# Problem importing Sibelius MusicXML files into Logic



## MarcusMaximus (Sep 13, 2018)

I am trying to import a score created in Sibelius 6.2.0 and exported as a MusicXML file into Logic. The export is achieved using the Dolet 6 plugin as Sib. 6 can't export MusicXML files on its own.

The problem is that when I try to import the file into Logic (latest version) I get an error message which says "XML File has errors". When I click on Details it says the following:
*
Error Details:line 1 column 1 - Warning: specified input encoding (utf-8) does not match actual input encoding (utf-16)
*
Under that it says "1 warning, 0 errors were found!"

Does anyone know what is going on here and whether/how I can fix it as I would really like to be able to import a Sibelius score into Logic without going the midi file route..

Thanks!


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## DavidY (Sep 13, 2018)

I don't have Sibelius or Logic, or even a Mac, but I'm guessing that the first line of the XML file includes something like:

```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
```

But the actual character encoding which used to create the file is UTF-16.

If it was a PC then I would suggest using a text editor like Notepad++ to edit the top line of the file to say "UTF-16" instead of "UTF-8". An alternative might be to change the file encoding, which Notepad++ can also do. However I'm not sure what text editors are out there for a Mac?


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## MarcusMaximus (Sep 13, 2018)

DavidY said:


> I don't have Sibelius or Logic, or even a Mac, but I'm guessing that the first line of the XML file includes something like:
> 
> ```
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> ...



Great. Very helpful thanks. I will try this out and report back.


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## MarcusMaximus (Sep 13, 2018)

Strangely enough the first line of code already reads:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-16’ standalone='no'?>

Editing it to read 'UTF-8' just to see what happens yields the same error message as before.

However, if I export a MusicXML file from Logic, the first line of that file reads:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

So can I assume that means that Logic works only with UTF-8 whereas the Sibelius one is encoded using UTF-16 and that's why Logic can't open it? If that's the case though, why will it not import a file that I have edited as above? I presume that's because the encoding involves more than just that first line..

I have no knowledge of coding so I'm just resorting to common sense here. Which is suggesting that the Dolet plugin that Sibelius 6 uses to export the MusicXML file uses an encoding format that Logic can't recognise. If that's the case then maybe I should contact the Dolet developers about this.


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## DavidY (Sep 13, 2018)

MarcusMaximus said:


> Strangely enough the first line of code already reads:
> 
> <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-16’ standalone='no'?>
> 
> Editing it to read 'UTF-8' just to see what happens yields the same error message as before.


Sorry that hasn't worked. 

If it was a PC I'd suggest opening it with Notepad++ which can change the encoding to make it UTF-8, to go with the top line.

But I think Notepad++ is PC-only software; as a non-Mac user I don't know what an equivalent text editor for Mac would be?


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## MarcusMaximus (Sep 13, 2018)

Well the Mac has TextEdit which will allow me to edit the code but I've no idea how to get it to change the encoding. My guess is it can't do it. Maybe I could use my PC to do it in Notepad++ though. Is it easy enough to use for the uninitiated?


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## DavidY (Sep 13, 2018)

MarcusMaximus said:


> Well the Mac has TextEdit which will allow me to edit the code but I've no idea how to get it to change the encoding. My guess is it can't do it. Maybe I could use my PC to do it in Notepad++ though. Is it easy enough to use for the uninitiated?


I suggest using a copy of the file to do this... but what happens if you open the file in TextEdit and save as UTF 8 as per this video I just randomly found? 

It shows how to save as plain text/ UTF-8, and I guess you'd want to use a version where you change it to UTF-8 in that top line as you did earlier.


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## Matt Riley (Sep 13, 2018)

I have had terrible luck importing musicxml files from Sibelius into Finale. Something is not right with how Sibelius exports musicxmls.


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## JT (Sep 13, 2018)

I convert a lot of files from Sibelius to Finale, a lot. I just tried opening a Sibelius xml file in Logic, it was a full concert band score, 200+ measures, it opened perfectly in Logic.

What I've learned out this process, is that Sibelius files from some composers convert perfectly, files from other composers are problematic. I don't know Sibelius well enough to decipher what makes a file not work. There might be something different about the workflow between composers, some use files over and over again as a template, and often artifacts which were deleted long ago, sometimes appear in an xml file.

And when problems do occur during this process, how do we know if the problem is with Sibelius which creates the xml file, Finale or Logic which imports the xml file, or a problem with the composer's Sibelius file itself?


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## MarcusMaximus (Sep 14, 2018)

Which version of Sibelius are you using JT? I'm on 6.2 which as I say cannot export MusicXML files without using the Dolet plugin. I assume that later versions can export them without having to use any plugin. Perhaps that's where the problem lies?


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## MarcusMaximus (Sep 14, 2018)

DavidY said:


> I suggest using a copy of the file to do this... but what happens if you open the file in TextEdit and save as UTF 8 as per this video I just randomly found?
> 
> It shows how to save as plain text/ UTF-8, and I guess you'd want to use a version where you change it to UTF-8 in that top line as you did earlier.




Just tried this a few different ways and it either produced the same or a parsing error when I attempted to import it into Logic. Looks like messing with the code may not be the way to go - ideally it should do what it says on the tin.


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## JT (Sep 14, 2018)

I'm using Sibelius 7.5. The Dolet plugin is what handles this conversion in all versions. Make sure you're using the most recent version of this plugin.


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## MarcusMaximus (Sep 16, 2018)

JT said:


> I'm using Sibelius 7.5. The Dolet plugin is what handles this conversion in all versions. Make sure you're using the most recent version of this plugin.



Ok thanks will do. I presumed you could export MusicXML files directly from the File menu in later versions rather than having to use a plugin.


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