MATLAB MAT-file
.matMATLAB (save/save workspace), and any tool that writes via scipy.io.savemat (Python)
What it is
MATLAB's native binary format for saving workspace variables to disk. AltaiPlot routes real third-party .mat files through a bundled Python/scipy bridge (scipy.io.loadmat), the same general-purpose reader the Python data-science ecosystem uses — not a from-scratch parser.
Who produces it
MATLAB users saving variables or entire workspaces; also common as an interchange format from instrument-control software and Python pipelines that call scipy.io.savemat.
What we read / what we don't read
What we read
- Numeric double-precision arrays
- Integer-typed arrays
- 1D arrays → a single column
- 2D arrays → one column per array column
- Sparse matrices (automatically densified on read)
What we don't read
- MATLAB structs and cell arrays (listed as skipped, not silently flattened)
- Complex numbers (skipped, not truncated to their real part)
- MAT v7.3 files that are internally HDF5-based mix-ups of struct/cell content beyond simple arrays
How to import it into AltaiPlot
- Open AltaiPlot and drag your .mat file onto the window, or use File → Import.
- AltaiPlot detects the MAT-file signature and hands it to the bundled Python reader automatically — nothing to configure.
- If the file has more than one usable array/variable, pick which one to import from the list shown.
- Numeric and integer arrays land as plotting-ready columns; anything unreadable (structs, cells, complex data) is reported explicitly rather than silently dropped.
Auditability note: this page's capability claims are sourced fromresources/python/app_sidecar.py:896 — see the full format list for every extension AltaiPlot recognizes.