MINC1

MINC1 refers to MINC 1, the first version of the Medical Imaging NetCDF (MINC) file format and its accompanying software library for storing and processing medical imaging data. Developed in the 1990s by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and collaborators, MINC aimed to provide a flexible, self-describing format for multi-dimensional neuroimaging data and extensive metadata.

The MINC 1 data model stores image data and a comprehensive header describing image dimensions, voxel sizes, data types, and coordinate systems. In practice, image volumes are typically three-dimensional (x, y, z) with optional additional dimensions such as time or vector components. Metadata can include voxel-to-world coordinates, orientation information, units, acquisition parameters, and other per-volume attributes. MINC 1 uses a header structure that is accessible alongside the image data, and it is accessed through a suite of command-line tools.

MINC tools enable common image processing tasks such as data conversion, header inspection, and basic manipulation. The format was widely used in neuroimaging research during the 1990s and 2000s and influenced workflows that required a rich, self-describing header for complex datasets.

MINC 1 has largely been superseded by MINC 2, which employs the HDF5 data model and offers improved data integrity, extensibility, and interoperability with other formats. However, MINC 1 remains present in legacy datasets and older software pipelines. The MINC ecosystem also provides utilities for converting between MINC 1 and other formats, and for performing basic image processing and analysis within the MINC framework.