Privacy & Legal

Orfeo is free, open-source software made by SquareBow in Slovenia (EU). We collect as little as possible: the app collects nothing at all, and this website uses analytics only if you agree. This page covers the website, cookies, the Orfeo app, and the MIDI files you use with it. Questions or requests: [email protected].

Last updated: 3 October 2026

What we collect

  • Visiting the site. Our web host and Cloudflare process your IP address and browser details to deliver pages and keep the site safe from attacks. We don’t use them to identify you.
  • Analytics. Only if you allow it in the cookie banner, Google Analytics counts visits and the pages viewed. See the Cookies tab.
  • Contact form. Your name, email, subject and message, plus your IP address for spam protection. They are stored on this website and delivered to us by email through Brevo. We use them only to answer you and keep them only as long as we need to.
  • Documentation. The docs count page views, reactions and search terms, without anything that identifies you.
  • There are no user accounts and no comments on this site, and we never sell or share your data for advertising.

Who processes it

  • Hetzner: hosts the website.
  • Cloudflare: delivers the site faster and protects it.
  • Google: Analytics, only with your consent.
  • Brevo: sends the contact form emails.
  • GitHub: hosts the Orfeo downloads, source code and issue tracker.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you can ask to see, correct or delete your data, restrict or object to its use, receive it in a portable form, and withdraw your consent at any time. Write to [email protected]. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia.

Content and links

  • The text, images and documentation on orfeo.cc are © SquareBow. You’re welcome to quote and link to them; please ask before republishing them.
  • Links to other websites, such as the MIDI download sites in the docs, open in a new window. Those sites have their own terms and privacy policies, and we’re not responsible for them.
  • We keep the documentation as accurate as we can, but it’s provided as is, without guarantees.

Cookies

The site sets only the cookie it strictly needs until you choose otherwise in the cookie banner.

  • Necessary, always on.fazcookie-consent remembers your cookie choice, for 6 months.
  • Analytics, only with your consent. Google Analytics sets _ga and _ga_BWHRRV6QQV, for up to 2 years, to count visits. Google Consent Mode keeps Analytics switched off until you agree.
  • The website uses system fonts from your OS, so loading a page sends nothing to Google Fonts.
  • No advertising or marketing cookies, and no tracking across other websites.

Change or withdraw your choice at any time with the cookie icon in the footer. You can also delete cookies in your browser settings.

Privacy

  • No account, no login, no telemetry and no ads. Your MIDI files are opened and processed on your computer only, and are never uploaded anywhere.
  • Your settings, favourites, kept tap tempos and downloaded soundfonts stay in Orfeo’s folder on your computer. See Where your data lives.
  • Orfeo goes online only when it checks GitHub for updates (see Updating Orfeo), when you download an optional extra soundfont from its source, and when you click a link, which opens in your browser.

License

  • Orfeo is free and open source under the GNU General Public License v3. You may use, study, share and change it; a changed version you distribute must stay under the same license. Full text: LICENSE.md.
  • It comes without any warranty, as the license states.
  • One exception: the GSAP animation library has its own free, but not open-source, license. LICENSE.md adds a permission that allows Orfeo to use it.

Third-party software

  • Orfeo is built on open-source packages under the MIT, ISC, Apache-2.0, BSD and other licenses. THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md lists each one with its copyright notice.
  • The included GeneralUser GS soundfont is by S. Christian Collins, under its own license. Extra soundfonts you download keep their authors’ licenses.

Copyright

  • Your files stay yours. Orfeo claims no rights in the MIDI files you open, edit or save, and never sends them anywhere.
  • Originals are never changed. Edits are saved as new versions in an Orfeo folder next to the original, with a short edit history written inside them that other programs ignore. See How saving works.
  • Copyright still applies. MIDI files of copyrighted music are still copyrighted. Downloading them for your own practice is generally fine; sharing them or using them commercially needs a licence from the rights holder. Music in the public domain, which mostly means works by composers who died before 1955, is free to use.
  • You decide what you open. You’re responsible for having the right to use the files you play and edit. We don’t host or distribute MIDI files, apart from the three demo songs, which are arrangements of public-domain works by Mozart, Scott Joplin and Vivaldi.
  • Download sites are independent. The sites listed in Where to find MIDI files have their own terms; check them before you download.

Code signing policy

Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation*

*APLICATION PENDING

Orfeo’s Windows releases are built and published through the project’s automated GitHub release workflow. The workflow also updates the download page on orfeo.cc with the latest release versions and download links.

Once SignPath Foundation approves the project and code signing is operational, eligible Windows release binaries will be signed through SignPath.io. Until then, Windows releases remain unsigned, and Windows may display a Microsoft Defender SmartScreen warning.

If you are uncomfortable with that you can download and install code-signed Orfeo from Microsoft Store.

Only binaries built from Orfeo’s own source code in the Squarebow/Orfeo repository, using the official automated release workflow, are eligible for signing. Every signing request must be approved manually.

Team roles

Aleš is responsible for maintaining the source code and release workflow, reviewing changes, and approving each signing request.

Privacy

Orfeo will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it.

Orfeo collects no data and has no accounts, ads or tracking. It connects to other systems only to check GitHub for a newer version (installer version), to download an optional soundfont when you ask for one, and to open links you click.

See the Privacy tab for details.