Where apps hide your files

Finding your MuseScore files

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

MuseScore 4 saves where you tell it, and its safety copies sit next to the score, one of them hidden. This covers the default folder, how to check your own, and where to look after a crash.

The default scores folder

MuseScore 4 (called MuseScore Studio from version 4.4) suggests this folder when you save a new score:

~/Documents/MuseScore4/Scores

The name has stayed MuseScore4 through the rename. MuseScore's source code builds the default from your Documents folder, the app's internal name MuseScore4 and Scores; templates go to ~/Documents/MuseScore4/Templates the same way. You can change the scores folder, so check yours in the app: open Preferences from the app menu or with ⌘,, then choose the Folders page, which sets the default folders for scores, style files, templates, plugins and soundfonts.

Open the folder from Terminal with:

open ~/Documents/MuseScore4

If it does not exist, you may have saved elsewhere, or to the cloud (see below).

Saved to the cloud or to your computer

MuseScore 4 can ask where to save a new score: on your computer, or online to your musescore.com account. A score saved to the cloud is not in your scores folder; recent versions keep a working copy at ~/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4/cloud_scores, named by score number, and early 4.x releases used a Cloud Scores folder inside ~/Documents/MuseScore4. If a score seems missing, check both the computer and the cloud before looking on disk. Scores on disk are single files ending in .mscz.

Autosave and backup files

This is where MuseScore 4 differs from MuseScore 3. In MuseScore 4's source code:

• the autosave has the score's file name with .autosave added (for example Sonata.mscz.autosave) and sits in the same folder as the score. It exists for crash recovery and is removed once your changes are saved or discarded;
• a score you have never saved is autosaved as new_project.mscz in ~/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4;
• the backup is made each time you save: before writing, MuseScore copies the version already on disk into a hidden .mscbackup folder next to the score, as .Sonata.mscz~. So the backup is always the previous save. The option behind it, "Create backup of file on disk before saving new changes", is on by default.

Autosave is also on by default. The interval is set by Auto save every on the Save & publish page of the preferences (the General page in 4.0); recent versions default to 5 minutes.

Names that begin with a dot are hidden in Finder. Press ⇧⌘. (Shift, Command, full stop) in a Finder window or an Open dialog to show them, and press it again to hide them. In Terminal, list the folder with hidden entries:

ls -la ~/Documents/MuseScore4/Scores

Restoring from a backup or autosave

1. Quit MuseScore if it is open and unresponsive.
2. In Finder, show hidden files in your score's folder.
3. Look for the .autosave copy (after a crash) or the .mscbackup folder (the previous save).
4. Copy the file you need to the Desktop. Never work on the original inside the hidden folder.
5. Open the copy in MuseScore. The Open dialog has a file type for MuseScore backup files (*.mscz~); or rename the copy to end in .mscz. Then use File > Save As to give it a proper name.

Keep the recovered copy and the original side by side until you have checked the music bar by bar. An autosave is a snapshot from the last interval, and a backup is the save before your latest one, so they can differ from each other and from what you remember writing.

What else MuseScore stores

The program's own settings, the recent files list and cloud copies are in ~/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4, separate from your scores. Extra folders you may see beside Scores in ~/Documents/MuseScore4 match the Folders preferences, such as templates, styles, plugins and soundfonts. Check exactly which exist with:

ls ~/Documents/MuseScore4

Custom soundfonts can take a lot of space. To see sizes:

du -sh ~/Documents/MuseScore4/*

Backing up and moving

The simplest backup is the Scores folder itself: copy it to an external drive, or keep it in a synced folder. On a new Mac, install MuseScore, copy your scores across, and point the Folders page at them if you used a different place. Time Machine includes hidden .mscbackup folders, so a restore brings those back too.

Why searching fails

The .autosave files and .mscbackup folders are hidden, and the score's file name is whatever was typed when saving, often "Untitled". Spotlight and Finder searches do not show hidden files, and anything in ~/Library is left out too.

Finding a lost score

Type .mscz into Everywhere to list every MuseScore file on the Mac in one go, or autosave or mscbackup to see the recovery copies Finder hides. Documents is a protected folder, so Everywhere covers your scores once it has Full Disk Access, which it asks for during setup. It looks at file names, not the notes in a score, so search by the name you gave it. Press ⌘↵ to reveal a result in Finder.

Common questions

Where does MuseScore 4 save scores on a Mac?

By default in ~/Documents/MuseScore4/Scores, a name kept after the rename to MuseScore Studio. The Folders page of the preferences shows and changes your own setting.

Where is the MuseScore 4 autosave file?

Next to the score, with the same file name plus .autosave. A score that was never saved is autosaved as new_project.mscz in ~/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4.

Where are MuseScore 4 backups?

In a hidden .mscbackup folder next to the score, holding the previous save as .<name>.mscz~. Press Shift, Command and full stop in Finder to show hidden items.

Why can't I find my MuseScore score?

It may have been saved to your musescore.com account instead of the computer, or to a different folder. Check both, or search for the .mscz extension.