale the score display and other GUI elements by the specified
140             factor; intended for use with high-resolution displays
141
142     --diff  Print a conditioned diff between the given scores
143
144     --long-version
145             Display the full name, version and git revision of the applica‐
146             tion without starting the graphical user interface
147
148     --no-fallback-font
149             Don't use Bravura as fallback musical font
150
151     --raw-diff
152             Print a raw diff between the given scores
153
154     --run-test-script
155             Run script tests listed in the command line arguments
156
157     --score-media
158             Export all media (except MP3) for a given score as a single JSON
159             document to stdout
160
161     --score-mp3
162             Generates an MP3 for the given score and exports it as a single
163             JSON document to stdout
164
165     --score-parts-pdf
166             Generates parts data for the given score and exports it as a sin‐
167             gle JSON document to stdout
168
169     --template-mode
170             Save files in template mode (e.g. without page sizes)
171
172     MuseScore supports the automatic Qt command line options (see below).
173
174   Batch conversion job JSON format
175     The argument to the -j option must be the pathname of a file comprised of
176     a valid JSON document honouring the following specification:
177
178     ·   The top-level element must be a JSONArray, which may be empty.
179
180     ·   Each array element must be a JSONObject with the following keys:
181
182         in      Value is the name of the input file (score to convert), as
183                 JSONString.
184
185         plugin  Value is the filename of a plugin (with the .qml extension),
186                 which will be read from either the global or per-user plugin
187                 path and executed before the conversion output happens, as
188                 JSONString.  Optional, but at least one of plugin and out
189                 must be given.
190
191         out     Value is the conversion output target, as defined below.
192                 Optional, but at least one of plugin and out must be given.
193
194     ·   The conversion output target may be a filename (with extension, which
195         decided the format to convert to), as JSONString.
196
197     ·   The conversion output target may be a JSONArray of filenames as JSON‐
198         String, as above, which will cause the score to be written to multi‐
199         ple output files (in multiple output formats) sequentially, without
200         being closed, re-opened and re-processed in between.
201
202     ·   If the conversion output target is a JSONArray, one or more of its
203         elements may also be, each, a JSONArray of two JSONStrings (called
204         first and second half in the following description).  This will cause
205         part extraction: for each such two-tuple, all extant parts of the
206         score will be saved individually, with filenames being composed by
207         concatenating the first half, the name (title) of the part, and the
208         second half.  The resulting string must be a valid filename (with
209         extension, determining the output format).  If a score has no parts
210         (excerpts) defined, this will be silently ignored without error.
211
212     ·   Valid file extensions for output are:
213
214         flac      Free Lossless Audio Codec (compressed audio)
215
216         metajson  various score metadata (JSON)
217
218         mid       standard MIDI file
219
220         mlog      internal file sanity check log (JSON)
221
222         mp3       MPEG Layer III (lossy compressed audio)
223
224         mpos      measure positions (XML)
225
226         mscx      uncompressed MuseScore file
227
228         mscz      compressed MuseScore file
229
230         musicxml  uncompressed MusicXML file
231
232         mxl       compressed MusicXML file
233
234         ogg       OGG Vorbis (lossy compressed audio)
235
236         pdf       portable document file (print)
237
238         png       portable network graphics (image)
239
240                   Individual files, one per score page, with a hyphen-minus
241                   followed by the page number placed before the file exten‐
242                   sion, will be generated.
243
244         spos      segment positions (XML)
245
246         svg       scalable vector graphics (image)
247
248         wav       RIFF Waveform (uncompressed audio)
249
250         xml       uncompressed MusicXML file
251
252     See below for an example.
253

ENVIRONMENT

255     SKIP_LIBJACK
256             Set this (the value does not matter) to skip initialisation of
257             the JACK Audio Connection Kit library, in case it causes trouble.
258
259     XDG_CONFIG_HOME
260             User configuration location; defaults to ~/.config if unset.
261
262     XDG_DATA_HOME
263             User data location; defaults to ~/.local/share if unset.
264
265     XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR
266             Location of works the user created with the application; defaults
267             to ~/Documents (or a localised version) and can be set in
268             $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/user-dirs.dirs.
269
270     Note that MuseScore also supports the normal Qt environment variables
271     such as QT_QPA_GENERIC_PLUGINS, QT_QPA_PLATFORM, QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME,
272     QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH, QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE, DISPLAY, etc.
273

