Pianists learning a piece
Hear how a new score should sound: PDF to MIDI turns the page into notes you can slow down and loop in a MIDI player or a practice app.
PDF to MIDI Converter: Turn PDF Sheet Music into MIDI and MusicXML
To convert a PDF to a MIDI file, upload the score below and sign in: ToMIDI sends the pages to an optical music recognition service that reads the notes, rests, keys and time signatures, then gives you the result as a MIDI file and as MusicXML. You see the page count and credit cost before anything runs, check the recognised score beside your original page and play it before you download. PDF to MIDI works best on clean, printed scores.
- PDF or Page Images
- MIDI and MusicXML Out
- Cost Shown First
- Beside the Original Page
Why You Cannot Just Rename a PDF to MIDI
A PDF of sheet music is a picture of notation: staff lines, note heads and symbols placed on a page. A MIDI file is a list of performance events: which note sounds, when, for how long and how loud. Nothing inside the PDF says "this is a G". To turn a PDF into MIDI, software has to look at the page and read it the way a musician does. That is optical music recognition, or OMR, and it is what our PDF to MIDI converter runs on every page you send. A generic file converter that lists PDF to MIDI among hundreds of format pairs has no notes to write unless it reads the music first.
- Renaming score.pdf to score.mid gives a file that no DAW or MIDI player can open.
- A scanned page is only pixels, so PDF editors and text tools cannot find a single note in it.
- Typing a score into a notation app by hand can take an hour or more per page.
- Playing it in yourself means sight-reading it first, which is often what you wanted help with.
Why Use ToMIDI as Your PDF to MIDI Converter
What matters when PDF to MIDI has to turn a printed score into notes you can hear, edit and play.
Whole PDFs or page images
Upload a PDF of up to 20 pages, or JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC images of the pages. Each file shows as a thumbnail with its page numbers; put them in order and see the total before anything runs.
The cost before you start
The converter counts your pages and shows what they cost in credits before you sign in or start. Credits are held when the scan starts, and a scan that fails or is canceled is refunded in full.
Your page beside the result
The recognised score sits next to the original page (on a phone, switch between the two), so a wrong note, a missed accidental or a lost tie is easy to spot before you export.
Hear it on real instruments
Play the recognised score on sampled instruments, at any speed, and follow it bar by bar. Your ears catch a wrong note faster than your eyes do.
MIDI first, MusicXML too
Download a standard .mid with every part on its own track and repeats played out, or MusicXML to keep editing the notation. One scan gives you PDF to MIDI and PDF to MusicXML at once.
The next step is one click away
Send the result to the MIDI editor to fix notes, to transpose sheet music for a new key, or to MIDI to sheet music for a clean printable score.
How to Convert PDF to MIDI in Four Steps
Going from a PDF sheet to MIDI is not instant: a page usually takes about half a minute to read, sometimes a minute, and longer scores are read partly in parallel. Progress shows while PDF to MIDI works.
Drop a PDF score on the PDF to MIDI converter at the top of this page, or choose images of its pages. A PDF exported from notation software, or a clean scan at 300 dpi, reads best.
See your files as thumbnails with the page count and the credit cost, then sign in and start the scan. Nothing is sent for recognition before you do.
Your pages go to our server and on to a third-party optical music recognition service, which reads the staves, notes, rests, ties, keys and time signatures. You can leave and come back: reopen the page in the same tab, or upload the same files again, to pick up the result.
Check the result against your original page, play it back, then save MIDI or MusicXML, or open it straight in the next tool.
Step 1 · Upload your PDF
More Than a Bare PDF to MIDI File
What happens between uploading a score and opening its notes in your DAW or notation app.
Whole scores, in page order
A PDF to MIDI scan takes the whole file, up to 20 pages, and shows it with its page numbers and the total count, so a four-page sonata or a 12-page choir part goes through as one score and comes back as one MIDI file. Have the pages as separate photos or scans instead? Add them as images and put them in order with the arrows. To capture pages with a phone camera, the sheet music scanner is made for that.
Upload a ScoreThe original page beside the recognised score
No recognition is perfect, so the result is laid out next to the page it came from; on a phone, one tap switches between them. Look across bar by bar: a missed sharp, a tie read as a slur or a bar whose rhythm does not add up is easy to see side by side, and much harder to find later in a DAW. That check is what makes a sheet music PDF to MIDI conversion trustworthy.
