Supported Image Formats

Nema Family Images
CT Formats
MR Formats
Ultrasound Formats
Nuclear Medicine Formats
XA and X-Ray
Optical Film Digitizer
Other Formats

Nema Family Image

NEMA family images
Format	Notes
NEMA-1^* and NEMA-2^*	When converting these, DICOMatic will remove tags that are no longer supported, and make sure the images are compatible with the latest DICOM specifications
SPI	This variation on NEMA-1 and NEMA-2 is used by both Siemens and Philips
IS&C	This Japanese variation on NEMA-1 split the images in 2 parts: a header (.INF) and the pixel data (.IMG). In addition, the pixel data is sometimes compressed
DICOM^*	Why would you need to use DICOMatic to convert images from DICOM to DICOM? Over the years, some manufacturers have created images that have problems (errors in their tags or in the compression). DICOMatic will correct most of these errors. DICOMatic will also uncompress the images it converts

* Historical notes:

NEMA-1 was published in 1985.
NEMA-2 was published in 1988.
DICOM (parts 1 to 8) was introduced in 1991.
DICOM (parts 1 to 9) was approved in 1993.
DICOM part-10 (file format) introduced in 1994.

CT Formats

CT formats
Manufacturer	Format	Notes
Dichte	pQCT	The files with the extension starting by "M" are the images
Elscint^*	Elscint	This propriatery format was used by all pre-DICOM Elscint scanners Used by their 2400 and Twin scanners
Elscint^*	Lossless RICE	In this DICOM variation, Elscint store the images in private tags using a Lossless Rice compression algorithm Used by their Mx8000 and MxTwin scanners
GE	CT9800	Used by their CT9800 scanners
	PACE CT	Developped for GE by Yokogawa Medical Systems. Used by their ProSpeed scanners
	Signa 5.x	This format is also used by their MR scanner. Used by their HiSpeed CT/i, Jupiter and Zeus scanners
	SYTEC	Used by their Sytec scanners
Imatron	Imatron	This format support one pilot and multiple images per files Used in their Electron Beam Tomography systems
Morita	J.Morita	The files with the extension ".vol" are the images. When reading these images, my programs will automatically look for the "comment.dat" and "ver_ctrl.txt" files for additional header information. Used in their CBCT systems.
Philips^*	CT HDL1	Based on the Hitachi MR HDL1 format Used by their AVE1 scanners
	JUSTFF	Used by their Tomoscan scanners
	SPI	Based on the Siemens SPI format Used by: AVE1, Gyroscan and the EasyVision stations
Picker^*	IQ/PQ	Used by their IQ and PQ scanners
Shimadzu^**	IS&C	(Image Save and Carry) The images of this NEMA based format are usually split in 2 parts: the header (.INF) and the pixel data (.IMG) Used by their SCT scanners
Shimadzu^**	SCT	Used by their older SCT scanners
Siemens	SPI	Based on NEMA-1 and NEMA-2. The pixel data can be compressed Used by all their pre-DICOM scanners
	Somatom DR	Used by their Somatom DR scanners
	Somatom Plus	Used by their Somatom Plus scanners
	Somatom Plus-4	Used by their Somatom Plus-4 scanners
	Somatom AR	This format is also used by their Vision MR scanner. Used by their Somatom AR scanners
Sirona	Sirona	The files with "..._vol_x_yyy" are the images. When reading these images, my programs will automatically look for the "..._proj_x" and "..._vol_x" files for additional header information. Used in their CBCT systems.
Toshiba^*	NEMA-1	The images are offset 1Kb from the beginning of the file. Used by their Auklet¹ scanners
Toshiba^*	IS&C	(Image Save and Carry) The images of this NEMA based format are usually split in 2 parts: the header (.INF) and the pixel data (.IMG). Used by their Aquilion, Asteion, Xpress¹, Xpeed, Xvigor and Xvision¹ scanners

* Historical notes:

in 1998 GE acquire Nuclear Medicine and MRI divisions of Elscint and the CT division is acquired by Picker.
in 1999 Picker is renamed Marconi Medical Sytems.
in 2001 Marconi Medical System is acquired by Philips.
In 2016, Toshiba Medical Systems is acquired by Canon.

** Shimadzu has stopped manufacturing MR scanners arround 1994-95 and CT arround 2000.

¹ These scanners can be connected directly to a PACS using DICOM_Watch.

