What is a .MAT file?
MAT files store the variables and matrices of a MATLAB session. Created by MathWorks.
- Did you know
- A MAT-file saves your whole MATLAB workspace to reload later.
- Since version 7.3, MAT-files are built on the HDF5 scientific data format so they can hold variables larger than two gigabytes.
- MAT-files are made by MathWorks’ MATLAB and store named variables and matrices that can be reloaded into a later session.
- What Analyser reads
- Identify and read developer and data-serialisation files: dependency lockfiles (npm/Yarn/pnpm/Cargo/Poetry/Bundler/Composer - locked-package count), binary serialisations (MessagePack, CBOR, BSON, raw Protobuf messages and descriptor sets), Python pickles with a security note, NumPy .npz and Java jar/war/ear archives, IDL schemas (FlatBuffers/Thrift/Cap n Proto/HCL), MATLAB MAT-files, Redis RDB dumps and columnar big-data containers (Apache Arrow/Feather, Parquet, ORC). The JSON supersets JSON5/JSONC/Hjson now open in a full viewer - see Notebooks & data above.
- Depth of analysis
- .MAT is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .MAT file
- Drag a .MAT file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.