Supported Formats

Ratings legend and definitions

You can sort this table by clicking on any of the headings.

Format Extensions _images/header-pixels.png _images/header-metadata.png _images/header-openness.png _images/header-presence.png _images/header-utility.png _images/header-export.png BSD Multiple Images Pyramid
3i SlideBook .sld 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Andor Bio-Imaging Division (ABD) TIFF .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
AIM .aim 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Alicona 3D .al3d 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 3 - Good No No No No
Amersham Biosciences Gel .gel 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Amira Mesh .am, .amiramesh, .grey, .hx, .labels 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Amnis FlowSight .cif 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No Yes Yes No
Analyze 7.5 .img, .hdr 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No No No
Andor SIF .sif 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Animated PNG .png 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 3 - Good 1 - Poor Yes Yes No No
Aperio AFI .afi, .svs 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No Yes Yes
Aperio SVS TIFF .svs 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No Yes Yes
Applied Precision CellWorX .htd, .pnl 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes No
AVI (Audio Video Interleave) .avi 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor Yes Yes No No
Axon Raw Format .arf 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
BD Pathway .exp, .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
Becker & Hickl SPC FIFO .spc 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Becker & Hickl SPCImage .sdt 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Bio-Rad Gel .1sc 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Bio-Rad PIC .pic, .raw, .xml 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good No No No No
Bio-Rad SCN .scn 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Bitplane Imaris .ims 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes Yes
Bruker MRI   3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Burleigh .img 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Canon DNG .cr2, .crw 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
CellH5 .ch5 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 4 - Very Good Yes No Yes No
Cellomics .c01, .dib 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No Yes No
cellSens VSI .vsi 2 - Fair 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes Yes
CellVoyager .xml, .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
DeltaVision .dv, .r3d 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No Yes No
DICOM .dcm, .dicom 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No Yes Yes No
ECAT7 .v 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) .eps, .epsi, .ps 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor Yes Yes No No
Evotec/PerkinElmer Opera Flex .flex, .mea, .res 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No Yes No
FEI .img 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
FEI TIFF .tiff 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) .fits 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No Yes No No
Gatan Digital Micrograph .dm3, .dm4 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Gatan Digital Micrograph 2 .dm2 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No No No
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) .gif 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor No Yes No No
Hamamatsu Aquacosmos NAF .naf 3 - Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Hamamatsu HIS .his 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Hamamatsu ndpi .ndpi, .ndpis 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes Yes
Hamamatsu VMS .vms 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Hitachi S-4800 .txt, .tif, .bmp, .jpg 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
I2I .i2i 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
ICS (Image Cytometry Standard) .ics, .ids 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good Yes Yes No No
Imacon .fff 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 3 - Good No No Yes No
ImagePro Sequence .seq 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
ImagePro Workspace .ipw 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No No No
IMAGIC .hed, .img 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No No No
IMOD .mod 3 - Good 3 - Good 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Improvision Openlab LIFF .liff 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Improvision Openlab Raw .raw 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Improvision TIFF .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No No No
Imspector OBF .obf, .msr 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No Yes Yes No
InCell 1000/2000 .xdce, .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
InCell 3000 .frm 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor No No No No
INR .inr 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Inveon .hdr 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Ionpath MIBI .tif, .tiff 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
IPLab .ipl 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
IVision .ipm 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
JEOL .dat, .img, .par 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
JPEG .jpg 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor Yes Yes No No
JPEG 2000 .jp2 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 3 - Good 1 - Poor Yes Yes Yes Yes
JPK .jpk 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes No
JPX .jpx 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Khoros VIFF (Visualization Image File Format) Bitmap .xv 3 - Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No No No
Kodak BIP .bip 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Lambert Instruments FLIM .fli 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
LaVision Imspector .msr 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Leica LCS LEI .lei, .tif 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good No No Yes No
Leica LAS AF LIF (Leica Image File Format) .lif 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 4 - Very Good No No Yes No
Leica SCN .scn 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes Yes
LEO .sxm 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Li-Cor L2D .l2d, .tif, .scn 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No Yes No
LIM (Laboratory Imaging/Nikon) .lim 3 - Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No No No
MetaMorph 7.5 TIFF .tiff 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
MetaMorph Stack (STK) .stk, .nd 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good No No No No
MIAS (Maia Scientific) .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No Yes No
Micro-Manager .tif, .txt, .xml 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 3 - Good No Yes Yes No
MINC MRI .mnc 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No No No
Minolta MRW .mrw 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
MNG (Multiple-image Network Graphics) .mng 3 - Good 3 - Good 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 1 - Poor No Yes Yes No
Molecular Imaging .stp 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
MRC (Medical Research Council) .mrc 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No No No
NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) .nef, .tif 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No No No
NIfTI .img, .hdr, .nii, .nii.gz 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No No No
Nikon Elements TIFF .tiff 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Nikon EZ-C1 TIFF .tiff 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Nikon NIS-Elements ND2 .nd2 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good No No Yes No
NRRD (Nearly Raw Raster Data) .nrrd, .nhdr, .raw, .txt 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 4 - Very Good No Yes No No
Olympus CellR/APL .apl, .mtb, .tnb, .tif, .obsep 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Olympus FluoView FV1000 .oib, .oif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 4 - Very Good No No Yes No
Olympus FluoView TIFF .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No Yes No
Olympus OIR .oir 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Olympus ScanR .xml, .dat, .tif 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Olympus SIS TIFF .tiff 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No No No
OME-TIFF .ome.tiff, .ome.tif, .ome.tf2, .ome.tf8, .ome.btf 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 5 - Outstanding Yes Yes Yes No
OME-XML .ome, .ome.xml 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 5 - Outstanding Yes Yes Yes No
OMERO Pyramid   5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No Yes Yes Yes
Oxford Instruments .top 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
PCORAW .pcoraw, .rec 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No No No
PCX (PC Paintbrush) .pcx 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No Yes No No
Perkin Elmer Densitometer .pds 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
PerkinElmer Columbus .xml, .csv, .tif 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No Yes No
PerkinElmer Nuance .im3 3 - Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No Yes Yes No
PerkinElmer Operetta .tiff, .xml 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
PerkinElmer UltraVIEW .tif, .2, .3, .4, etc. 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
PerkinElmer Vectra QPTIFF .tif, .qptiff 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Portable Any Map .pbm, .pgm, .ppm 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 3 - Good 1 - Poor No Yes No No
Adobe Photoshop PSD .psd 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair No No No No
Photoshop TIFF .tif, .tiff 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No Yes No
PicoQuant Bin .bin 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor No No No No
PICT (Macintosh Picture) .pict 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor No Yes No No
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) .png 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor Yes Yes No No
Prairie Technologies TIFF .tif, .xml, .cfg 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
Princeton Instruments SPE .spe 3 - Good 3 - Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes No
Quesant .afm 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
QuickTime Movie .mov 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor Yes Yes No No
RHK .sm2, .sm3 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
SBIG   4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Seiko .xqd, .xqf 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
SimplePCI & HCImage .cxd 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
SimplePCI & HCImage TIFF .tiff 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No No No
SM Camera   3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
SPIDER .spi, .stk 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 3 - Good 3 - Good No No No No
Targa .tga 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 1 - Poor No No No No
Text .txt 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor No Yes No No
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) .tiff, .tif, .tf2, .tf8, .btf 4 - Very Good 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 2 - Fair Yes Yes Yes Yes
TillPhotonics TillVision .vws 3 - Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Topometrix .tfr, .ffr, .zfr, .zfp, .2fl 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Trestle .tif, .sld, .jpg 3 - Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes Yes
UBM .pr3 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Unisoku .dat, .hdr 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Varian FDF .fdf 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Veeco AFM .hdf 3 - Good 3 - Good 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No No No
VG SAM .dti 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
VisiTech XYS .xys, .html 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 3 - Good No No Yes No
Volocity .mvd2 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Volocity Library Clipping .acff 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 1 - Poor 1 - Poor No No No No
WA-TOP .wat 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No No No
Windows Bitmap .bmp 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair 5 - Outstanding 1 - Poor No Yes No No
Woolz .wlz 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 1 - Poor 2 - Fair Yes No No No
Zeiss Axio CSM .lms 3 - Good 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 1 - Poor 2 - Fair No No No No
Zeiss AxioVision TIFF .xml, .tif 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 2 - Fair No No Yes No
Zeiss AxioVision ZVI (Zeiss Vision Image) .zvi 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 3 - Good No No No No
Zeiss CZI .czi 5 - Outstanding 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 2 - Fair 3 - Good No No Yes Yes
Zeiss LSM (Laser Scanning Microscope) 510/710 .lsm, .mdb 5 - Outstanding 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 4 - Very Good 3 - Good No No Yes No

