What is the default extension of MRI images (brain images). I searched for it and come to know about .ifs & DICOM but still it is not clear to me. Can anyone tell me the extension of image we get from MRI machine.
The format can be different for each MRI scanner manufacturer. However, for clinical MRI scanner (as opposed to research MRI scanners), the most standard format for export of images is DICOM. There is no unique file extension for the DICOM format. A common one is ".dcm", but there are several other extensions that are used by the different MRI scanner manufacturers. One example of a manufacturer-specific image in DICOM format, is the ".ima" format. Each MRI scanner manufacturer will have a "DICOM Conformance Statement" that tell you how this particular company implements the DICOM standard. Most programs that can read DICOM images will accept files with any file extension and will test whether the file is indeed in DICOM format based on the format of its content rather than on assumptions related to the file extension.
That means DICOM is the standard format and the extensions can be .IMA or .dcm. So can you please tell me what are possible extensions other than this.
Almost all MRI scanners can output neuroimaging data in DICOM format, a standardized medical image format. Different vendors have developed specific data formats that conform to the DICOM standard and these vendor specific formats are often the default data export type, e.g. PAR/REC on Philips scanners.
As said before, DICOM format is the standard one. However, Philips offers you option to export them as PAR/REC files.
Then you may want to convert them into other formats so that you can open them in different image analysis softwares (Analyze .img .hdr, or NIFTI for example)
You can try MRIcro, MRIconverter, SPM, FSL for examples to convert between formats
Though ".dcm" is a common extension (and is defined in the DICOM standard in PS3.12 Annex K and RFC 3240), remember that on physical interchange media with a DICOMDIR (like CD, DVD, BD, MOD), no file extension at all is used (due to the encoding of file references in the DICOMDIR); see PS3.10 Section 8.2). So expect to see, for example, "I001" rather than "I001.dcm", etc. In short, do not assume or expect or depend on any file extension. Instead, PS3.10 format DICOM files are identified by the ASCII characters "DICM" starting at byte 128 (see PS3.10 Section 7.1).
http://dicom.nema.org/medical/dicom/current/output/chtml/part12/chapter_K.html
http://dicom.nema.org/medical/dicom/current/output/chtml/part12/chapter_L.html
http://dicom.nema.org/medical/dicom/current/output/chtml/part10/sect_8.2.html
http://dicom.nema.org/medical/dicom/current/output/chtml/part10/chapter_7.html#sect_7.1
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