Almost every serious notation program exports to MIDI, MusicXML, and PDF, so the honest answer to "which one exports to MIDI and MusicXML" is "most of them." The real question is what you are starting from. If you already have the notes in your head or on paper and you want to engrave them, MuseScore is the best free pick and Dorico the best paid one. If you are starting from a recording and you want editable MIDI and MusicXML out of it without entering every note by hand, Songscription is the clear winner: it writes the notes for you from the audio, lets you clean them up in a built-in AI-assisted editor right in the browser, and exports the same three formats, no second program required.
Fair warning before we start: we make Songscription, so we have a stake in this roundup. We have kept the comparison honest, including the many cases where a traditional editor like MuseScore or Dorico is the better tool, because the useful thing we can offer is a clear read on what each program is for and which files it hands you. Here is the field in 2026.
What MIDI, MusicXML, and PDF actually export
Before comparing tools, it helps to know why you would reach for each format, because a program that exports all three still leaves you to pick the right one for the job.
- MIDI is raw note data: which pitch, when it starts, how long it lasts, how hard it was struck. It carries no layout and no sound, which is exactly what a DAW like Logic, Ableton, or FL Studio wants. Reach for MIDI when the destination is production. Our guide to what MIDI is covers the basics.
- MusicXML is the full notation: notes, rhythms, clefs, key signature, and layout intent. It is the shared language notation programs use to exchange files, so a MusicXML from one editor opens as an editable score in another. Reach for it when you want to keep engraving. See what MusicXML is and MusicXML vs MIDI for the difference.
- PDF is a fixed image of the finished score, locked layout and all, that opens anywhere and prints cleanly. Reach for it when the score is final and headed to a music stand.
The one-line rule: produce from MIDI, edit notation in MusicXML, print from PDF. Our overview of music export formats walks through the same set in prose.
Export support at a glance
Every tool below exports MIDI, MusicXML, and PDF. What separates them is price, platform, and, crucially, whether you build the score by hand or get it from a recording. Confirm current pricing and tier limits on each vendor's site before you commit.
| Software | Type | Exports | Price | Notes come from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MuseScore | Desktop editor | MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, audio | Free, open-source | You enter them |
| Dorico | Desktop editor | MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, audio | Paid (free SE tier) | You enter them |
| Sibelius | Desktop editor | MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, audio | Paid (free First tier) | You enter them |
| Finale | Desktop editor | MIDI, MusicXML, PDF | Discontinued 2024 | You enter them |
| Flat | Web editor | MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, audio | Free tier, paid plans | You enter them |
| Noteflight | Web editor | MIDI, MusicXML, audio | Free tier, paid plans | You enter them |
| Songscription | AI transcription + AI-assisted editor | MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, Guitar Pro | Free tier, paid plans | A recording, refined in-app |
The notation software, one by one
The honest one-liner per tool, with what it is best at:
- MuseScore. The best free notation editor, full stop. It is open-source, imports and exports MusicXML, MIDI, and Guitar Pro, and prints clean PDFs, with no export paywall. MuseScore 4 closed most of the gap to the paid programs. If you want to hand-engrave a score for free and get every export, start here. See our MuseScore alternatives if it is not quite right for you.
- Dorico. Steinberg's professional engraver, with the deepest control over layout and the cleanest default output. It exports MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, and audio, and there is a free Dorico SE tier to try it. This is the tool most former Finale users are moving to.
- Sibelius. Avid's long-running professional editor, still an industry standard in many engraving shops. Exports MIDI, MusicXML, PDF, and audio, with a free Sibelius First tier that caps the number of instruments. A safe pick if your collaborators already use it.
- Finale. MakeMusic stopped selling and developing Finale on August 26, 2024, and partnered with Steinberg to move users to Dorico. Existing installs still export MusicXML 4.0, MIDI, and PDF, but do not start a new project here. If you have old Finale files, export them as MusicXML now while the software still runs.
- Flat. A web-based editor with Google-Docs-style real-time collaboration, strong in classrooms and on Chromebooks. Exports MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, and audio. The free tier limits how many scores you keep; paid plans lift that.
- Noteflight. Another browser-based editor with an education focus. It exports MusicXML, MIDI, and audio, though the MusicXML and audio exports and higher score counts sit behind its paid tier, so check current terms.
