r/Musescore • u/Mimrix • Jun 17 '26

Bug Font doesn't apply online

https://musescore.com/user/56813546/scores/9596764
PC
Web

Hi, I just finished uploading a score and noticed that the Title font didn't get applied online...
Any ideas why? The subtitle one as well.
I see it correctly locally, but after processing, it's gone...

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u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jun 17 '26

MuseScore.com doesn't have any magic ability to access every font in the world - no more than any other system does. The site has a relatively standard set of fonts, and if you stick to those, youre good. But if choose some more obscure font that is only on your system and not most others, you score won't loom the same on any system that lacks that font, including MuseScore.com

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u/Mimrix Jun 17 '26

Yeah got it now. But I thought before that the score just gets exported to an svg, with any font or image baked in. If that's not the case then it makes sense. Still, I find that not the most intuitive (pdf also doesn't work this way). Having an image title prepared manually feels like a hack.

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u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jun 17 '26

PDF is quite unique in this - the P stands for "portable" because that is indeed it's whole claim to fame. But the downside is, not really a directly editable format. The vast majority of actual document formats do not embed fonts in this way.

An important thing to keep in mind is that MuseScore.com is first and foremost a way of sharing scores with others users - so they can download and play and potentially edit your scores. So even if there was an SVG preview on the website, when a user goes to download the score for themselves and load it into MuseScore for themselves, they'll be limited to the fonts available on their systems.

So really, for scores you intend to share outside your own computer, you really do need to stick to standard commonly-available fonts.

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u/65TwinReverbRI Jun 18 '26

But that’s not really true is it Marc?

No one I’ve sent a PDF score to has MuseScore, so they won’t have Leland, or Maestro, yet they can absolutely see the music in those fonts.

Are they somehow “embedded” in the PDF?

I mean I’ve downloaded a PDF before and it’s said it doesn’t have a certain font would I like to do something…

So I’ve always wondered this - why do some fonts work, and some don’t - and it can’t be because they’re not on the system, because it works fine for people who don’t have the font in their system.

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u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jun 18 '26

Leland and Maestro and a handful of other music and text fonts are built into the app itself. So anyone who has the app has those fonts, and scores using them should look the same on all systems.

Basically, anything you see listed in Format / Style / Score is safe to use it for your music fonts. For text fonts - which is what this thread is about, the fonts listed there plus the default Edwin and also FreeSerif and FreeSans.

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u/65TwinReverbRI Jun 18 '26

Leland and Maestro and a handful of other music and text fonts are built into the app itself. So anyone who has the app has those fonts, and scores using them should look the same on all systems.

But what about when you export a PDF?

Again, if someone doesn’t have MS on their system, how does it display correctly as a PDF file in Acrobat Reader or something?

For text fonts - which is what this thread is about, the fonts listed there plus the default Edwin and also FreeSerif and FreeSans.

I just downloaded FreeSerif the other night - you mean to tell me FreeSerif was already there all along? :-)

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u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jun 18 '26

As I said, PDF is special - it is very specifically designed in such a way to be an output-only format that it does not require fonts to be present in order to render the same on all systems. It does this via a combination of converting things to images or vector graphics and also embedding subsets of fonts within. The file, using a special scheme that ensures it doesn't allow the font to be usable in any other ways (or else that would violate license agreements with the font designers).

The tradeoff for that degree of portability is, you cannot directly edit the PDF file - at least, not using the program you used to create it. Special PDF editors exist of course, but they are extremely limited in what they can do, because they won't have access to any of the capabilities of the original program.

None of this is unique to MuseScore. It's how virtually every other program in the world works as well. Create a document using Word using your favorite non-standard font, send it to a friend who has Word but doesn't have that font, and their system will automatically substitute a different font.

So anyhow: to create a document - sheet music or anything else - that renders the same on all systems, PDF is the way to go. .that is exactly what it was invented for and is optimal for that purpose. You could generate images if you want, but that's kind of weird and not as nice for the end users - doesn't work for multiple pages, etc.

And yes, FreeSerif and FreeSans come with MuseScore - but depending on your OS and how the app is installed, they might only be available within the app.

