mahlif¶

Universal music notation interchange format with bidirectional converters.

מַחֲלִיף (machalif/mahlif) = Hebrew for "exchanger/converter"

Experimental / Pre-release Software

This project is in early development. APIs may change without notice.

Why Mahlif?¶

Music notation software stores scores in proprietary formats that don't interoperate well. MusicXML exists but loses layout precision. Mahlif provides:

Mahlif XML — An intermediate format preserving pixel-accurate layout (dx/dy offsets)
Bidirectional converters for notation software

Install¶

First, install uv.

# Try it out (no install needed)
uvx mahlif --help

# Or install globally
uv tool install mahlif

Format Support¶

Format	Import	Export	Notes
Sibelius	✅ Plugin	🚧 Plugin	Export ~80% complete
LilyPond	—	✅ CLI	~70% features
MusicXML	❌	❌	Planned
Finale	❌	❌	Planned
Dorico	❌	❌	Planned

Current focus: Sibelius ↔ Mahlif XML

Quick Start¶

Export from Sibelius¶

# Install the export plugin
mahlif sibelius install

Then in Sibelius: Home → Plug-ins → Mahlif → Export to Mahlif XML

Convert to LilyPond¶

# Convert to LilyPond source
mahlif convert score.mahlif.xml score.ly

# Compile to PDF (requires LilyPond installed)
lilypond score.ly

Python API¶

from mahlif import parse
from mahlif.lilypond import to_lilypond

score = parse("score.mahlif.xml")
lily_source = to_lilypond(score)

Documentation¶

CLI Reference — Command-line interface
Sibelius — Plugin installation, workflow, property mapping
LilyPond — Export features and limitations
Schema — Mahlif XML format specification