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Supported File Formats for Import and Export

The ideal workflow to import data into MATLAB^® depends on how your data is formatted as well as your personal preferences. You can import data programmatically or use a specialized workflow. The most common solution is to import data programmatically using a function tailored for your data.

When you import data into the MATLAB workspace, the new variables you create overwrite any existing variables in the workspace that have the same name.

Importing Files Programmatically

MATLAB includes functions tailored to import specific file formats. Consider using format-specific functions when you want to import an entire file or only a portion of a file. Many of the format-specific functions provide options for selecting ranges or portions of data. Some format-specific functions allow you to request multiple optional outputs.

This table shows the file formats that you can import and export from the MATLAB application.

File Content	Extension	Description	Import Function	Export Function
MATLAB formatted data	MAT	Saved MATLAB workspace	`load`	`save`
MATLAB formatted data	MAT	Partial access of variables in MATLAB workspace	`matfile`	`matfile`
Text	any, including: CSV TXT	Delimited numbers	`readmatrix`	`writematrix`
		Delimited numbers, or a mix of text and numbers	`textscan`	none
		Column-oriented delimited numbers or a mix of text and numbers	`readtable` `readcell` `readvars`	`writetable` `writecell`
		Plain text	`readlines`	`writelines`
Spreadsheet	XLS XLSX XLSM XLSB (Systems with Microsoft^® Excel^® for Windows^® only) XLTM (import only) XLTX (import only) ODS (Systems with Microsoft Excel for Windows only)	Column-oriented data in worksheet or range of spreadsheet	`readmatrix` `readtable` `readcell` `readvars`	`writematrix` `writetable` `writecell`
Extensible Markup Language	XML	XML-formatted text	`readstruct` `readtable` `readtimetable`	`writestruct` `writetable` `writetimetable`
JavaScript^® Object Notation	JSON	JSON-formatted text	`readstruct`	`writestruct`
Parquet formatted data	PARQUET	Column-oriented data in Parquet format	`parquetread`	`parquetwrite`
Data Acquisition Toolbox™ file	DAQ	Data Acquisition Toolbox	`daqread`	none
Scientific data	CDF	Common Data Format	See Common Data Format	See `cdflib`
	FITS	Flexible Image Transport System	See FITS Files	See FITS Files
	HDF	HDF4 or HDF-EOS2	See HDF4 Files	See HDF4 Files
	H5	HDF5	See HDF5 Files	See HDF5 Files
	NC	Network Common Data Form (netCDF)	See NetCDF Files	See NetCDF Files
Image data	BMP	Windows Bitmap	`imread`	`imwrite`
	GIF	Graphics Interchange Format
	HDF	Hierarchical Data Format
	JPEG JPG	Joint Photographic Experts Group
	JP2 JPF JPX J2C J2K	JPEG 2000
	PBM	Portable Bitmap
	PCX	Paintbrush
	PGM	Portable Graymap
	PNG	Portable Network Graphics
	PNM	Portable Any Map
	PPM	Portable Pixmap
	RAS	Sun^® Raster
	TIFF TIF	Tagged Image File Format
	XWD	X Window Dump
	CUR	Windows cursor resources	`imread`	none
	ICO	Windows icon resources	`imread`	none
Audio (all platforms)	AU SND	NeXT/Sun sound	`audioread`	none
	AIFF	Audio Interchange File Format
	AIFC	Audio Interchange File Format, with compression codecs
	FLAC	Free Lossless Audio Codec	`audioread`	`audiowrite`
	MP3	MPEG-1 Audio Layer III MPEG-2 Audio Layer III MPEG-2.5 Audio Layer III
	OGG	Ogg Vorbis
	OPUS	Ogg Opus
	WAV	Microsoft WAVE sound
Audio (Windows)	M4A MP4	MPEG-4 Part 3 AAC	`audioread`	`audiowrite`
Audio (Windows)	any	Formats supported by Microsoft Media Foundation	`audioread`	none
Audio (Mac)	M4A MP4	MPEG-4 Part 3 AAC	`audioread`	`audiowrite`
Audio (Linux^®)	any	Formats supported by GStreamer	`audioread`	none
Video (all platforms)	AVI	Audio Video Interleave	`VideoReader`	`VideoWriter`
Video (all platforms)	MJ2	Motion JPEG 2000	`VideoReader`	`VideoWriter`
Video (Windows)	MPG	MPEG-1	`VideoReader`	none
	ASF WMV	Windows Media^®
	any	Formats supported by Microsoft DirectShow^®
Video (Windows 7 or later)	MP4 M4V	MPEG-4	`VideoReader`	`VideoWriter`
	MOV	QuickTime^®	`VideoReader`	none
	any	Formats supported by Microsoft Media Foundation	`VideoReader`	none
Video (Mac)	MP4 M4V	MPEG-4	`VideoReader`	`VideoWriter`
	MPG	MPEG-1	`VideoReader`	none
	MOV	QuickTime
	any	Formats supported by QuickTime, including `.3gp`, `.3g2`, and `.dv`
Video (Linux)	any	Formats supported by your installed GStreamer plug-ins, including `.ogg`	`VideoReader`	none
Triangulation	STL	Stereolithography	`stlread`	`stlwrite`
Low-level files	any text format	Low-level binary text data	`fread`	`fwrite`
	any	Low-level binary	`fscanf`	`fprintf`
	any text format	Formatted data from a text file or string	`textscan`	none

Workflows for Specialized Data Formats

Memory-Mapping for Binary Data

For binary data files, consider the Overview of Memory-Mapping. Memory-mapping enables you to access file data using standard MATLAB indexing operations. Memory-mapping is a mechanism that maps a portion of a file, or an entire file, on disk to a range of addresses within an application's address space. The application can then access files on disk in the same way it accesses dynamic memory. The principal benefits of memory-mapping are efficiency, faster file access, the ability to share memory between applications, and more efficient coding.

Specialized Importing with MATLAB Toolboxes

MATLAB toolboxes perform specialized import operations. For example, use Database Toolbox™ software for importing data from relational databases. Refer to the documentation on specific toolboxes to see the available import features.

Web Services for Reading and Writing Data

You can use web services such as a RESTful or WSDL to read and write data in an internet media type format such as JSON, XML, image, or text. For more information, see:

Reading Data with Low-Level IO

If the format-specific functions cannot read your data and the specialized workflows do not fit your needs, use low-level I/O functions such as fscanf or fread. Low-level functions allow the most control over reading from a file, but they require detailed knowledge of the structure of your data. This workflow is not commonly used.