Introduction

IEEE 1599-2008 is an XML-based format aimed at a comprehensive description of music information. This format has been mainly developed at LIM (Laboratorio di Informatica Musicale - Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione - Università degli Studi di Milano). The work has been endorsed by the international research program Intelligent Manufacturing Systems and financially supported by the Commission for Technological Innovation of the Swiss Federal Government through the University for Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, SUPSI.

The outcoming format is a response to IEEE Project Approval Request 1599 (P1599) - "Definition of a Commonly Acceptable Musical Application using the XML Language". This recommended practice is aimed at developing an XML-based application which defines a standard language for symbolic music representation. The language is a meta-representation of music information to describe, link and synchronize music information within a multi-layered environment. The purpose is achieving integration among symbolic, structural, notational, computer performance, and digital sound levels of representation. Furthermore, the proposed standard should integrate music representation with already defined and accepted common standards. This standard should be supported by any kind of software dealing with music information, e.g. applications for score editing, Optical Music Recognition (OMR), music performance, multimedia databases, computer-aided composition and musicological research.

Since September 2008, the format known as IEEE 1599-2008 is an international standard.