These days, more and more musicians are looking to download sheet music online; from the musician wishing to consult the original manuscript, to the teacher in need of an arrangement, to the composer in search of inspiration. In short, these online resources - now in the public domain - are extremely valuable.

IMSLP: The world's largest library of royalty-free sheet music

IMSLP is one of the largest and most recognized online platforms for royalty-free sheet music. The project dates back to 2006, and brings together almost 370,000 scores for over 110,000 different works, written by 14,000 composers worldwide. IMSLP's main advantage is its incredible range of orchestral scores.

MUSOPEN : free sheet music

Musopen is another free platform for royalty-free music. Unlike IMSLP, Musopen generally offers only one edition per work, and therefore a smaller library. The platform also includes orchestral pieces, although it is generally not possible to retrieve individual instrumental parts.

MUTOPIA: Copied sheet music for everyone

Mutopia was created in 2000, with a library of over 2,000 free pieces. All scores are computerized, not scanned, and are therefore high-quality PDFs. However, it is impossible to obtain the original edition. This platform focuses on classical music, with a small selection of Jazz, Pop and Folk scores.

NMA Online: Mozart scores online

The digital version of Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (NMA) aims to make Mozart's compositions easily accessible to the public, whether for teaching or personal use. It features musical texts and critical commentaries by Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (New Mozart Edition). As the printed editions are published by Bärenreiter-Verlag, the quality of the scores is excellent. However, as with Mutopia, the separate parts are not included.

ChoralWiki: Choral score library

This choralcreated in 1998, offers a wide selection of PDF scores for voice and choir, as well as texts, translations and other useful information for performers.

Free-scores: Free online arrangements

Free-scores.com is a platform offering mainly transcriptions and arrangements of famous pieces by contemporary composers. In terms of classical music, Free-scores is especially useful for beginners or teachers looking for simplified versions of well-known classical works. Fortunately, many platforms understand the importance of making free sheet music accessible, especially when it comes to classical pieces that are in the public domain. So before you buy a hard copy or spend hours in a library, take a minute to check whether the score you're looking for can be found online.