MR Formats

MR formats
Manufacturer	Format	Notes
Bruker	Paravision	This format support multiple images per files, 32 bits images are scaled to 16 bits. The image information is spread over several files and directory levels including: "..\..\..\subject", "..\..\acqp", "..\..\imnd", "reco", "procs" and "d3proc"
Elscint^*	Esteem	The image information is spread over several files including: "m1log.txt", "scan.pv", "scan.acq", "xxx_disp", "xxx.rot" and "xxx.vff" Used by their Esteem¹ scanners
Fonar	Fonar	The images are split in 2 components: a ".SI" file and the associated pixel data in a file without extension. This format support multiple images and 1 pilot per files
GE	PACE MR	Developped for GE by Yokogawa Medical Systems. Used by their Vectra scanners
	Signa 3	Used by their Signa scanners
	Signa 4	Used by their Signa scanners
	Signa 5.x	Used by their Signa scanners
Hitachi	MR HDL1	Used by their MPR and AIRIS scanners
Marconi^*	IIF	Slight variation on the Picker IIF format Used by their Outlook¹ scanners
MRRS^*	SMIS	(Magnetic Resonance Research Systems) Slight variation on the SMIS format
Philips^*	SPI	Based on the Siemens SPI format Used by their Gyroscan scanners
Picker^*	IIF	This format support one pilot and multiple images per files Used by their Nordstar scanners
Shimadzu^**	MR	Old MR format Used by their MR scanners
Siemens	SPI	Based on NEMA-1 and NEMA-2. There is no compressed version of the MR images Used by all their pre-DICOM scanners
	Numaris-1	Used by their old Magnetom scanners
	Numaris-2	Used by their Magnetom GBS scanners
	Vision	Used by their Impact, Magnetom Vision, Magnetom Symphony and Magnetom P8 scanners
SMIS^*	SMIS	(Surrey Medical Imaging System)
Toshiba^*	PD	This format is composed of a ".PD" header information file, a sequence of ".Pxx" (where xx is a number from 01 to n) image files, some ".Gxx" and "Sxx" files can also be present. To extract the images, you need to drop the "PD" file on DICOMatic. Used by their Access and MRT35 scanners
	NEMA-1	Used by their MRT50 scanners
	VF	This format support multiple images per files. Additional patient information can be extracted from the "..\patient_database" or "..\patientDatabase" files if they are present. Used by their Exelart, Flexart¹, Opart and Visart scanners
Varian	Varian	This format support multiple images per files, 32 bits images are scaled to 16 bits Additional information can be extracted from the "procpar" file if it is present.

* Historical notes:

in 1998 GE acquire Nuclear Medicine and MRI divisions of Elscint and the CT division is acquired by Picker.
in 1999 Picker is renamed Marconi Medical Sytems.
in 2001 Marconi Medical System is acquired by Philips.
around 2001?, SMIS (Surrey Medical Imaging Systems) changed name to MRRS (Magnetic Resonance Research Systems).
in ? MRRS is acquired by Philips.
In 2016, Toshiba Medical Systems is acquired by Canon.

** Shimadzu has stopped manufacturing MR scanners arround 1994-95 and CT arround 2000.

¹ These scanners can be connected directly to a PACS using DICOM_Watch.

Ultrasound Formats

Ultrasound formats
Manufacturer	Format	Notes
Agilent^*	DSR	(Digital Storage and Retrieval), a TIFF based format with added private tags
ATL^*	DEFF	(Data Exchange File Format), a TIFF based format with added private tags
HP^*	DSR
Philips^*	DSR

3D Ultrasound formats
Manufacturer	Format	Notes
Alpinion	VR3D ".bin" files	I only have a few sample of these. The data, in ".bin" files, inside "VR3D" sub-dir and appear to be compressed. Used on the E-CUBE models. Note: At this time TomoVision is unable to read these files.
GE^*	KretzFile ".vol" files, or ".v00" to ".vZZ"	This format support 3D volumes. Images can be in Spherical, Cylindrical or Cartesian system. The data can also be compressed using Wavelet compression. Used on some Voluson models. Note: TomoVision only support the uncompressed version of this format.
	DICOM	"KRETZ_US" private tag: The Kretzfile data is stored "as is" in these private tags. Used on some Voluson models. Note: TomoVision only support the uncompressed version of this format.
		"GEMS_Ultrasound_MovieGroup" private tag: The 3D/4D data is stored in these private tags. Used on some Logiq and Vivid models.
		"GEMS_Ultrasound_VolumeGroup" private tag: The 3D/4D data is stored in these private tags. Used on some Vivid models. Note: I only saw Cartesian examples of this. If you have a spherical dataset, please let me know!
Hitachi^*	DICOM	This format support 3D/4D volumes, in an hybrid Cartesian/cylindrical system, using "US Multiframe Image" SOP Class to store Cartesian 2D images arrange in a 3D fan. The 3D information is stored in "ALOKA..." private tags. Used on some Alpha models. Note: I only saw cylindrical datasets from Hitachi/Aloka. If you have anything else, please let me know!
Medison^*	Kartesian ".v00" to ".vFF" files	A very simple 3D format. The dataset can be Cartesian system or not. Used on some Combison models. Note: I only saw Cartesian examples of this. If you have a non-Cartesian dataset, please let me know!
Medison^*	MVL ".mvl" files	(Medison 3D Volume), This format support 3D volumes. Images can be in Spherical, Cylindrical or Cartesian system.
Philips^*	DICOM	"Philips3D" private tag: The 3D data is stored in these private tags. Used in QLAB exports. Note: TomoVision only support the uncompressed version of this format.
		"Philip US Imaging DD" private tag: - Using the "US Multiframe Image" SOP Class, the 3D data can be either stored in Cartesain format in the pixel data tag, or in the private tags (leaving room in the pixel data tags for rendered images of the volumes). - Using the "US Image" SOP Class, the 3D data is stored in spherical system directly in the private tags. Used on some iU, iE and affinity models. Note: I am still working on the spherical version, more news soon...
		"Philip US Imaging 60" private tag: The 3D data can be either stored in Cartesain format in the pixel data tag using the "US Multiframe Image" SOP Class, or stored (possibly compressed) directly in the private tags using the "US Image" SOP Class. Note: TomoVision only support the uncompressed version of this format.
Samsung^*	MVL ".mvl" files	Samsung use 2 format with the same ".mvl" file extension. One is the Medison MVL format.
	MVL vers:221 ".mvl" files	The other ".mvl" file format, version 221, has nothing in commun with the previous MVL format exept for the file extension. It support 3D/4D datasets in spherical or Cartesian systems. Used in Accuvix V and other models.
	DICOM	The 3D data is stored (in Cartesian system only) using the "Enhanced US Volume" SOP Class. Used in MySono U6 and other models?
Siemens	DICOM	"SIEMENS MED SMS USG" private tag: The 3D data is stored in the normal DICOM voxel data location (7FE0,0010) even if the voxels are spherical! Used on the Acuson S2000 model. Note: The format seem to support both Cartesian and spherical voxels, but I only saw spherical samples... If you have sample data in a Cartesian system, please let me know!
Siemens	SPF	This format support 3D volumes (in Cartesian system?). Note: I only saw one sample of this format, and it was in Cartesian. If you have data in this format, please let me know!
Toshiba^*	DICOM	"PMTF INFORMATION DATA" private tag: The 3D data is stored, uncompressed, in these private tags. Used on some Aplio and Xario models.
Toshiba^*	DICOM	"TOSHIBA MDW NON_IMAGE" private tag: The 3D data seem to be stored in compressed format in these private tags. Used on some Xario models. Note: At this time TomoVision is unable to read these files.
Zonare^*	DICOM	The 3D data is stored using the "Raw Data Storage" SOP Class.