Compare a PagePlay it before you download
Press play to hear the recognised score on sampled instruments, with the bar being played marked as it goes, and slow it down to check a fast passage. Hearing it is the quickest way to catch a wrong note, and it tells you whether your PDF to MIDI file is ready for the DAW or needs a few fixes in the MIDI editor first.
Hear a ScorePDF to MusicXML for your notation app
MIDI is for playing; MusicXML is for editing. The same recognition gives you both, so the PDF to MusicXML file opens in MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale or Dorico with notes, clefs, keys and time signatures in place, ready to correct, rearrange or print again. Got a MusicXML file and only need MIDI later? MusicXML to MIDI converts it in your browser.
Get MusicXMLPDF to MIDI Example: Amazing Grace, from Page to Piano Roll
A real lead sheet, followed through PDF to MIDI note by note. Click any note in the piano roll to see where it sits on the page, the MusicXML it comes from and the MIDI note it becomes, or press play.
Amazing Grace · lead sheet, 16 bars
Traditional (New Britain) · public domain · G major · 3/4 · 84 BPM
The page · bar 2
Illustration: engraved from the MusicXMLAmazing Grace
♩ = 84Traditional (New Britain)
MIDI notes · click one
2 / 32
From the MusicXML
Loading the MusicXML file…
Becomes MIDI
- Note
- G4 · MIDI 67
- Starts
- Bar 2, beat 1 · 0:02.1
- Length
- 2 beats · 1.43 s
- Velocity
- 64 of 127 (mp)
- Plays on
- Piano, channel 1
32 MIDI notes1 tie joined (bars 8 and 9)Tempo 84, velocity from mpLyrics kept in MusicXML, not played
What you are looking at
The page is the public domain hymn Amazing Grace: 16 bars in G major, 3/4 time, 84 BPM. No recognition runs in this demo: we engraved the page from our own MusicXML file, so you can see what PDF to MIDI does after the reading step. The site's MusicXML reader, the same one that writes your MIDI file after a scan, turns it into 32 MIDI notes, each with a pitch, a start, a length and a velocity. The tied D in bars 8 and 9 becomes one long note, the mp mark sets the velocity, and the lyrics stay in the MusicXML, because a MIDI file has no place for words.
PDF to MIDI Accuracy: Which PDFs Read Well
We publish no accuracy percentage until we have tested a set of scores ourselves. This is what PDF to MIDI gives you from each kind of page.
Exported from notation software: best
A PDF saved from MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale or Dorico is sharp and straight, so it gives the cleanest PDF to MIDI result. Still have the original file? Export MusicXML from the app and skip recognition altogether.
Clean printed scans at 300 dpi: good
A flat, straight scan of a printed page in black and white or grey gives a good PDF to MIDI result. Single melody lines, songs and simple piano music go best.
Dense piano and orchestral pages: check closely
Piano and full scores are read, but crowded pages with several voices per staff, cross-staff beams, small cue notes or tuplets can give more mistakes. Plan to fix some bars.
Blurry, skewed or handwritten: rough or refused
Low-resolution scans and pages photographed at an angle read poorly. Handwritten scores and guitar or bass tab cannot be read, and drum notation is untested.
PDF to MIDI Privacy, Storage and Copyright
PDF to MIDI recognition does not run in your browser, and we say so plainly. Your files are uploaded to our server and sent on to a third-party optical music recognition service that reads them. Our server holds them in memory only while they are passed on. The job at the recognition service, with your files and its results, is deleted as soon as we have fetched the result, or as soon as the scan fails. The recognised score is then kept in your account for 24 hours so you can come back to it, and erased after that. Copyright: convert scores you have the right to use, such as your own music, scores you have permission for, or public domain editions from libraries such as IMSLP and the Mutopia Project. A MIDI file made from a score is still that music. This page is not legal advice.
Upload a Score You Can UseOnline PDF to MIDI Converters Compared
Five browser-based PDF to MIDI converters, read on each tool's own page on 2 November 2026. Prices and limits change, so check before you pay.
