Import and export in integrated in MuseScore (as of version 4.2). File opening and file saving follows the same workflow as for other external file formats (e.g., MusicXML).

File opening

MEI files can be imported from the Open... menu with a selection of *.mei files:

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Previously opened MEI files appear in the file list with a dedicated <xml> 🎵 MEI file icon:

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The Preferences dialog includes a MEI checkbox option Import MEI layout in the Import section:

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File saving

MEI files can be saved through the Export... menu that includes an MEI section. The MEI section includes an option Include page and system breaks as well as the standard part extraction option:

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User feedback

When possible, some feedback is provided when features cannot be imported. The feedback is shown in dialog that allows for the process to be continued if desirable:

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Additional lower-level feedback might be provided in the logs

Metadata

The following metadata tags from the Project properties are exported to the MEI header:

  • Work title
  • Subtitle
  • Arranger
  • Composer
  • Copyright
  • Lyricist
  • Translator
<meiHead>
    <fileDesc>
        <titleStmt>
            <title type="main">Work title</title>
            <title type="subordinate">Subtitle</title>
            <respStmt>
                <persName role="arranger">Arranger is me</persName>
                <persName role="composer">Composer is me</persName>
                <persName role="lyricist">Another lyricist</persName>
                <persName role="translator">Deepl</persName>
            </respStmt>
        </titleStmt>
        <pubStmt>
            <date isodate="2023-05-09-14:34:46" />
        </pubStmt>
    </fileDesc>
</meiHead>

The tags Creation date, Platform and Source are currently not preserved since no appropriate place in MEI-Basic has been found

When importing an MEI file, the values in the MEI header (if found) as set back as score properties. The entire MEI header is also preserved. When exporting again to MEI, the original header is re-exported as such and the score properties are ignored. However, the original MEI header can be deleted from the score properties dialog.

Command-line

The conversion from and to MEI through MuseScore is possible with standard MuseScore command-line options.

For example, converting a MuseScore file to MEI:

mscore file.mscz -o file.mei

Converting an MEI file to MuseScore:

mscore file.mei -o file.mscz

The option -f can also be added to by-pass score corruption warnings.