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3i SlideBook

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Note

This documentation is for the new Bio-Formats 5.1 version. See the latest Bio-Formats 5.0.x version or the previous versions page to find documentation for the version you are using.

Supported FormatsΒΆ

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

Bio-Formats currently supports 142 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.

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