{"id":"image-vnd-pco-b16","mimeType":"image/vnd.pco.b16","name":"PCO B16 Image","shortName":"PCO-B16","category":"Scientific \u0026 Raw Imaging","extensions":[".b16"],"description":"The image/vnd.pco.b16 MIME type represents the proprietary B16 image format developed by PCO AG (now Excelitas PCO GmbH), a German manufacturer of high-end scientific and high-speed cameras. The format is a binary container designed to store uncompressed 16-bit raw pixel data directly from the camera sensor. Alongside the raw pixels, it stores vital acquisition metadata (such as exposure times, resolution, and sensor modes) in a structured header. It is widely used in microscopy, medical imaging, machine vision, and precise scientific research where standard 8-bit image formats would result in unacceptable data loss.","seo":{"title":"image/vnd.pco.b16 MIME Type | Developer Reference for PCO B16","description":"Complete reference for the image/vnd.pco.b16 MIME type: PCO B16 scientific image format, 16-bit raw pixel data, magic bytes, and Bio-Formats integration.","faqs":[{"question":"What is a PCO B16 file?","answer":"A PCO B16 file is a proprietary, uncompressed 16-bit binary image format used by PCO scientific cameras. It is typically generated by the PCO Camware software to save raw sensor data without the lossy compression or bit-depth truncation associated with standard image formats."},{"question":"How do I open a B16 image file?","answer":"Because it is a highly specialized scientific format, standard consumer image viewers (like Windows Photos or macOS Preview) cannot open B16 files. You must use PCO's official Camware software, third-party tools like XnView, or scientific imaging software such as ImageJ/Fiji equipped with the Bio-Formats plugin."},{"question":"What are the magic bytes for the PCO B16 format?","answer":"A standard PCO B16 file begins with a Basic Header. The first 4 bytes contain the ASCII file identifier \"PCO-\", which translates to the hexadecimal values 50 43 4F 2D."}]},"index":{"compression":["Uncompressed (Raw Sensor Data)"],"browserSupport":{"score":1,"label":"None"},"commonUses":["Microscopy and Life Sciences","High-Speed Camera Recording","Machine Vision and Industrial Inspection","Scientific Photometry"]},"technical":{"magicBytes":{"hex":"50 43 4F 2D","ascii":"PCO-"},"container":"PCO B16 Binary Container","compressionAlgorithm":["None"],"colorDepth":["16-bit (Monochrome or Bayer Raw Color)"],"transparency":false,"animation":false,"metadata":{"exif":false,"xmp":false,"iccProfile":false},"alphaChannel":false,"progressiveLoading":false,"hdrSupport":false},"history":{"developer":"PCO AG (Excelitas PCO GmbH)","released":"Early 2000s","specification":"PCO Camware Software Manual (Appendix: Image File Formats)"},"browserSupport":{"chrome":false,"chromeVersion":"None","firefox":false,"firefoxVersion":"None","safari":false,"safariVersion":"None","edge":false,"edgeVersion":"None","internetExplorer":false},"softwareSupport":[{"name":"PCO Camware","logo":""},{"name":"ImageJ / Fiji (via Bio-Formats)","logo":""},{"name":"XnView","logo":""}],"conversion":{"convertTo":["tiff","png"],"convertFrom":[]},"developer":{"httpHeaders":[{"header":"Content-Type","value":"image/vnd.pco.b16"}],"htmlAccept":"None","fileDetection":["Check the first 4 bytes of the file for the ASCII identifier 'PCO-' (Hex: 50 43 4F 2D).","The subsequent bytes form the 'Basic Header' composed of Long Integers (32-bit, 4 Bytes each). Byte offset 0x04 contains the file size, 0x08 contains the header length, 0x0C contains the image width, and 0x10 contains the image height."]},"prosCons":{"pros":["Preserves exact, uncompressed 16-bit raw sensor data, which is critically important for accurate scientific measurements, fluorescence microscopy, and photometry","The simple, linear struct header is highly predictable and easy to parse in custom Python, MATLAB, or C++ scripts for researchers building bespoke pipelines"],"cons":["Generates massive file sizes due to the complete lack of image compression [1.3.1]","Completely unsupported by standard operating systems, web browsers, and consumer image editing suites","Strictly tied to the hardware and software ecosystems of a single camera manufacturer"]},"specifications":{"url":"https://www.excelitas.com/product-category/pco-cameras","rfc":"","mimeAliases":[]},"developerSnippets":{"python":"import magic\n# Libmagic lacks definitions for the PCO B16 format and will output 'application/octet-stream'.\n# A manual header check is required:\nwith open('scientific_capture.b16', 'rb') as f:\n    is_pco = f.read(4) == b'PCO-'\n    print('Is PCO B16:', is_pco)","nodejs":"const fs = require('fs');\n// Manually detecting the 'PCO-' magic bytes\nconst buffer = Buffer.alloc(4);\nconst fd = fs.openSync('scientific_capture.b16', 'r');\nfs.readSync(fd, buffer, 0, 4, 0);\nfs.closeSync(fd);\nconst isPCO = buffer.toString('ascii') === 'PCO-';\nconsole.log(isPCO);","go":"import (\n    \"bytes\"\n    \"net/http\"\n)\n// http.DetectContentType will not recognize PCO B16. You must check the byte prefix directly.\n// isPCO := bytes.HasPrefix(buf, []byte(\"PCO-\"))","php":"$mime = mime_content_type('scientific_capture.b16');\necho $mime; // Standard setups will resolve this to 'application/octet-stream' due to lack of magic byte mappings."},"relatedFormats":["tiff","fits"]}