| Filename extension |
.nc |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | application/netcdf application/x-netcdf |
| Magic number | CDF\001 \211HDF\r\n\032\n |
| Developed by | UCAR |
| Latest release | 4.9.2[1]  (17 March 2023) |
| Type of format | scientific binary data |
| Extended from | CDF HDF |
| Website | www |
NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) is a set of software libraries and self-describing, machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data. The project homepage[2] is hosted by the Unidata program at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). They are also the chief source of netCDF software, standards development, updates, etc. The format is an open standard. NetCDF Classic and 64-bit Offset Format are an international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium.[3]
The project started in 1988 and is still actively supported by UCAR. The original netCDF binary format (released in 1990, now known as "netCDF classic format") is still widely used across the world and continues to be fully supported in all netCDF releases. Version 4.0 (released in 2008) allowed the use of the HDF5 data file format. Version 4.1 (2010) added support for C and Fortran client access to specified subsets of remote data via OPeNDAP. Version 4.3.0 (2012) added a CMake build system for Windows builds. Version 4.7.0 (2019) added support for reading Amazon S3 objects. Version 4.8.0 (2021) added further support for Zarr. Version 4.9.0 (2022) added support for zstandard compression. Further releases are planned to improve performance, add features, and fix bugs.
- ^ "NetCDF 4.9.2". 17 March 2023.
- ^ "NetCDF Home Page". Unidata/UCAR. Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
- ^ "OGC standard netCDF Classic and 64-bit Offset". Opengeospatial.org. Archived from the original on 2017-11-30. Retrieved 2017-12-05.