Guide
How to import MusicXML into Sibelius.
MusicXML is how scores move between notation programs. If a colleague sent you a .musicxml, .xml, or .mxl file — or you converted a scan into one — here is what to expect when Sibelius opens it, and what to look at once it has.
The import, step by step
- Check what you have. MusicXML comes as .musicxml, .xml, or compressed .mxl. Sibelius reads all three in current versions. Leave the extension exactly as it is.
- Open the file from Sibelius. In current versions, MusicXML is opened through the File menu — File › Open, then select the file. Sibelius recognises MusicXML by its contents and converts it into a Sibelius score.
- Answer the import options. Sibelius may offer choices about how the incoming score is set up — house style, page size, and whether to keep the original formatting. Keeping Sibelius's own house style usually gives a cleaner starting point than preserving the source layout.
- Verify the instruments and the first system. Check the instrument list, staff order, clefs, key and time signature on the opening system of every part before you edit anything.
- Save as a Sibelius score. Save in Sibelius's own format so your edits and layout persist, and keep the MusicXML as the source file you can re-import if needed.
Sibelius does not treat MusicXML as a native score format: it converts on the way in. That conversion is where the import options matter, and it is why the result is a new Sibelius score rather than a live link back to the file.
What comes across reliably
The musical content transfers well. Expect notes and rests with correct pitches and durations, key and time signatures, clefs including mid-staff changes, multiple voices per staff, ties and slurs, dynamics and hairpins, articulations, tempo markings, repeat structure, and lyrics attached to the correct syllables. Instrument names and staff grouping usually survive, which is what matters most on an orchestral or choral score.
What does not transfer is the page. MusicXML can record how the source looked, but Sibelius applies its own house style and recomputes note spacing, system breaks, and page turns. A score that ran to six pages elsewhere may run to five or seven here. That is the engraver doing its job, not a broken import.
What usually needs cleanup
- Beaming. Beam groups are commonly re-derived from the time signature, so beaming that crossed beats in the source may need re-grouping.
- Tuplets. The rhythm is normally correct while the bracket, number visibility, and placement need attention — especially for nested or unusual ratios.
- Layout and formatting. System and page breaks, staff spacing, and the vertical position of text and dynamics are recomputed. Re-apply breaks where the music needs them, and let the house style settle the rest.
- Text objects. Titles, composer lines, rehearsal marks, and technique text can arrive in the wrong text style; restyling in bulk is quicker than fixing them one at a time.
- Specialised notation. Percussion mapping, custom noteheads, figured bass, guitar notation, and heavily edited early music are the first things to inspect.
Troubleshooting
The file will not open. Check the extension first — it must be .musicxml, .xml, or .mxl. Files sent by email or chat often arrive with the extension stripped, doubled, or changed to .txt. Rename it correctly and try again. A .mxl is a zip container; if something expanded it in transit, open the uncompressed .musicxml inside instead.
The score opens but the parts are garbled. Staves in the wrong order, music on the wrong instrument, or a piano split oddly across staves points at the part assignments in the file rather than at the import. Compare the instrument list against the original score; correcting assignments at the source is faster than reassigning music afterwards.
Bars have the wrong number of beats. That is a fault in the file itself and will appear identically in any program that opens it. Find the offending measures and fix the durations there.
The score is empty. Usually an empty or truncated file. Check the file size before assuming Sibelius is at fault.
Starting from a PDF or a scan instead
If what you have is a printed part, a PDF, or a photo of a page, you need MusicXML before any of this applies. StaveWave converts scans and PDFs into MusicXML and then walks you through a bar-by-bar check that spotlights the measures it was unsure about on your original page — so recognition errors get caught before they reach Sibelius, where they are much harder to spot. It is an online service that runs in the browser, with nothing to install.
Start at PDF to MusicXML. If you already have MusicXML and want a print-ready engraved edition rather than an editable score, the engraving service computes the layout and returns PDF, MusicXML, and MIDI.