Prepare sheet music for OCR and check the resulting MIDI
Prepare a readable score image, check accidentals, bar lengths, and tuplets, and understand what MIDI does not preserve.
Sheet-music OCR reads staff lines and notation from an image. Its input differs from Audio to MIDI, which analyzes sound. Compare the recognition result with the original score before treating the MIDI as finished.
Sheet music to MIDI in the browser: what you get and how long it takes
The Sheet Music OCR input accepts images such as PNG or JPEG. This image upload control does not accept a PDF directly. If your score is a PDF, prepare an image of the required page and retain key signatures and bar lines. Recognition sends the image to a server.
The recognition result is ABC notation, which the browser converts to editable MIDI notes and passes to the editor. This route has no MusicXML download. Compare the notes with the score, correct them, and choose MIDI (.mid) in Export. Selecting an image does not immediately download a finished MIDI file.
The public workflow requires sign-in. A free account can try one conversion when it has no previous OCR usage; this is not a daily-reset allowance. Pro skips that free-use-count check. If the allowance is used, the interface opens the plan prompt. Check your account and the displayed conditions before starting.
Processing time has not been measured for this guide. It includes uploading, server recognition, ABC-to-note conversion, and opening the editor, so no fixed completion time is promised. An error or no-notes result is not success: inspect the image and retry a readable section. Even when notes appear, compare pitches, accidentals, rests, and bar lengths, then reopen the exported MIDI to verify the corrections.
Prepare a readable image
Begin with one clearly printed page. Photograph it straight on, avoiding shadows, fingers, and page curvature. Enlarging a blurred image cannot restore missing accidentals. Keep clefs, key signatures, time signatures, and bar edges when cropping.
Recognize and compare
- Open Sheet Music OCR and use a file format listed in the interface.
- Check usage limits and processing terms before starting. OCR includes server processing; do not assume the image always stays on your device.
- Compare one bar at a time. Start with clefs and key signatures, then pitches and durations.
- Audition the result where available, correct mistakes, and export MIDI.
Four frequent checks
- Sharps, flats, and naturals attached to the right notes.
- Durations, including rests, adding up to the time signature.
- Ties versus slurs, dotted rhythms, and tuplets.
- Separate voices and left/right piano hands remaining distinct.
What MIDI may not preserve
MIDI primarily represents performance events. Page layout, lyric placement, and notation markings may not survive as printed. If your aim is a new score edition, verify the layout in notation software as well. Check the usage conditions of the score you import.