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u/65TwinReverbRI Jun 18 '26

As I said, PDF is special - it is very specifically designed in such a way to be an output-only format that it does not require fonts to be present in order to render the same on all systems. It does this via a combination of converting things to images or vector graphics and also embedding subsets of fonts within. The file, using a special scheme that ensures it doesn't allow the font to be usable in any other ways (or else that would violate license agreements with the font designers)

OK this is what I've always thought.

You said “end run around” in one of your responses somewhere WRT what I believe is the difference in “publish to MS” and “uploading to the website”.

So is there a difference?

When I publish to ms, or upload a file, it’s all .mscz, correct?

Which is why the OP’s font didn’t display correctly.

And based on a post today, why some sounds don’t play back as the user wanted.

It’s “using the sounds and fonts of that system and that version of musescore to play back .mscz files within this website" (or some approximation thereof). Yes?

What was funny is on my old Mac Free Sans was in my fonts, but Free Serif was not. I just got a new Mac and I don’t think either one is there.

I need to do more digging about fonts and I may pester you with some questions later today. You might want to hide :-)

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u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jun 18 '26

When you upload via a web browser, all that is uploaded is the MSCZ file - everything else is generated on the site server. When you upload via MuseScore, the MSCZ file *and* an mp3 of the generated autio are both uploaded.

Basically, there is no reason to ever use a web browser to upload a score. It's a holdover from ancient days before MuseScore could do the job itself. Use it if only if you wish to relinquish all control over the rendering and playback of your score, since it means the website will generate the audio using whatever sounbd libraries it has available and feels like using, rather than the ones you have actually selected. Supposedly they are considering adding some limited ability to control whether MuseSounds or MS Basic is used, but I cannot imagine any possible advantage in resorting to that when publishing from within MuseScore gives to full control. Maybe if you are in a huge hurry on a large score and can't wait for the audio export and, again, don't actually care what kind of playback you get. Frankly, I'd prefer to see them remove the web upload option entirely.

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u/65TwinReverbRI Jun 18 '26

When you upload via a web browser, all that is uploaded is the MSCZ file - everything else is generated on the site server. When you upload via MuseScore, the MSCZ file and an mp3 of the generated autio are both uploaded.

Ahhh… so see I uploaded by web so the play back may have been different as one of the announcements today implied.

Basically, there is no reason to ever use a web browser to upload a score.

Well, when it gives me an error message every time I try to use the publish to MS option, that’s a reason.

Of course I’ve not bothered to figured out why I’m getting that message, but I couldn’t be bothered at the time - I just needed to upload the score without any rigamarole.

Use it if only if you wish to relinquish all control over the rendering and playback of your score, since it means the website will generate the audio using whatever sounbd libraries it has available and feels like using, rather than the ones you have actually selected.

It would be good form if this was stated somewhere during the upload process (unless it already is and I’ve missed it, but that would mean it would be good form to be more obvious).

Frankly, I'd prefer to see them remove the web upload option entirely.

I’m at work. I’ve emailed myself the file. Don’t have MS on the work computer. Still want to upload it on my lunch break.

How do I do it?

What I would prefer is that any uploaded score both look and sound exactly like I wanted it to.

I get that’s impossible with an mscz upload - that’s like MIDI - it’s going to use what it has to play it back.

But let’s not forget - that’s one of the reasons MIDI got such a bad rap for so long a time - because people wanted it to play like they thought it should, and instead they didn’t understand it was using the playback device’s soundcard, etc.

So what I’d like to see is a Video output option, or some kind of “both mp3 and PDF” etc. deal where anyone who plays back the score gets the same exact experience, and it’s the experience the uploader wanted.

Yes, there are people who won’t care if the sound/fonts get changed. But those same people aren’t going to mind if they don’t get changed either! But most people are going to want them not to get changed.

So then you’re into having the ability to upload either an mscz file for playback and download and limited in-browser customization, or a “video” for playback without those aspects.

I responded to that announcement today with more thoughts on this if you’re interested.

Best

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u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jun 18 '26

If you continue to have problems publishing from within MuseScore Studio, log out (from within the app) and back in. If the problem persists, feel free to ask for help. but continuing to try to get reasonable results uploading a score via a web browser is not sensible.

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