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Switch from MMTF to BCIF

01/15

<I>Users are strongly encouraged to switch to accessing data files offered in the compressed BinaryCIF (BCIF) format.</I>Users are strongly encouraged to switch to accessing data files offered in the compressed BinaryCIF (BCIF) format.

As of July 2, 2024, RCSB PDB will no longer serve PDB data in the MMTF compression format. Users are strongly encouraged to switch to accessing the data files offered in the compressed BinaryCIF (BCIF) format.

The MMTF compression format for PDB coordinate data was introduced in 2016 for storing macromolecular 3D coordinate data. Since 2020, the BinaryCIF format has been used by RCSB PDB as the preferred compression data format.

BinaryCIF (BCIF, GitHub) stores text-based CIF files using a more efficient binary encoding. It enables both lossless and lossy compression of the original CIF file.

RCSB PDB support is ready to assist with any issues or questions at info@rcsb.org.

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