Supported Formats

Ratings legend and definitions

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

Format	Extensions							BSD	Multiple Images	Pyramid
3i SlideBook	.sld
Andor Bio-Imaging Division (ABD) TIFF	.tif
AIM	.aim
Alicona 3D	.al3d
Amersham Biosciences Gel	.gel
Amira Mesh	.am, .amiramesh, .grey, .hx, .labels
Amnis FlowSight	.cif
Analyze 7.5	.img, .hdr
Andor SIF	.sif
Animated PNG	.png
Aperio AFI	.afi, .svs
Aperio SVS TIFF	.svs
Applied Precision CellWorX	.htd, .pnl
AVI (Audio Video Interleave)	.avi
Axon Raw Format	.arf
BD Pathway	.exp, .tif
Becker & Hickl SPC FIFO	.spc
Becker & Hickl SPCImage	.sdt
Big Data Viewer	.xml, .h5
Bio-Rad Gel	.1sc
Bio-Rad PIC	.pic, .raw, .xml
Bio-Rad SCN	.scn
Bitplane Imaris	.ims
Bruker MRI
Burleigh	.img
Canon DNG	.cr2, .crw
CellH5	.ch5
Cellomics	.c01, .dib
cellSens VSI	.vsi
CellVoyager	.xml, .tif
CV7000	.wpi, .tif
DeltaVision	.dv, .r3d, .rcpnl
DICOM	.dcm, .dicom
ECAT7	.v
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)	.eps, .epsi, .ps
Evotec/PerkinElmer Opera Flex	.flex, .mea, .res
FEI	.img
FEI TIFF	.tiff
FITS (Flexible Image Transport System)	.fits
Gatan Digital Micrograph	.dm3, .dm4
Gatan Digital Micrograph 2	.dm2
GE MicroCT	.vff
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)	.gif
Hamamatsu Aquacosmos NAF	.naf
Hamamatsu HIS	.his
Hamamatsu ndpi	.ndpi, .ndpis
Hamamatsu VMS	.vms
Hitachi S-4800	.txt, .tif, .bmp, .jpg
I2I	.i2i
ICS (Image Cytometry Standard)	.ics, .ids
Imacon	.fff
ImagePro Sequence	.seq
ImagePro Workspace	.ipw
IMAGIC	.hed, .img
IMOD	.mod
Improvision Openlab LIFF	.liff
Improvision Openlab Raw	.raw
Improvision TIFF	.tif
Imspector OBF	.obf, .msr
InCell 1000/2000	.xdce, .tif
InCell 3000	.frm
INR	.inr
Inveon	.hdr
Ionpath MIBI	.tif, .tiff
IPLab	.ipl
IVision	.ipm
JEOL	.dat, .img, .par
JPEG	.jpg
JPEG 2000	.jp2, .j2k, .jpf
JPK	.jpk
JPX	.jpx
Keller Lab Block	.klb
Khoros VIFF (Visualization Image File Format) Bitmap	.xv
Kodak BIP	.bip
Lambert Instruments FLIM	.fli
LaVision Imspector	.msr
Leica LCS LEI	.lei, .tif
Leica LAS AF LIF (Leica Image File Format)	.lif
Leica SCN	.scn
LEO	.sxm, .tif, .tiff
Li-Cor L2D	.l2d, .tif, .scn
LIM (Laboratory Imaging/Nikon)	.lim
MetaMorph 7.5 TIFF	.tiff
MetaMorph Stack (STK)	.stk, .nd
MetaXpress	.htd, .tif, .tiff
MIAS (Maia Scientific)	.tif
Micro-Manager	.tif, .txt, .xml
Mikroscan TIFF	.tif, .tiff
MINC MRI	.mnc
Minolta MRW	.mrw
MNG (Multiple-image Network Graphics)	.mng
Molecular Imaging	.stp
MRC (Medical Research Council)	.mrc, .st, .ali, .map, .rec, .mrcs
NEF (Nikon Electronic Format)	.nef, .tif
NIfTI	.img, .hdr, .nii, .nii.gz
Nikon Elements TIFF	.tiff
Nikon EZ-C1 TIFF	.tiff
Nikon NIS-Elements ND2	.nd2
NRRD (Nearly Raw Raster Data)	.nrrd, .nhdr, .raw, .txt
Olympus CellR/APL	.apl, .mtb, .tnb, .tif, .obsep
Olympus FluoView FV1000	.oib, .oif
Olympus FluoView TIFF	.tif
Olympus OIR	.oir
Olympus ScanR	.xml, .dat, .tif
Olympus SIS TIFF	.tiff
OME-TIFF	.ome.tiff, .ome.tif, .ome.tf2, .ome.tf8, .ome.btf
OME-XML	.ome, .ome.xml
OMERO Pyramid
Oxford Instruments	.top
PCORAW	.pcoraw, .rec
PCX (PC Paintbrush)	.pcx
Perkin Elmer Densitometer	.pds
PerkinElmer Columbus	.xml, .csv, .tif
PerkinElmer Nuance	.im3
PerkinElmer Operetta	.tiff, .xml
PerkinElmer UltraVIEW	.tif, .2, .3, .4, etc.
PerkinElmer Vectra QPTIFF	.tif, .qptiff
Portable Any Map	.pbm, .pgm, .ppm
Adobe Photoshop PSD	.psd
Photoshop TIFF	.tif, .tiff
PicoQuant Bin	.bin
PICT (Macintosh Picture)	.pict
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)	.png
Prairie Technologies TIFF	.tif, .xml, .cfg
Princeton Instruments SPE	.spe
Quesant	.afm
QuickTime Movie	.mov
RHK	.sm2, .sm3
SBIG
Seiko	.xqd, .xqf
SimplePCI & HCImage	.cxd
SimplePCI & HCImage TIFF	.tiff
SM Camera
SPIDER	.spi, .stk
Targa	.tga
Tecan Spark Cyto Workspace	.db, .tif
Text	.txt
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)	.tiff, .tif, .tf2, .tf8, .btf
TillPhotonics TillVision	.vws
Topometrix	.tfr, .ffr, .zfr, .zfp, .2fl
Trestle	.tif, .sld, .jpg
UBM	.pr3
Unisoku	.dat, .hdr
Varian FDF	.fdf
Veeco AFM	.hdf
Ventana BIF	.bif
VG SAM	.dti
VisiTech XYS	.xys, .html
Volocity	.mvd2
Volocity Library Clipping	.acff
WA-TOP	.wat
Windows Bitmap	.bmp
Woolz	.wlz
Zeiss Axio CSM	.lms
Zeiss AxioVision TIFF	.xml, .tif
Zeiss AxioVision ZVI (Zeiss Vision Image)	.zvi
Zeiss CZI	.czi
Zeiss LSM (Laser Scanning Microscope) 510/710	.lsm, .mdb

Bio-Formats currently supports 158 formats

Ratings legend and definitions

	Outstanding
	Very good
	Good
	Fair
	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.