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## File extensions

VisIt uses file extensions to decide which database reader plugin should be used to open a particular file format. Each database reader plugin has a set of file extensions that are used to match a filename to it. When a file's extension matches (case sensitive except on MS Windows) that of a certain plugin, VisIt attempts to load the file with that plugin. If the plugin cannot load the file then VisIt attempts to open the file with the next suitable plugin, before trying to open the file with the default database reader plugin. If your files do not have file extensions then VisIt will attempt to use the default database reader plugin. You can provide the -default_format command line option with the name of the database reader plugin to use if you want to specify which reader VisIt should use when first trying to open a file. For example, if you want to load a PDB/Flash file, which usually has no file extension, you could provide: -default_format PDB on the command line.

Database plugin | File extensions | Description
--- | --- | ---
Curve2D | curve, ultra, ult | ASCII text file containing 2 columns of X,Y pairs that describe a curve. Each curve is preceded by a "#" comment containing the name of the variable.
Dune | Dat | ASCII file containing point meshes and variables written by Dune simulation code.
EnSight | case | Ensight Gold case files.
Enzo | boundary, hierarchy | Stanford University AMR Astrophysics simulation output saved in HDF4 format.
Exodus | ex, e, exo, ex2, exII, exii, gen, EX, E, EXO, EX2, EXII, GEN, exodus, EXODUS,nemesis, NEMESIS | Sandia National Laboratory's file format for storing simulation data.
FLASH | -default_format FLASH is required to use the FLASH reader | AMR data stored in HDF5 file format produced by the FLASH code from the University of Chicago. The -default_format FLASH command line options must be specified to select this database reader plugin because the plugin is not associated with any file extensions.
GDAL | adf, asc, bt, ddf, dem, ecw, gxf, jp2, map, mem, mpl, mpr, n1, nat, ntf, pix, rsw, sid, vrt, xpm | GDAL is a translator library for raster geospatial data formats common in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) field. VisIt's GDAL reader can read the formats that GDAL itself can read including popular GIS formats such as: ArcInfo binary grid and Digital Elevation Map (DEM). For a complete list of the file formats that VisIt can access through the GDAL reader plugin, refer to http://www.gdal.org/formats_list.html.Note that many of the formats that GDAL can read are actually image file formats. VisIt reads image file formats through its Image database reader plugin unless you tell the GDAL plugin to read image files by setting the VISIT_READ_IMAGES_WITH_GDAL environment variable.
Image | BMP, JPEG. JPG, PNG, PNM, PPM, SDT, SPR, TIF, TIFF, bmp, imgvol, jpeg, jpg, png, pnm, ppm, sdt, spr, tif, tiff | The Image database reader plugin can read in many popular image file formats, allowing you to plot images of experimental data or perform image analysis. In addition, the Image database reader plugin supports the creation of image volumes, which are comprised of a set of 2D slice images that can be reassembled into a 3D volume. An image volume file is a text file (ending in .imgvol) that contains the names of the images to be reassembled into a 3D volume.
KullLite | pdb, mkf | Input mesh files for Kull simulation program. Data files are stored in PDB format.
Lines | dat | ASCII text format containing X,Y pairs or X,Y,Z triples.
Mili | m, mili | Popular LLNL engineering format used in Dyna3D, Nike3D simulation codes. Requires use of the visit -makemili utility to create a .mili file that can be opened.
NASTRAN | nas, f06 | NASTRAN is a popular commercial finite element tool. The VisIt NASTRAN reader plugin can import geometry from NASTRAN bulk data files.
NETCDF | nc, cdf, elev | NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) files are used to store scientific, array-oriented data in a machine-independent, binary format. NetCDF files often contain data from climate observations and results for climate simulations.
OVERFLOW | dat, save | Binary Fortran output files containing overlayed curvilinear meshes.
PATRAN | neu | PATRAN is a popular commercial finite element code. The VisIt PATRAN reader reads PATRAN neutral files, which are ASCII format files that contain unstructured geometry and simulation results.
PDB | pdb, r0000 | The PDB database plugin is an umbrella reader for multiple styles of files written in the PDB database format.Flash files are read by this plugin. Equation of state databases in PDB format can also be read using this plugin. Finally, the PDB plugin supports reading wavelet-compressed data files generated with Pf3D simulation code.
Pixie | h5 | 2D and 3D LANL simulation data saved in HDF5 format.
Plot2D | p2d | Structured data format for simulation data in Plot2D format.
Plot3D | q, x | Structured data format for simulation data in Plot3D format.
Point3D | 3D | ASCI file format containing four columns of numbers: X,Y,Z point and a data value.
SAMRAI | samrai | Structured AMR data stored in HDF5 file format. Requires a .visit file to group multiple time states into a single time-varying database.
SAR | SAR, sar | Specific Absorption Rate image volume files.
STL | stl | Stereolithographic file format containing triangle coordinates
Shapefile | dbf, shp | ESRI Shapefiles are commonly used in GIS applications to store vector data (boundaries, roads, building footprints, etc.).
Silo | pdb, silo | Popular LLNL file format based on PDB that supports scalar, vector fields, and materials stored on rectilinear, curvilinear, unstructured, or point meshes. Data can be split up into multiple domains.
Spheral | sv, spheral | Spheral files contain results of coupled hydrodynamical and gravitational simulations in ASCII form.
TecPlot | plt, tec, tp | ASCII file format for the popular TecPlot plotting package.
Tetrad | h5, hdf5 | Tetrahedral meshes and variables stored in HDF5 file format.
TFT | dat, tft | ASCII output of TFT Fortran simulation.
TimeVaringExodus | exII | Same as Exodus
VTK | vtk | ASCII files containing data from multiple kinds of objects from Visualization Toolkit (VTK). The legacy and XML file formats are supported but parallel files are not. Fore more information about VTK, visit http://www.kitware.com.
Vista | vista | Hierarchical file format based on Silo that stores data in HDF5 file format.
ViSUS | idx, vis | Research file format that allows dynamic decomposition of the file based on available processors and supports efficient reading of data (and subsets of data) from the file.
WavefrontOBJ | obj | Alias Wavefront Object file format. Contains 3D models.
Xmdv | okc | ASCII file containing columns of data.