In a previous article, I wrote that Dorico’s file size is significantly larger than Finale and Sibelius. After that I have researched this more and have come to some conclusions and thoughts, so I would like to summarize them in this article.
[Table of Contents]
1. Understanding the phenomenon
2. Why Dorico’s file size is so large
3. How to minimize Dorico’s file size
(1) Select “Silence” as the Playback Template
(2) Cancel preview thumbnail generation
4. Background of the never-ending debate over Dorico’s file size
1. Understanding the phenomenon
First of all, to see how different the file sizes are specifically, let's take a look at the string quartet demo file “Bach Air.musx” stored in the following place if you have Finale installed.
/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 27/Music Files/Worksheets & Repertoire/Repertoire/Classical/Instrumental/Bach Air.musx
This “Bach Air.musx” is 112KB, but the .mxl file converted to MusicXML is 32KB, and the .sib file imported into Sibelius is 46KB.
On the other hand, if you import this .mxl file into Dorico, the .dorico file will be 1,576KB (≒1.6MB), about 14 times the size of the original .musx file.
Kind | File Size |
Finale（.musx） | 112KB |
MusicXML（.mxl） | 32KB |
Sibelius（.sib） | 46KB |
Dorico（.dorico） | 1,576KB |
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2. Why Dorico’s file size is so large
If you search for “Dorico File Size” on the Internet, you will find that this topic has been continuously discussed among users on the Steinberg Forums since around 2018.
Among them, one of the Dorico developers, who is thought to have also been involved in the development of Sibelius, left the following comment as the reason for the large file size of Dorico: *
The reason Dorico files are large is because they contain all the data necessary for playback.
For example, in the case of Sibelius, although I am not sure about recent versions, at least the original mechanism, all plugin data is stored in the playback configuration of the app, not in the project file. This means that you cannot change plugins in a specific project without affecting other projects, and the project will not play on another machine unless the same playback configuration is installed.
On the other hand, Dorico is designed like a DAW so that each project can have its own set of plugins, and since plugins save their internal data, even if you move a project to another machine, it will play in the same way as long as the same plugins are installed.
*Dorico was originally developed by engineers who were part of the Sibelius development team.
From this comment, it seems that Dorico's playback function may be designed more like a DAW than a music notation software. If that's the case, it makes sense that the project file size is closer to that of a DAW than Finale or Sibelius.
The majority of users in advisory positions on the Steinberg Forums seem to believe that file size is not something to worry about.
If the average Dorico file size is 5MB, and you have 500 of them, that's 2.5GB in total, and your computer's storage is 256GB, then the Dorico files will occupy about 1% of your computer's space. If you think about it that way, it seems safe to say that the size of Dorico files is inconsequential.
However, while that's true if you're simply saving them to storage, if you send or receive Dorico project files by email, or if you back them up to free cloud storage, which currently only has about 15GB of storage, then I guess the Dorico’s file size will become an issue.
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3. How to minimize Dorico’s file size
(1) Select “Silence” as the Playback Template
The Dorico user manual states that “The Silence playback template prevents Dorico Pro from loading sounds. This can make project files significantly smaller”.
The reason Dorico file sizes are large is because “it contains all the data necessary for playback”, but this is specifically because the playback templates loaded by default are “Iconica Sketch, HSO, HALion Sonic Sel., Olympus, GASE,” which are the most versatile (i.e. information-rich) playback templates.
The most effective way to reduce file size is to select this “Silence” as the playback template. This will result in no sound being heard when you click the playback button, but it will reduce the file size by about half.
In Dorico, you can specify the default playback template in the preferences, so the most effective way to reduce the file size is to specify “Silence” here and then manually select the playback template in the Apply Playback Template dialog box only for files that need playback.
The file size varies depending on the playback template used by the file. This is an example of “Bach Air.musx”, but all playback templates that include HSO (HALion Symphonic Orchestra) are large at 1.6MB.