* Historical notes:

in 1996, Medison acquired Kretztechnik AG.
in 1998, ATL is acquired by Philips.
in 1999, all of the businesses not related to computers, storage, and imaging were spun off from HP to form Agilent
in 2000, Agilent Healthcare is acquired by Philips.
In 2001, GE Medical Systems acquired a major shareholding in Kretztechnik AG from Medison, and Kretztechnik AG became a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Medical Systems.
In 2011, Medison became affiliated with Samsung to form Samsung Medison.
In 2011, Aloka is acquired by Hitachi.
In 2013, Zonare is acquired by Mindray.
In 2016, Toshiba Medical Systems is acquired by Canon.

Nuclear Medicine Formats

Nuclear Medicine formats
Manufacturer	Format	Notes
ADAC^*	ADAC	ADAC Laboratories
GE	Advance PET	GEMS PET image format from the Advance scanner
Siemens	ECAT-7
Toshiba	NEMA-1	used by their CGA-901 and CGA-7001 scanners
N/A	Interfile	Used by many vendors

* Historical notes:

in 2000 ADAC is acquired by Philips.

XA and X-Ray

XA and X-Ray
Manufacturer	Notes
Camtronics^*	XA (X-Ray Angiogram) image format. Additional information can be extracted from the "header" file if it is present.
Fuji	CR DICOM header with associated JPEG image files
Philips	NEMA-2 (Used by their Thoravision systems)
Optimed	XA (X-Ray Angiogram) image format Additional information can be extracted from the "ARCHIVE.PAT" file if it is present.

* Historical notes:

in 2005, Emageon acquires Camtronics Medical Systems.
in 2009, AMICAS acquires Emageon.
in 2010, Merge Healthcare acquires AMICAS.

Optical film digitizer

Optical film digitizer
Manufacturer	Notes
LEAD	LEAD Technologies film digitizer format for X-ray images
Lumisys^*	Lumisys Optical film digitizer format

* Historical notes:

in 2000, Lumisys was acquired by Kodak.

Other formats

Other formats
Manufacturer	Notes
Analyze	The images are split in 2 parts: the header (.hdr) and the pixel data (.img)
iScan	Images produced by the Compurad's iScan software
Materialise
Papyrus	A variation of DICOM
RAW	Usually refer to files that only have pixel data without any headers. These images can be read using the "Raw_Header" tool to create a header (.hdr) for the pixel data
JPEG	JPEG images will be considered "SC" (Secondary Capture) with a modality of "OT" (Other)
TIFF	TIFF images will be considered "SC" (Secondary Capture) with a modality of "OT" (Other)
Others	Any file containing uncompressed pixel data can be read by using the "Raw_Header" tool to create a header (.hdr) for the pixel data. The pixel data can be 8, 16 or 32 bits, integer or float (IEEE, VAX or Data General), signed or unsigned, little endian or big endian, B&W or color (3 or 4 components)