Sheetmusic4J for Java & JavaFX

Parse and render sheet music in Java(FX).
No WebView required.

Latest release: v0.0.3 · 2026-07-30

Get Started View on GitHub

Sheetmusic4J is an open-source Java library that parses MusicXML into Java objects and renders them as native JavaFX music sheet views: no WebView, no browser engine, no JavaScript bridge.

Quick start

Sheetmusic4J requires Java 21 or higher and is available from Maven Central. Add the fxviewer dependency (it includes the core library):

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sheetmusic4j</groupId>
    <artifactId>fxviewer</artifactId>
    <version>${sheetmusic4j.version}</version>
</dependency>

implementation("com.sheetmusic4j:fxviewer:$sheetmusic4jVersion")

implementation "com.sheetmusic4j:fxviewer:${sheetmusic4jVersion}"

Then load a file and drop the view into your scene:

Score score = ScoreFile.load(Path.of("song.musicxml"));

SheetView sheetView = new SheetView();
sheetView.setScore(score);

stage.setScene(new Scene(new ScrollPane(sheetView), 900, 600));
stage.show();

See the code examples for the full, runnable application, core-only (parse/generate) usage, and play-along cursor/highlighting.

Watch: an introduction to Sheetmusic4J — Render Interactive Sheet Music in JavaFX (MusicXML Library).

Why Sheetmusic4J

Wondering about the standards behind it? Read what inspired Sheetmusic4J: MusicXML, OpenSheetMusicDisplay, MIDI, ABC notation, Guitar Pro, SMuFL, the Bravura music font, and the MusicXML.com test files. And check the sheetmusic terminology glossary to see which class/method draws which notation element.

The sources of this project are available on github.com/sheetmusic4j/sheetmusic4j.

Used By

MelodyMatrix is a cross-platform MIDI recording and visualization app (Java, Kotlin, JavaFX) that turns live keyboard performances into real-time visual displays, including piano roll, staff notation, guitar fretboard, and chord diagrams. It uses Sheetmusic4J for its staff notation view.

Building something with Sheetmusic4J? Let us know and we’ll add it here.

Current status

Sheetmusic4J is at release 0.0.3, still early and published to gauge interest in a native Java(FX) sheet music library before investing further. The module structure, domain model, layout engine, JavaFX rendering (including a play-along strip view with a moving cursor and per-note highlighting), and the demo app are all in place. On top of MusicXML and MIDI, it supports ABC notation import/export (now fully wired into the ScoreFile facade) and basic, experimental Guitar Pro 7/8 import; rendering fidelity and format coverage are still being expanded.

Latest updates:

Follow the progress in the status posts and check the release notes for the latest changes.