- Songscription. The strongest choice when you are starting from a recording rather than a blank page, and it does not stop at transcribing. Its AI listens to the audio and writes the notes for you, then, and this is the part people miss, you refine them in a built-in, AI-assisted editor right in the browser: fix a note, reassign a hand, simplify a passage, with the model doing the heavy lifting instead of you nudging every notehead by hand. That AI-assisted editing is genuinely powerful and unique here, and it is why you rarely need a second program at all. Export PDF, MIDI, and MusicXML (plus Guitar Pro and tab for fretted instruments) from the same transcription. The one honest caveat: the editor is built to be fast and approachable rather than a deep engraving suite, so if you need fine control over every slur, beam, and bit of spacing, advanced engravers may still prefer Dorico, and you can round-trip there via MusicXML any time. For getting a real song into editable, polished notation quickly, nothing else here comes close.
How to choose
Match the tool to where the notes are coming from and where they are going.
- Free hand-engraving with full exports: MuseScore. Nothing to pay, every format out.
- Professional engraving: Dorico for the best modern output, Sibelius if your world already runs on it.
- Collaboration or the classroom: Flat or Noteflight, both browser-based, both export MusicXML and MIDI.
- Moving off Finale: export to MusicXML, then land in Dorico (paid) or MuseScore (free).
- Starting from a recording, not a blank page: Songscription, which writes the notes from the audio, lets you refine them in an AI-assisted editor in the browser, and exports MIDI, MusicXML, and PDF in one pass.
If you are starting from a recording
Here is the case worth calling out, because it is the one the traditional editors handle worst. A huge share of people who need a MIDI or MusicXML file are not composing from scratch. They heard a song, a cover, a solo, an idea on a voice memo, and they want it as editable notes. In MuseScore, Sibelius, or Dorico, that means transcribing by ear and entering every note by hand first, which can take hours before you have anything to export.
Songscription collapses that. It transcribes the recording into notation for you, and then, crucially, hands you a built-in AI-assisted editor to clean it up in the same browser tab: fix a stray note, reassign a hand, simplify a busy passage, with the AI doing the work you would otherwise do by hand in a desktop editor. For most people that is the whole job, done in one place. Then export the same PDF, MIDI, and MusicXML the desktop editors do. And because the export is MusicXML, you are never locked in: if you are an advanced engraver who wants to fine-tune every detail of the layout, open it in Dorico or MuseScore and keep going, or drop the MIDI straight into your DAW. We cover that round trip in importing Songscription files into MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale, and Logic, and the format decision in MusicXML vs MIDI vs PDF.
So the best notation software that exports to MIDI and MusicXML comes down to what you are starting from. Engraving from your own ideas on a blank page? Use a hand-entry editor, MuseScore for free or Dorico for the deepest control. Starting from a recording, which is most people? Songscription is the strongest pick by a wide margin: it writes the notes for you, lets you polish them in its AI-assisted editor, and exports every format, all in the browser. The only reason to leave is if you are doing heavy professional engraving, and even then you round-trip through MusicXML. They meet in the middle at MusicXML, so you are never locked in either way.
And if your destination is a DAW like Logic Pro or Ableton rather than a notation editor, the file you want is MIDI, and the choice narrows differently. We cover that case in the best score maker for exporting transcriptions to DAWs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What notation software exports to MIDI and MusicXML?
Every major notation program exports both. MuseScore (free and open-source), Sibelius, Dorico, Flat, and Noteflight all read and write MIDI and MusicXML, and all of them produce PDF for printing. The now-discontinued Finale still exports MusicXML 4.0, MIDI, and PDF for existing users. If you are starting from a recording rather than entering notes by hand, Songscription transcribes the audio, lets you refine it in a built-in AI-assisted editor, and exports the same PDF, MIDI, and MusicXML, all in the browser.
What is the best free music notation software that exports MusicXML?
MuseScore is the strongest free option. It is fully open-source, imports and exports MusicXML and MIDI, and prints clean PDFs, with no export paywall. Flat and Noteflight offer free web-based tiers, but both gate some exports or score limits behind a paid plan, so read their current terms. Songscription has a free tier that transcribes short clips of a recording and exports MusicXML, useful when you are starting from audio rather than a blank score.
Now that Finale is discontinued, what should I use?
MakeMusic stopped selling and developing Finale on August 26, 2024 and partnered with Steinberg to move users to Dorico. Dorico is the closest professional replacement, and MuseScore is the free one. In both cases the migration path is the same: export your Finale scores as MusicXML, then open them in the new program. MusicXML is the shared language notation software uses to exchange files, which is exactly why an export format matters when you pick a tool.
Can I export sheet music to MIDI and MusicXML at the same time?
Yes. In any notation editor you export each format separately, but from the same score, so you can save a MIDI for your DAW and a MusicXML for another notation program from one project. Songscription goes further and produces PDF, MIDI, and MusicXML together from a single transcription of a recording, so you read the audio once and take whichever file you need.
Starting from a recording and want editable notation, MIDI, and MusicXML without hand-entering a note? Try Songscription on a song.
