Open HPLC and GC data files without the vendor software
Agilent ChemStation, OpenLab and MassHunter, Shimadzu LabSolutions and GCMSsolution, and Waters MassLynx save chromatograms in binary files that only their own software opens, and that software usually lives on the instrument PC. This converter reads the files directly and gives you every chromatogram as a CSV with retention time and response, an Excel workbook with charts, the diode-array spectra as a table, the peak table when the file holds one, and the sample details stored with the run. AIA / ANDI netCDF files, the exchange format most chromatography software can write, work too.
What to upload
| Software | Files | What is read |
|---|---|---|
| Agilent ChemStation | .ch signal files, .uv diode-array spectra, .ms MSD data, or the whole .D folder packed as a .zip | DAD, MWD, FID, TCD, RID, ADC and other single-channel detector signals, DAD spectra, MS scans and TIC, sample name, operator, method, injection date, vial, method report, peak tables from Report.TXT and REPORT*.CSV |
| Agilent OpenLab CDS | .dx result files, .D folders written by OpenLab | signals, spectra, instrument traces such as pump pressure, flow, solvent ratios and temperatures, injection volume and location |
| Agilent MassHunter | the .D folder (with its AcqData folder) packed as a .zip | DAD signals and spectra, pump, column oven and other module traces, the TIC and base peak stored for every MS scan, sample information, the MSD peak report (RESULTS.CSV) |
| Shimadzu LabSolutions | .lcd LC data files, .gcd GC data files | UV, RID, PDA, FID and other detector channels, PDA spectra, pump, oven, carrier gas and temperature traces, peak tables with compound names, the TIC of LC-MS scan events, sample information |
| Shimadzu GCMSsolution | .qgd GC-MS data files | every scan: TIC, base peak and all m/z values with their intensities, sample information |
| Waters MassLynx | the .raw folder packed as a .zip, or the files inside it | SIR and MRM channels, MS scans (quadrupole and Q-TOF) with TIC and base peak, PDA spectra, analog channels such as UV, ELSD, system pressure and %B |
| AIA / ANDI (netCDF) | .cdf chromatograms and ANDI-MS files from any software | the detector signal with its peak table, or every MS scan with its TIC |
Signal files in the ChemStation formats 30, 81, 130, 179 and 181 and spectra in the formats 31 and
131 were checked on real files; format 8 is read the same way as format 30 but no sample file was
available to check it. A .D or .raw folder is a directory: zip it first (Windows: right-click,
Send to, Compressed folder), or select the files inside it. A ZIP with several folders, or several
files, converts them all at once.
What you get
- One CSV per signal: retention time in minutes and the response in the unit the file names
(mAU, pA, nRIU, mV, µV …), with the signal description such as
DAD1A, Sig=280,4 Ref=offin the header. A decimal comma version for European Excel is one option away. - Diode-array (DAD/PDA) data as a time × wavelength table, plus chromatograms extracted at chosen wavelengths. By default these are the wavelengths of the run's own signals (with their bandwidth and reference wavelength), so you can compare them; otherwise 210, 230, 254 and 280 nm.
- MS data: the total ion chromatogram with the base peak of every scan and, where the file holds
the spectra in a form we could check (Agilent MSD, Shimadzu
.qgd, Waters MassLynx, ANDI-MS), a table of every m/z value and abundance up to five million rows. SIR and MRM channels come as one table per MassLynx function. - Peak tables exactly as the instrument software stored them (retention time, area, height, width, compound name and the other columns of the file), as a CSV and a sheet in the workbook. The converter never integrates by itself.
- Excel workbook with one sheet and chart per signal, the DAD chromatograms, the TIC, the peak
table, a list of all signals and a metadata sheet: sample, operator, method, instrument, injection
date, vial and signal descriptions as stored, plus the acquisition method report when the
.Dfolder has one.
How accurate is it?
Values are scaled with the factors stored in each file and were compared with the vendors' own exports and with independent readers. A ChemStation CSV export of a DAD trace, MassHunter TIC exports of eight runs, a GCsolution export and LabSolutions exports match every row and every peak table cell they print; AIA files read the same as with the netCDF-C library; Waters files match the values ProteoWizard gives with the MassLynx library and the totals MassLynx itself stored for every scan; the open-source readers rainbow, entab and chromConverter agree too. Times are the stored ones: for Shimadzu LC files the first point lies one sampling interval after the start, where LabSolutions exports repeat it once more at the start.
Privacy
Files are processed on our server only to produce your downloads. Uploads are deleted when the conversion finishes and results are deleted automatically after 30 minutes.
Not supported yet
Thermo .raw files, Waters SYNAPT and Xevo G2 class folders (ion mobility), netCDF-4 files and the
mass spectra of Shimadzu Q-TOF files are recognised and refused with an explanation. For MassHunter
folders and Shimadzu LC-MS files the TIC of every scan is exported, but not the mass spectra
themselves.