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Music Symbols

Tap a note, accidental or clef to copy it. Each one shows its Unicode name and code point, and the page explains why 𝄞 sometimes shows as a box.

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content

Notes

The four note signs from the Miscellaneous Symbols block. They are well supported in common fonts.

Accidentals

Flat, natural and sharp signs for pitch. The sharp is easy to confuse with the number sign #.

Clefs and staff signs

From the Musical Symbols block, outside the basic plane. Many fonts lack them, so expect boxes in places.

Music emoji

Always drawn as colour pictures by the platform.

26 symbols on this page. Names are the official Unicode character names; "emoji" marks characters that often appear as colour pictures on phones.

The notes, and what they mean

The four note signs ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ sit together in the Miscellaneous Symbols block, at U+2669 to U+266C. Their names are plain: QUARTER NOTE, EIGHTH NOTE, BEAMED EIGHTH NOTES and BEAMED SIXTEENTH NOTES. A quarter note ♩ is a filled head with a stem. An eighth note ♪ adds a flag. ♫ joins two eighth notes with a beam, and ♬ joins two sixteenth notes with a double beam.

In everyday text they carry a looser meaning than in a score. ♪ means a tune or a hummed line, ♫ means music in general, and a pair of ♫ around a line marks lyrics, a convention that goes back to subtitles and captions where lyrics are framed by notes. You will see ♪ at the end of a status line or bio as a quick way to say “music person”.

Sharps, flats and naturals

The accidentals ♭ (MUSIC FLAT SIGN), ♮ (MUSIC NATURAL SIGN) and ♯ (MUSIC SHARP SIGN) are for writing note names such as B♭ or F♯. They are worth using properly, because the lookalikes cause trouble. ♯ is not the hash sign #, and ♭ is not the letter b. Search engines, spell checkers and screen readers treat each as a different character, so “B♭ major” and “Bb major” may not match each other. For a score or a lesson, use the real sign. For a quick message where the reader will understand, a plain b or # is common and fine.

Clefs and staff symbols

The treble clef 𝄞 (G CLEF), the bass clef 𝄢 (F CLEF) and the alto clef 𝄡 (C CLEF) come from the Musical Symbols block (U+1D100 to U+1D1FF), which was added in Unicode 3.1. Those code points are in a supplementary plane, and fonts lag behind. Many everyday system fonts do not include them. Where a fallback font is installed, you will see a clean clef. Elsewhere you see an empty box. Repeat signs 𝄆 and 𝄇, and the fermata 𝄐, are in the same block with the same limitation.

Character Code point Name Font risk
♪ U+266A EIGHTH NOTE Low
♫ U+266B BEAMED EIGHTH NOTES Low
♯ U+266F MUSIC SHARP SIGN Low
𝄞 U+1D11E MUSICAL SYMBOL G CLEF High
𝄢 U+1D122 MUSICAL SYMBOL F CLEF High

If you need a clef that everyone sees, use an image or an inline SVG, not text. If it is a casual decoration and a few people seeing a box is acceptable, the text character is fine.

Text and emoji

The coloured music emoji in the last group are pictures. 🎵 and 🎶 are the emoji equivalents of notes, and the instrument emoji such as 🎸 and 🎹 have no text form at all. Unlike hearts, none of the plain notes ♪ ♫ has a default emoji look on current systems, so they stay in your text colour in most apps. If an app does swap them, adding the invisible variation selector U+FE0E after the character requests the text form, though some apps ignore it.

Where music symbols work

  • Bios and names. ♪ and ♫ are among the most common bio decorations. Rules differ by platform and change, so check after saving. We list what we have documented for Instagram and TikTok.
  • Subtitles and captions. ♪ is widely used to mark song lyrics. Check your caption tool for how it treats the character.
  • Documents. The notes and accidentals work in Word and Google Docs with ordinary fonts. Clefs may need a music-capable font installed.
  • Websites. Use ♪ for ♪ or paste the character in a UTF-8 page. For notation, use a proper engraving library, not Unicode.

How to type music symbols

  1. Windows Alt codes. With Num Lock on, hold Alt and type 13 on the keypad for ♪, or 14 for ♫. These come from the DOS character set. They work in many classic apps, not all current ones.
  2. Word on Windows. Type 266F and press Alt then X for ♯. Use 266D for ♭ and 266E for ♮. For the treble clef, type 1D11E and press Alt then X.
  3. Mac. Open the viewer with Control, Command and Space, search “music”, then pick from the results.
  4. iPhone and Android. The emoji keyboard has 🎵 and 🎶. Plain notes usually need a third-party keyboard or copying from this page.
  5. Text replacement. Set a shortcut like “note” that expands to ♪ on iOS or macOS.

Accessibility

Screen readers announce each music symbol by name. ♪ is read as “eighth note”, ♫ as “beamed eighth notes”, and 𝄞 as “musical symbol G clef”, though wording varies between NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver and TalkBack. A lyric bracketed by ♫ on both sides adds two announcements, which is acceptable once but tiring in a long caption. Do not use notes where a word is needed, and keep rows of notes short. The fancy text accessibility guide explains how symbols and styled letters affect assistive technology.

Combining with other symbols

Notes pair with stars and hearts in playlist names and bios. The star symbols and heart symbols pages carry the shapes people usually add, and the text decorator can frame a name with notes automatically.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Alt code for the music note symbol?
On Windows with a numeric keypad, hold Alt and type 13 for ♪ or 14 for ♫. These come from the old DOS character set, so they work in many classic programs but not all modern apps. There are no Alt codes for ♭ ♮ ♯ or the clefs; use Alt+X in Word or copy them from here.
Why does the treble clef 𝄞 show as a box?
𝄞 (U+1D11E) lives in the Musical Symbols block outside the Basic Multilingual Plane, and many default fonts do not include it. Windows and Android often need a font such as Noto Music or Segoe UI Symbol. If the recipient lacks one, they see an empty box. Notes ♪ and ♫ are far safer.
Is the ♯ sharp sign the same as the # hash?
No. ♯ (U+266F, MUSIC SHARP SIGN) is a music character with two vertical and two slanted lines. # (U+0023, NUMBER SIGN) is the keyboard hash with the slant the other way. People type # for sharps in plain text, but screen readers and search treat the two as different characters.
Can I use music notes in usernames?
The common notes ♪ and ♫ are normal Unicode characters and are generally accepted in bios and display names, but each platform sets its own rules and can change them. Always test in the field. The Instagram fonts page records what we have documented.
How do I type a music note on a phone?
On iPhone and Android, the emoji keyboard has 🎵 and 🎶, which are colour emoji. For the plain text notes ♪ and ♫, copy them from this page or add a text replacement shortcut. Third-party keyboards often have them under symbols.

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