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The Common Data Format (CDF) is a conceptual data abstraction for storing, manipulating, and accessing multidimensional datasets. The basic component of CDF is a software programming interface that is a device-independent view of the CDF data model. The application developer is insulated from the actual physical file format for reasons of conceptual simplicity, device independence, and future expandability. CDF files created on any given platform can be transported to any other platform onto which CDF is ported and used with any CDF tools or layered applications. A more detailed introduction to CDF can be found in the CDF User Guide.
What is CDF? What is a scientific file format? What features are used?
A CDF is a scientific data file format and associated APIs designed by NASA for multi-dimensional datasets, and most commonly used in Heliophysics. CDF software, documentation, and user support services are provided by NASA and available to the public free of charge. Please see the CDF Internal Formats Description Document for more information about formats.
What do I do with this CDF file that I found?
Make sure that it is a real CDF file: a file with “.cdf” extension might not be a genuine CDF file that SPDF supports. It could be a netCDF file or other file format that happens to use the same extension. Download the CDF and use the distributed tools, e.g., cdfvalidate, cdfdump to check if they are the correct format. Autoplot can be used to plot the file.
What else could this file named .cdf be? It could be a netCDF, which supports named dimensions (i.e., TEMP[x, y, …]) whereas CDF utilizes the traditional logical (i.e., TEMP[true, true, …]) method of indicating dimensionality. Autoplot is available at http://autoplot.org/ for plotting the file. The CDF tools are available to dump/view the file.
How do I get help?
Comments, suggestions, and questions may be directed to CDF User Support via e-mail: nasa-cdf-support@nasa.onmicrosoft.com. Before asking a question, please check the CDF FAQs page and CDF User Guide.
How do I cite CDF?
When citing CDF, reference the CDF User Guide: CDF User Guide, CDF Version 3.9.1, November 2024, and the date the User Guide was accessed.
