Standardized formats for brain activity data

Please find a list of commonly used data formats. Notice something missing? Please contribute.

#	Format	Description	Citation	Modality
1	BRAINformat	The BRAINformat library aims to create a general framework for standardization of scientific data. It defines application-independent design concepts and modules, is open source, and utilizes the HDF5 data format.	Rübel et al., 2016	Electrophysiology
2	KWIK	KWIK files were developed for the Klusta suite spike sorting software to contain the results of the spike sorting session. Based on HDF5, these files include information about the spike times and spike clusters, as well as all the metadata.	Kadir et al., 2014; Rossant et al. 2016	Electrophysiology
3	NEO	NEO succeeded the Neuroshare API, which provided a design specification for core neuroscience data objects. NEO similarly aims to decouple the data representation step in analysis pipelines to create a unified format facilitating downstream analysis in software pipelines, packages, and frameworks.	Garcia et al., 2014	Electrophysiology
4	ONE	Developed to standardize data sharing among multiple laboratories involved in the International Brain Laboratory (IBL) consortium, ONE defines a set of conventions for naming and organizing data files. Because ONE utilizes a ‘object.attribute.extension’ naming scheme, it can be used across file formats.	International Brain Laboratory et al., 2023	Electrophysiology, Optical imaging
5	NWB	NWB provides a common standard to share, archive, use, and build analysis tools for diverse neurophysiology data. Based on the HDF5 format, NWB was designed to support data from intracellular and extracellular electrophysiology, optical imaging, as well as behavioral data.	Teeters et al., 2015; Rubel et al., 2022	Electrophysiology, Optical imaging
6	Orca	Orca (also called BORG) was developed by the Allen Institute for Brain Science and designed to store electrophysiology and optical imaging data. It is based on the HDF5 format.	Godfrey, 2014; Friedsam, 2016	Electrophysiology, Optical imaging
7	NIX	The NIX file format was designed to store diverse neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology and optical imaging, as well as behavioral data. Based on HDF5, NIX aims to provide a flexible and robust standard for organizing and sharing complex neuroscience datasets in a hierarchical and extensible way.	Martone, 2020; Stoewer et al. 2014	Electrophysiology, Optical imaging
8	EDF, EDF+	An early standardized data format, EDF was used for the storage of sleep recordings and included EEG, respiration, body temperature, EMG, and other related data. With EDF+, the format was expanded to provide additional flexibility.	Kemp et al., 1992; Kemp & Olivan, 2003	EEG
9	MEF	MEF provides open source software to read, write, and process large volumes of neural data. It utilizes range encoding to provide a high degree of data compression, a 128-bit encryption system for securely storing patient information, and a redundancy check to verify the integrity of the compressed data.	Brinkmann et al., 2009	EEG, Electrophysiology
10	BIDS	BIDS is a standard for organizing and describing neuroimaging and EEG data to promote reproducibility and interoperability. It defines a structured format to arrange files and metadata in order to facilitate the processing and analysis of datasets across tools and the sharing across labs.	Gorgolewski et al., 2016	EEG, Neuroimaging
11	NIFTI	The NIFTI file format is designed to simplify the storage of neuroimaging data. It packages both image data and its associated metadata into a single file to facilitate analysis and sharing.	Cox et al., 2004	Neuroimaging
12	DICOM	DICOM is an international standard for medical imaging. It defines the formats for medical images that can be exchanged with the data and quality necessary for clinical use. This format is widely used in healthcare (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, etc.) as well as in neuroimaging.	NEMA, 1993	Neuroimaging, Other

← Home

Last updated: 26 March, 2026