Bio-Formats currently supports 150 formats

Ratings legend and definitions
   
5 - Outstanding Outstanding
4 - Very Good Very good
3 - Good Good
2 - Fair Fair
1 - Poor Poor
Pixels
Our estimation of Bio-Formats’ ability to reliably extract complete and accurate pixel values from files in that format. The better this score, the more confident we are that Bio-Formats will successfully read your file without displaying an error message or displaying an erroneous image.
Metadata
Our certainty in the thoroughness and correctness of Bio-Formats’ metadata extraction and conversion from files of that format into standard OME-XML. The better this score, the more confident we are that all meaningful metadata will be parsed and populated as OME-XML.
Openness
This is not a direct expression of Bio-Formats’ performance, but rather indicates the level of cooperation the format’s controlling interest has demonstrated toward the scientific community with respect to the format. The better this score, the more tools (specification documents, source code, sample files, etc.) have been made available.
Presence
This is also not directly related to Bio-Formats, but instead represents our understanding of the format’s popularity, and is also as a measure of compatibility between applications. The better this score, the more common the format and the more software packages include support for it.
Utility
Our opinion of the format’s suitability for storing metadata-rich microscopy image data. The better this score, the wider the variety of information that can be effectively stored in the format.
Export
This indicates whether Bio-Formats is capable of writing the format (Bio-Formats can read every format on this list).
BSD
This indicates whether format is BSD-licensed. By default, format readers and writers are GPL-licensed.
Multiple Images
This indicates whether the format can store multiple Images (in OME-XML terminology) or series (in Bio-Formats API terminology).
Pyramid
This indicates whether the format can store a single image at multiple resolutions, typically referred to as an image pyramid.