What is the ABC file format?
.abc files are plain-text music notation files based on ABC notation, an ASCII shorthand for describing melodies, rhythms, lyrics and basic harmony. The format was devised by Chris Walshaw in 1991 and later formalized as the ABC notation standard 2.1 (published 2011).
A tune is written using regular letters as note names: uppercase A through G for pitches below middle C, lowercase a through g for the octave above. Rhythm, bar lines, ties, ornaments and chords are expressed with surrounding punctuation and symbols. Each tune begins with a block of information fields - X: (tune number), T: (title), M: (meter), L: (default note length) and K: (key) - followed by the note body. A single .abc file can hold an entire tune book of many numbered tunes.
Because .abc is plain ASCII text, files are tiny (typically under 1 KB per tune) and editable in any text editor. Dedicated tools render them to sheet music or convert them to MIDI (via abc2midi). Applications such as EasyABC and MuseScore import .abc for notation editing. The format is especially popular for sharing Irish, Scottish and other traditional folk tunes online.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWAn .abc file is plain text - there is no executable code in it, so it is safe to open and read in any text editor. The only minor caution is the usual one for downloaded files: an .abc with this extension could occasionally be a mislabeled binary from an unrelated program (e.g. an old Micrografx FlowCharter chart). If a 'tune' file doesn't start with text header fields like X: and T:, it isn't ABC music notation.
Format details
in a nutshell- Micrografx ABC FlowCharter file - Older Micrografx ABC FlowCharter (later Corel/iGrafx) diagramming app saved charts as .abc - a binary diagram, unrelated to music.
- CorelDRAW / Corel binary export - Some Corel and legacy graphics tools used .abc for binary drawing/animation data; not music notation.
Programs that open ABC files
Windows3 apps
MuseScore
Open-source Import the .abc (File > Import) to edit it as a full score and export sheet music, MIDI or MP3. 
EasyABC
Open-source Open the .abc to see the rendered score; the editor shows notation and source side by side and plays the tune. Best dedicated ABC tool.
Any text editor (Notepad++ / VS Code)
Open-source Open to read or edit the raw ABC source - it's plain text. 
macOS2 apps
Linux3 apps
abcm2ps / abc2midi (command line)
Open-source Run 'abcm2ps tune.abc -O out.ps' for sheet music or 'abc2midi tune.abc' for a MIDI file.
abcjs-based players (e.g. abcnotation.com tune search)
Free Paste the ABC text into an online renderer to see the score and play it back instantly - no install. Technical details
deep spec| Format type | Plain-text music notation (ABC notation standard) |
| Encoding | ASCII; UTF-8 permitted in ABC standard 2.1 for lyrics and text fields |
| Typical file size | Under 1 KB per tune; a tune book of many tunes is typically a few KB to tens of KB |
| Standard version | ABC notation 2.1 (2011); declared with optional %abc-2.1 version header line |
| Tune header fields | X: (reference number), T: (title), M: (meter), L: (default note length), K: (key) - K: is the last header line before the note body |
| Note encoding | Letters A-G and a-g for pitch; surrounding symbols encode duration, bar lines, ties and ornaments |
| Multi-tune support | A single file can contain a complete tune book with many individually numbered tunes |
| Sheet music rendering | abcm2ps generates PostScript, SVG or PDF output; EasyABC provides a GUI front-end |
| MIDI output | abc2midi converts ABC notation to .mid files for playback |
| Platform | Any platform - plain text; web players, desktop apps and CLI tools available on all major OSes |
| Standard creator | Chris Walshaw (devised 1991 at University of Greenwich); maintained at abcnotation.com |
| Released | 1991 (ABC notation by Chris Walshaw); ABC 2.1 standard published 2011 |
| Latest version | ABC notation standard 2.1 (2011) |
| Open standard | Yes · royalty-free |
| Specification | abcnotation.com |
ABC conversions
Community Q&A
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