Details: File format summary

Details for: Flexible Image Transport System

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Properties

Summary
Name	Flexible Image Transport System
Version
Other names	FITS
Identifiers	MIME: application/fits MIME: image/fits PUID: x-fmt/383
Family
Classification	Image (Raster)
Disclosure
Description	Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) is an open standard defining a digital file format useful for storage, transmission and processing of data: formatted as multi-dimensional arrays (for example a 2D image), or tables. FITS is the most commonly used digital file format in astronomy. The FITS standard was designed specifically for astronomical data, and includes provisions such as describing photometric and spatial calibration information, together with image origin metadata. The FITS format was first standardized in 1981; it has evolved gradually since then, and the most recent version (4.0) was standardized in 2016. FITS was designed with an eye towards long-term archival storage, and the maxim once FITS, always FITS represents the requirement that developments to the format must be backward compatible.
Orientation	Binary
Byte order	Big-endian (Motorola)
Related file formats	None.
Technical Environment
Released
Supported until
Format Risk
Developed by	None.
Supported by	None.
Source	Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives
Source date	11 Mar 2005
Source description	v.120- New description added as part of PRONOM Research Week 2024. Submitted by Brigham Young University.
Last updated	03 Jan 2025
Note