TuxGuitar review
A broad free tab editor with strong format support, playback, and four-platform coverage.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
TuxGuitar is a free, open-source application for creating, editing, viewing, and playing multi-track guitar tablature. It is suited to guitarists, arrangers, students, and songwriters who want desktop or Android software for combining tablature with standard score notation. Fretboard and piano note entry, chord editing, instrument-track controls, and multi-track support give users several ways to build and refine arrangements.
Its strongest area is format and output coverage. TuxGuitar can import Guitar Pro, PowerTab, TablEdit, and MIDI files, then export to MIDI, audio, MusicXML, PDF, SVG, LilyPond, and ASCII formats. That makes it practical for moving arrangements between tab software, notation workflows, printable documents, and text-based formats. Plugin support extends the application to file formats and audio output, while playback uses MIDI-based sound output for reviewing parts.
The platform range includes Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, giving the product a wider device footprint than a desktop-only editor. Its open-source model and GNU Lesser General Public License also suit users who prefer freely available software with source-access characteristics. TuxGuitar is a strong choice when editing, playback, imports, exports, and multi-platform access matter most. Choose another tool if collaboration or audio recording is central to the workflow, since TuxGuitar’s published feature set centers on notation, tablature, MIDI playback, and file conversion.
TuxGuitar pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Multi-track editing with both standard notation and tablature views
- Imports Guitar Pro, PowerTab, TablEdit, and MIDI files
- Exports audio, MusicXML, PDF, SVG, LilyPond, and ASCII formats
- Where it doesn't
- Playback uses MIDI-based sound output rather than audio recording
- No collaboration features are listed
- The broad feature set stays focused on tablature and score editing
TuxGuitar fact sheet, pricing and score →
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