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Notation Interchange File Format

Notation Interchange File Format (NIFF) is a music notation file format used primarily for transferring music notation between different scorewriters. The specification was released in August 1995, enabling an exchange of music between various scanning / Optical music recognition, editing and typesetting programs. The NIFF format itself is based upon RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format), a file structure provided by Microsoft, in which data is divided into Lists, Chunks and Tags. Almost all data in a NIFF file are optional. The level of detail contained can range from just the pitch and timing (akin to MIDI) to a precise page layout, embedded graphics and embedded MIDI information. Though detailed and comprehensive, the standard never really caught on except for limited interchange between Optical music recognition software and score writing software. Three of the Optical music recognition programs in widespread use – PhotoScore, SharpEye, and SmartScore – export NIFF files. NIFF is now considered obsolete mainly due to the MusicXML format. As of February 2006 the NIFF project web site has been closed. The NIFF SDK is available at The NIFF SDK Archive for educational usage.

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Article summary

Notation Interchange File Format (NIFF) is a music notation file format used primarily for transferring music notation between different scorewriters. The specification was released in August 1995, enabling an exchange of music between various scanning / Optical music recognition, editing and typesetting programs. The NIFF format itself is based upon RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format), a file structure provided by Microsoft, in which data is divided into Lists, Chunks and Tags. Almost all data in a NIFF file are optional. The level of detail contained can range from just the pitch and timing (akin to MIDI) to a precise page layout, embedded graphics and embedded MIDI information. Though detailed and comprehensive, the standard never really caught on except for limited interchange between Optical music recognition software and score writing software. Three of the Optical music recognition programs in widespread use – PhotoScore, SharpEye, and SmartScore – export NIFF files. NIFF is now considered obsolete mainly due to the MusicXML format. As of February 2006 the NIFF project web site has been closed. The NIFF SDK is available at The NIFF SDK Archive for educational usage.

Key claims

  1. release date: 1995 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "1995". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1346828267

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.