Unsupported files

Stab opens its own songs (.stab) and brings in Guitar Pro, MIDI, MusicXML, iReal Pro charts, PDFs and pictures of printed music, and recordings to start a song around. The full list, with the extensions each one uses, is in File formats. When a file can’t be read, Stab says so in a message titled with the file’s name, and gives one reason, with two buttons: Close, and Choose Another File… to pick another. This page goes through the reasons.

A file won’t open

Available on every platform.

Stab goes by the extension

Stab decides what a file is from the end of its name: .gp5 is read as Guitar Pro, .mid as MIDI, .musicxml as MusicXML, and so on. A file with no extension, or the wrong one, is read as the wrong thing, or not at all: “The file can’t be read.” Rename it with the right extension and open it again.

A Stab song

The title reads “Couldn’t open …”, and the reason is one of:

“It isn’t a Stab project.” The file ends in .stab but isn’t one, or it was cut short (an unfinished download or copy). Get it again from where it came from.
“It was saved by a newer version of Stab.” Update Stab on this device; see Editions and updates.
“The file is damaged.” See Damaged songs. A song that’s only partly damaged opens, repaired, rather than showing this.

A track made with a newer version of Stab

A song made with a newer version of Stab can hold a kind of track this version doesn’t have yet. The song opens all the same, and that track is kept as it is: it isn’t shown or played here, and saving the song, on this device or in Stab Cloud, keeps it whole for the devices that have the newer Stab.

When the song opens, a note in the corner says so: “1 track made with a newer version of Stab · Kept, not shown or played”, with Update Stab. It stays until you close it with its ×, or swipe it away on a phone. It’s shown once per song on each device, and again only if the song gains another such track.

Update Stab opens Check for Updates… on a Mac or a PC. On the web, Stab is always the newest, so the note only appears in a tab left open across an update; its button is Reload, which saves the song and loads the newest Stab.
Press the note’s words, or the row that stays at the foot of the Editor’s track list once the note is gone, to see each track by name and where it was. For a song in Stab Cloud, Open in Web App opens it whole in the web app, even before you update Stab on this device.
Exports (audio, Guitar Pro, MusicXML, MIDI, PDF) go without the track, and the Export sheet says so under Not in this file. A copy of the song (.stab) keeps it.

Guitar Pro, MIDI and MusicXML

The title reads “Couldn’t import …”.

“It isn’t a Guitar Pro file.”, “It isn’t a MIDI file.” or “It isn’t a MusicXML score.” The file isn’t what its extension says. A .xml file, in particular, can be any kind of XML.
“This Guitar Pro version isn’t supported.” Stab reads Guitar Pro 3 to 8. Open an older file in Guitar Pro (or another app that reads it) and save it in a newer format, such as .gp5.
“It uses SMPTE timing or MIDI format 2, which Stab doesn’t read.” Convert it to a standard MIDI file (format 0 or 1) in a sequencer or notation app first.
“It’s a timewise MusicXML score, or a compressed one with no score inside: save it as a partwise score.” Export it again from the app that made it as ordinary (partwise) MusicXML.
“It has no notes.” The file holds nothing Stab can write as notes, such as a file of tempo and markers only.

A file from an app Stab doesn’t read, such as a MuseScore or Sibelius score, comes in by exporting it from that app as MusicXML, or as MIDI. See MusicXML.

PDFs and pictures

The title reads “Couldn’t read …” for a PDF and “Couldn’t open …” for a picture.

“It isn’t a PDF that can be opened (or it’s locked with a password).” Remove the password in the app that made it, or print it to a new PDF.
“Its pages are pictures (a scan or photos), and those aren’t read in the browser.” The PDF is a scan rather than printed from a notation app; Stab on a Mac, a PC, an iPhone, an iPad or Android reads it.“Its pages are pictures (a scan or photos): reading them needs the Read Music model…” Stab comes with the model, and this copy doesn’t have it: install Stab again from where you got it. See Scanned PDFs.
“No music was found on its pages: staves with notes or TAB.”
“PDFs can’t be read in this version of Stab.”
“It isn’t a picture Stab can read (PNG, JPEG, HEIC…), or it’s damaged.” Save the picture again as PNG or JPEG.

See PDFs for what reads well.

iReal Pro

“It holds no iReal Pro chart (an irealb:// link), or its chart can’t be read.” The page doesn’t carry a chart. Export the chart from iReal Pro again, as described in iReal Pro.

It opened, but something is missing

An import can succeed and still leave things out. Stab then says what, once the song is open:

MIDI: “Imported … notes on … tracks”, with how many notes were moved by octaves to fit the instrument, or left out (“chords wider than the strings, or drum sounds the kit doesn’t have”).
Guitar Pro: “Imported … tracks, … bars”, with how many notes were left out: “drum sounds the kit doesn’t have (hand percussion), or frets no string can reach.”

The rest of the song is there to edit. See Guitar Pro and MIDI files for how each is brought in.