2. The Format

has been implemented using the standard as defined by SEG [1]

also has support for reading and writing the format used by CWP's Seismic Unix package (the SU format), which is merely a simplified version the format.

A short description of the formats follows here

2.1. Structure of a file

A file consists of a 3600 byte header; a number of extended textual headers; a number trace headers+data.

  • A 3200 byte Textual File Header, ASCII or EBCDIC formated.

  • A 400 byte Binary File Header

  • A (optional) number of 'Extended Textual File Headers', 3200 bytes long, ASCII or EBCDIC formatted.

  • A number of traces, separated into a 240 bytes long binary Trace Header, followed by the Trace Data, that can be formatted in a number of ways : IEEE, IBM Floating Point, 1,2 and 4 byte two's complement integers.

2.2. Structure of a SU file

A SU formatted file is just a simple version of a file, containing only trace information :

  • No 3200 byte textual header and no extended textual headers.

  • No binary header.

  • The data must be formatted as IEEE.

  • Data can be both little and big endian formatted.

2.3. What is supported in SegyMAT ?

As of version supports the following parts of the revision 0 and 1.

2.3.1. Textual file headers

The Textual 400 byte file header can be both ASCII and EBCDIC formatted, using revision 1.

Both ASCII and EBCDIC are supported since version 0.39.

2.3.2. Extended Textual Headers

In revision 1 a number of extended textual file headers are allowed.

As of version 0.9 extended textual headers are supported by .

2.3.3. Data Sample Format / Revision

The following data formats are supported :

Table 1. Supported revision 0 (1975)

TypeDataSampleFormatSupported
14 Byte IBM Floating PointYes
24 Byte Fixed PointNo
32 Byte Fixed PointNo
44 Byte Fixed Point with GainNo


Table 2. Supported revision 1 (2002)

TypeDataSampleFormatSupported
14 Byte IBM Floating PointYes
24 Byte two's complement integerYes
32 Byte two's complement integerYes
44 Byte Fixed Point with GainNo
54 Byte IEEE FLoating PintYes
6Not Specified 
7Not Specified 
81 Byte Fixed Point with GainYes


The type number is the number that should be used as 'dsf' (Data Sample Format), for functions like ReadSegy.m, WriteSegy.m, WriteSegyStructure.m.



[1] The Society of Exploration Geophysicists