# HDF5 (.h5)

Subtopics

- HDF5 Schema for Infiniium Oscilloscope Data

Hierarchical Data Format version 5, commonly abbreviated HDF5, is a file format designed to store and organize large amount of numerical data. The HDF format and associated libraries are supported by the non-profit HDF Group who continue to develop and promote HDF5 technologies. The freely available HDF distribution includes the library, command-line utilities, test suite source, and APIs for several popular programming languages including C, C++, Java, Perl, Fortran, and F90. More information about the format specification as well as distribution and tutorial can be found at the HDF Group's website: www.hdfgroup.org.

Waveform data stored in the .h5 format consists of a set of waveform attributes much like the header information used in the .bin and .csv formats, followed by the Y values of the waveform. The waveform can be reconstructed using the X and Y scaling values stored in the waveform attributes section. See HDF5 Schema for Infiniium Oscilloscope Data.

When saving waveform data with the HDF5 type selected, you have these options:

- You can choose to save All Data or just the On-Screen Data.

- Whether to Save As Integers. If this option is not selected, data is saved as floating-point numbers. Integer data results in a smaller file size with limited dynamic range.

- Whether to Save Compressed. Around 30-40% compression (or more with larger files) can be achieved, but it takes significantly more time to save than when compression is turned off. Loading compressed files, however, is just a little slower than loading uncompressed files.

## More Information

- Waveform Memories
- Types of Memory