Leica LAS AF LIF (Leica Image File Format)

Extensions: .lif

Developer: Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH

Owner: Leica Microsystems

Support

BSD-licensed:

Export:

Officially Supported Versions: 1.0, 2.0

Reader: LIFReader (Source Code, Supported Metadata Fields)

Freely Available Software:

• Leica LAS AF Lite (see Downloads section)

We currently have:

• a LIF/XLLF/XLEF/LOF specification document (version 3.2, from no later than 2016 December 15, in PDF)
• a LIF specification document (version 2, from no later than 2007 July 26, in PDF)
• a LIF specification document (version 1, from no later than 2006 April 3, in PDF)
• numerous LIF datasets
• public sample images

Ratings

Pixels:

Metadata:

Openness:

Presence:

Utility:

Additional Information

Please note that while we have specification documents for this format, we are not able to distribute them to third parties.

Additional options are available for reading or writing this format type, see Additional reader and writer options for information.

LAS stands for “Leica Application Suite”. AF stands for “Advanced Fluorescence”.

Commercial applications that support LIF include:

• Bitplane Imaris
• SVI Huygens
• Amira

Versions of Bio-Formats prior to 5.3.3 incorrectly calculated the physical pixel width and height. The physical image width and height were divided by the number of pixels, which was inconsistent with the official Leica LIF specification documents. Versions 5.3.3 and later correctly calculate physical pixel sizes by dividing the physical image size by the number of pixels minus one. To revert to the old method of physical pixel size calculation in 5.3.3 and later, set the leicalif.old_physical_size option to true as described in Additional reader and writer options.