Other playback templates are in the 800KB range, so if you specify a playback template that does not include HSO, the sound quality will be less realistic, but you can still play the sound during playback and keep the file size small, so if you use playback frequently, it may be a good idea to select one of these. *
*For example, when you select 09 Iconica Sketch, HALion Sonic Sel., or Olympus, the initial file size is 840KB, but when you load the high-quality sound source Iconica Sketch, the file size will increase up to about 1.3MB.
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(2) Cancel preview thumbnail generation
Although the change is not as dramatic as when you select the “Silence” playback template, you can save at least several hundred KB of space by simply unchecking “Generate preview thumbnails when saving” in the preferences.
In this case, thumbnails in the hub and previews in Quick Look on Mac will not be displayed.
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4. Background of the never-ending debate over Dorico’s file size
Looking at the electronic files we use on a daily basis, the smallest video files are 20-30MB or more, audio files are 5-10MB, and image files such as photos, Word, Excel, PDF, and other documents are 1-3MB in general.
For more than 30 years, it has been common knowledge that file sizes for music notation software such as Finale and Sibelius should be less than 1MB. So, while we can intuitively understand that videos, audio, and images are heavy, it is natural that many people cannot understand why music notation files become that heavy.
The never-ending debate over Dorico's large file sizes may be due to the fact that it is done to ensure playback functionality of music notation software.
This is because the question of whether music notation software needs playback functionality has also been a hotly debated topic for a long time.
・What do those who are against playback think?
In the first place, music notation software is a tool for writing scores for live performance, and basically there is no need for it to produce sound, and playback should only be used to check for mistakes by ear that are difficult to find with the eyes only.
Also, I have heard a professor at a music university saying something interesting. From the perspective of the final piece being completed by live performance, a good-sounding playback can actually hide the accurate sound, so when students check the sound with playback, sometimes it’s better to use a MIDI synthesized sound source instead of sample sound sources.
There are also scores that are created without using playback at all, and are simply printed out and brought to the site once completed. Examples of this include jazz lead sheets and music teaching materials.
As a Finale’s technical support staff, I have always felt that Finale has a large number of problems caused by audio functions such as playback, especially in the Windows version, and that this is a major cause of stress for users and a major obstacle to their creativity.
For users who have had stressful experiences with the playback function, a product that is specialized for music notation production with minimizing or eliminating the audio functions that are often a cause of problems, runs smoothly, and has fewer problems is probably one ideal music notation software.
Therefore, I think that there are cases when it is emotionally difficult to accept the increase in file size due to a playback function that is considered to be inessential, even if it is only a small amount and large-capacity storage for storing files is provided at low cost.
・What do those in favor of playback think?
On the other hand, it is also important to note that improved playback functions will be a major factor in the further use and spread of music notation software in the future.
With music notation software, even people who have not been trained to develop ears for music can easily write music while listening to the input sound. It will open the door for everyone to become more familiar with music notation, perceive music not only aurally but also visually, and learn music more deeply while looking at notation analytically.
This is something that is not found with paper sheet music or other music production software such as DAWs, and I think it is an important future possibility unique to music notation software.
From this perspective, there is also a strong voice from general users that if they are going to listen to playback, they want to listen to it with better sound. If you think about it a little deeply, you will understand that increasing the file size somewhat is technically necessary to listen to better sound.
In addition, inexpensive external sound sources such as NotePerformer are becoming more and more popular these days, enabling hassle-free, high-quality playback.
For this reason, even in professional music composition and arrangement, we hear of an increasing number of cases where mockups (reference audio sources to be played to clients before the final version is delivered) that previously required a lot of time and effort to be completed separately in a DAW are now being created entirely in music notation software easily.
I feel that music notation software that can consistently create sound sources and sheet music has the potential to be a great force in making music production more efficient in the future.
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There is no doubt that the balance between music notation and playback functions will be one of the key points in the development of music notation software in the future.
And fortunately, as mentioned above, Dorico currently provides a function for users to reduce file size through user settings, but it would be perfect if an option was provided to achieve file sizes on par with Finale or Sibelius in the future.
Music notation software is a tool for creative work, so it is not only required to be high-performance, but also to be designed so that as many users as possible can use it comfortably and without stress. This discussion seems to teach us the importance of looking at product development from that perspective.
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