See also general topics about loading and saving signals.


The standard SIGVIEW version can read signals stored in several different file formats:


*.WAV files


Standard Wave audio format (8, 16, 24 or 32-bit), including compressed WAV files if corresponding codecs are installed in the operating system.


Additionally, SIGVIEW can save some of its custom display settings in a custom-chunk of a standard WAV file. This custom chunk will be invisible for other applications, but will be read and applied by SIGVIEW next time you load the WAV file. The following settings are saved in a custom chunk:


    • Axes settings (units, min/max, log/linear etc.)
    • Signal time
    • Display style
    • Current zoom
    • "Show 5 highest peaks" option
    • Annotations
    • Selected signal segments
    • Peak detection status and settings


This option can be turned off by using Application Settings dialog.


Compressed file formats


Use the File/Open signal… menu option. You will be able to open most compressed file formats such as compressed WAV files, MP3, WMA, ASF etc.  SIGVIEW will use Microsoft’s DirectShow and installed codecs for the file decompression. This ensures that any file playable on your computer will also be readable in SIGVIEW. Please note that file decompression can be a rather slow operation, and the resulting signals can be very long.


Audio Interchange File Format (.AIF, .AIFC, .AIFF)


SIGVIEW uses DirectX services for loading these files. Therefore, Windows Media Player intallation is required.


Sun Microsystems and NeXT audio files (.AU,.SND)


SIGVIEW uses DirectX services for loading these files. Therefore, Windows Media Player installation, or installation of other codec files, may be required.


ASCII/CSV files


Available through the ASCII /CSV options in the File menu. See Loading and Saving CSV / ASCII files for details.


Raw binary files


Available through File/Raw binary files/Export and Import menu options. Raw binary files are simple binary arrays of samples, saved in one of these supported formats:


8-bit signed

8-bit unsigned

16-bit signed

16-bit unsigned

32-bit float


Only one signal (channel) can be loaded from one raw binary file.


EDF (European File Format)


The European Data Format (EDF) is a simple and flexible format for exchange and storage of multichannel biological signals. EDF was developed by a group of European medical engineers and published in 1992 in Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology Vol. 82, pages 391-393. Since then, EDF became a de-facto standard for EEG and PSG recordings in commercial equipment and multicentre research projects. Further information about this format can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Data_Format.