| This siteToMIDI | lacuna.fm | Audio2MIDI | NeumaScan | SheetVideo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How it reads the PDF | Third-party optical music recognition, run from our server | AI recognition trained on scanned and engraved music | Optical music recognition, announced on its page for a later release | Sent to an AI recognition service | Reads the notation symbols inside the PDF; no image recognition |
| Scans and photos | PDF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC; best on clean printed pages | PDF, PNG, JPG, HEIC; phone photos read less well | PDF, PNG, JPG; printed music only | PDF, JPEG, PNG, HEIC; printed music | No: PDFs exported from notation software only |
| Free use and limits | Credits per page, cost shown first; failed scans refunded; up to 20 pages a scan | Free upload and preview; 30 credits a page; free credits for new accounts | No free page previews; 3 credits a page, Pro 60 credits a month for $9.99 | Free: first 4 staves of a piece, 1 piece a day, 5 a month; then €1.99 a page | Free: 3 conversions a day, with a small credit line; Tools Plus €6.99 a month |
| Sign-in | Yes | Not stated clearly; free credits come with an account | Not stated | First scan without; then a free account | No |
| Outputs | MIDI and MusicXML | MIDI; MusicXML not mentioned | MIDI, MusicXML and a re-engraved PDF | MIDI and MusicXML | MIDI and MusicXML |
| Your files | Sent to our server and the recognition service; deleted there once read; result kept 24 hours | Processed for the job, then expire; not used to train a public model | Processed on its servers; how long they stay is not stated | Kept 90 days without an account, or until you delete them with one | Read in your browser, not uploaded |
PDF to MusicXML and MIDI Software Compared
Desktop and phone apps for PDF to MusicXML and MIDI, as of November 2026, from each vendor's own pages. A full editor is the better choice when you also need to correct a long score by hand.
| MuseScore Studio | Audiveris | ScanScore | PlayScore 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Free notation app; File > Convert file sends the page to MuseScore.com | Free, open-source OMR program (AGPL) for Windows, macOS and Linux | OMR app with a score editor for Windows and macOS | Scanner app for iOS, Android and Windows |
| Free use and limits | Free with a MuseScore.com account, within usage limits | Free | Trial with limited export and playback; licences from $9 to $79 a year | Free for photos and single pages; PDFs and MusicXML on Professional, $6.99 a month |
| Reads | PDF, JPEG, PNG | Printed scores in PDF, TIFF, JPG, PNG, BMP; no handwriting | PDF, scans and phone photos; 300 to 600 dpi advised | Camera photos, images and PDFs |
| Gives you | An editable score; export MIDI or MusicXML | MusicXML; open it in a notation app for MIDI | MusicXML, MIDI, PDF and audio | MIDI and MusicXML |
| Fixing mistakes | Full notation editor | Built-in correction editor | Built-in editor | Playback with speed, loop and instruments; export to edit |
Who Converts PDF Sheet Music to MIDI
People with a score on paper or on screen who need PDF to MIDI to hear it, not just read it.
Choir singers
Turn the choir's PDF into MIDI and practise your line against the others at home, at whatever tempo you need.
Music teachers
Make play-along files from public domain scores with PDF to MIDI instead of typing every note into a notation app.
Composers with only a PDF left
Lost the project file but kept the PDF? A score PDF to MIDI and MusicXML scan gets your notes back so you can keep editing.
Producers and arrangers
Bring a printed arrangement, a string part or a lead sheet into your DAW as MIDI and put it on virtual instruments.
Band and orchestra players
Convert your part, move it to another key with transpose sheet music and print a fresh copy.
PDF to MIDI FAQ
Straight answers, including what recognition cannot read.
How do I convert a PDF to a MIDI file?
Upload the PDF to the converter at the top of this page and sign in. It shows the page count and the credit cost; confirm, and the pages are read by optical music recognition. Check the result beside your original page, play it, then download the .mid. That is the whole PDF to MIDI process.
My PDF came from MuseScore, Sibelius or Finale. Do I need to scan it?
Only if the original file is gone. If you still have the project, export MusicXML from the same program and convert it free in your browser with MusicXML to MIDI: nothing has to be read, so nothing can be misread. If the PDF is all you have, upload it here; a clean PDF from notation software is the kind of page recognition reads best.
Can MuseScore convert PDF to MIDI?
Yes, in two steps. According to the MuseScore Studio handbook (read on 2 November 2026), version 4.7.6 and later has File > Convert file, which accepts PDF, JPEG and PNG. Converting is free with a MuseScore.com account, within usage limits, and the result is saved as a private score in that account. In older versions, Import PDF opens the upload page on MuseScore.com instead. Once the score is open, export it as MIDI. Our PDF to MIDI converter skips the install.
Is there a PDF to MIDI free option?
Not on ToMIDI: every page costs us money to read, as it does for any PDF MIDI converter built on recognition, so scans use credits, and the cost shows before you start. Free routes exist. MuseScore Studio converts with a free MuseScore.com account, Audiveris is free open-source software, and SheetVideo converts PDFs exported from notation software up to 3 times a day. If your score is already MusicXML, our MusicXML to MIDI converter is free and runs in your browser.