FILES

275     /usr/share/mscore-3.4/ contains the application support data (demos,
276     instruments, localisation, system-wide plugins, soundfonts, styles,
277     chords, templates and wallpapers).  In the Debian packages, system-wide
278     soundfonts are installed into /usr/share/sounds/sf2/,
279     /usr/share/sounds/sf3/ or /usr/share/sounds/sfz/, respectively, instead.
280
281     The per-user data (extensions, plugins, soundfonts, styles, templates)
282     and files (images, scores) are normally installed into subdirectories
283     under $XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR/MuseScore3/ but may be changed in the configura‐
284     tion.  Note that snapshot, alpha and beta versions use
285     MuseScore3Development instead of MuseScore3 in all of these paths.
286
287     $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/MuseScore/MuseScore3.ini contains the user preferences,
288     list of recently used files and their locations, window sizes and posi‐
289     tions, etc.  See above for development version paths.
290
291     $XDG_DATA_HOME/MuseScore/MuseScore3/ contains updated localisation files
292     downloaded from within the program, plugin information, cached scores,
293     credentials for the musescore.com community site, session information,
294     synthesiser settings, custom key and time signatures and shortcuts.  See
295     above for development version paths.
296

EXAMPLES

298     Convert a score to PDF from the command line:
299
300           mscore -o 'My Score.pdf' 'My Score.mscz'
301
302     Run a batch job converting multiple documents:
303
304           mscore -j job.json
305
306     This requires the file job.json in the current working directory to have
307     content similar to the following:
308
309           [
310             {
311               "in": "Reunion.mscz",
312               "out": "Reunion-coloured.pdf",
313               "plugin": "colornotes.qml"
314             },
315             {
316               "in": "Reunion.mscz",
317               "out": [
318                 "Reunion.pdf",
319                 [ "Reunion (part for ", ").pdf" ],
320                 "Reunion.musicxml",
321                 "Reunion.mid"
322               ]
323             },
324             {
325               "in": "Piece with excerpts.mscz",
326               "out": [
327                 "Piece with excerpts (Partitura).pdf",
328                 [ "Piece with excerpts (part for ", ").pdf" ],
329                 "Piece with excerpts.mid"
330               ]
331             }
332           ]
333
334     The last part of the job would, for example, cause files like “Piece with
335     excerpts (part for Violin).pdf” to be generated alongside the conductor's
336     partitura and a MIDI file with the full orchestra sound, whereas the
337     equivalent part of the Reunion conversion will be silently ignored
338     (because the Reunion piece (a MuseScore demo) has no excerpts defined).
339
340     https://musescore.org/sites/musescore.org/files/midi_import_options_0.xml
341     is a sample MIDI import operations file for the -M option.
342

DIAGNOSTICS

344     The mscore utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
345

SEE ALSO

347     fluidsynth(1), midicsv(1), timidity(1), qtoptions(7)
348
349     https://musescore.org/handbook
350             Online Handbook, full user manual
351
352     https://musescore.org/forum
353             Support Forum
354
355     https://musescore.org/handbook/command-line-options-0
356             Further documentation of command line options
357
358     https://musescore.org/handbook/revert-factory-settings-0
359             Reverting to factory settings (troubleshooting)
360
361     https://musescore.org/project/issues
362             Project Issue Tracker
363
364             Please check first to if the bug you're encountering has already
365             been reported.  If you just need help with something, then please
366             use the support forum (see above) instead.
367
368     http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qguiapplication.html#supported-command-line-options
369             Documentation of automatic Qt command line options
370

STANDARDS

372     MuseScore attempts to implement the following standards:
373
374     ·   MusicXML 3.1 (score interchange format)
375
376     ·   SF2 (SoundFont 2.01)
377
378     ·   SF3 (SoundFont with OGG Vorbis-compressed samples)
379
380     ·   SFZ (Sforzato soundfont)
381
382     ·   SMuFL (Standard Music Font Layout 1.20)
383

HISTORY

385     MuseScore was split off the MusE sequencer in 2002 and has since become
386     the foremost Open Source notation software.
387

AUTHORS

389     MuseScore is developed by Werner Schweer and others.
390
391     This manual page was written by mirabilos <tg@debian.org>.
392

CAVEATS

394     The automatic Qt command line options are removed from the argument vec‐
395     tor before the application has a chance at option processing; this means
396     that an invocation like
397
398           mscore -S -reverse
399
400     has no chance at working because the -reverse is removed by Qt first.
401

BUGS

403     MuseScore does not honour /etc/papersize.
404
405     Probably some more; check the project's bug tracker (cf. SEE ALSO).
406
407MuseScore                        June 18, 2019                       MuseScore
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