How accurate is PDF to MIDI conversion?
It depends on the page. A PDF exported from notation software, or a clean and straight scan, reads well. Dense piano or orchestral pages, small print and blurry or skewed scans give more mistakes. We publish no percentage until we have tested a set of scores ourselves, so compare the result with the original page and play it before you rely on it.
Can it read handwritten scores, guitar tabs or drum parts?
Not handwriting or tabs: handwritten scores and guitar or bass tab cannot be read, and a page of tab is refused with its own message. If a score mixes standard notation with tab staves, the tab staves are left out of the MIDI. Drum notation is untested, so we make no promise for it. To get tabs, start from a recording with the guitar tab generator.
Which files and how many pages can PDF to MIDI take?
A PDF, or JPEG, PNG, WebP or HEIC images of the pages: up to 20 pages and 20 files in one scan, 15 MB per file and 25 MB in all. Password-protected PDFs cannot be read; remove the password first. A score longer than 20 pages goes through in parts.
Do I need an account and credits?
Yes. A PDF to MIDI scan needs a signed-in account and credits, held per page when the scan starts. A scan that fails or is canceled is refunded in full, and you are never charged more than the cost shown without being asked first. Each account can run 2 scans at once and start 20 a day.
Where do my files go, and how long are they kept?
To our server and on to Flat (flat.io), the third-party optical music recognition service that reads them. Our server holds the files in memory only while they are sent on. As soon as the result is fetched, or the scan fails, we delete the job at Flat with its files and results; otherwise Flat keeps a job for 30 days by default. Flat's developer documentation (read on 2 November 2026) says submitted files and their outputs are not used to train its models. The recognised score stays in your account for 24 hours, then it is erased; upload the same files again within that time and you get it back at no new charge.
Is this an AI PDF to MIDI converter?
In the sense that matters, yes: the recognition service reads pages with its own machine learning model trained for sheet music, as its maker announced in June 2026. It is not a general chatbot looking at a picture, and it still makes mistakes on hard pages, which is why the result is shown beside your original.
How do I convert a PDF to Music XML for MuseScore?
Use the same upload: one recognition gives you MusicXML as well as MIDI. Download the MusicXML file and open it in MuseScore Studio, Sibelius, Finale or Dorico to correct and print it. PDF to MusicXML is the route for editing notation; MIDI is the one for a DAW or a MIDI player.
Can I turn a lyrics sheet or a chord chart into MIDI?
No. Recognition reads standard music notation, so a page of lyrics or chord names has no notes to read and is refused. Lyrics and chord symbols on a real score are read into the MusicXML (text in some languages can come back wrong), but MIDI does not play words.
Will my PDF to MIDI file sound like a real performance?
It plays what is written: the pitches and rhythms on the page, every part on its own track, repeats played out, at the tempo marked in the score. MIDI carries notes, not sound, so how it sounds depends on the instrument that plays it. For an audio file, render the MIDI with MIDI to MP3 or MIDI to WAV.
Is it legal to convert a score PDF to MIDI?
That depends on the score, on what you do with the file and on where you live, and we cannot answer it for you; this is not legal advice. A MIDI file made from a score is still that music, so its copyright applies. Public domain scores, your own compositions and music you have permission for are the safe starting points.
Can I make MIDI from a recording instead of a PDF?
Yes, with a different tool: the audio to MIDI converter on our homepage turns an MP3, WAV or a recording into MIDI. PDF to MIDI reads printed notation only, not sound.
More Sheet Music Tools
Starting from a photo, a MusicXML file or a recording instead? Pick the matching tool.
After Your PDF to MIDI Conversion
Fix the notes, hear them on real instruments, render audio or turn them into tabs.
- Online MIDI EditorFix notes in a piano roll and export.
- Online MIDI PlayerPlay MIDI files with a piano roll view.
- MIDI to MP3 ConverterRender MIDI to MP3 with real instruments.
- MIDI to WAV ConverterRender MIDI to lossless WAV for any DAW.
- MIDI to Guitar TabConvert MIDI parts into playable tabs.
- What Is a MIDI File?MIDI explained, with a file inspector.
Convert Your PDF to MIDI Now
Upload a PDF score to the PDF to MIDI converter at the top of this page, check the page count and the cost, and download MIDI and MusicXML once it has been read. Starting from MusicXML, MIDI or a recording instead? Pick one of the tools above.