czi

CZI is an acronym that can refer to more than one topic. Notable uses include the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization, and the Carl Zeiss Image file format used in microscopy, which uses the .czi extension.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is a philanthropic organization founded in 2015 by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. It aims to advance science, education, and justice and opportunity by supporting research, collaborative projects, and technology initiatives. CZI operates through grants, partnerships, and technology platforms designed to enable scientists, educators, and communities to pursue ambitious goals. The organization emphasizes long-term impact, openness, and collaboration with academic, nonprofit, and industry partners to address complex social challenges.

Carl Zeiss Image File (CZI) is a proprietary image file format developed by Carl Zeiss for microscopy. It is designed to store multi-dimensional image data, including spatial dimensions, time sequences, multiple channels, and rich metadata about acquisition settings and specimen information. CZI is widely used with Zeiss instruments and associated software, such as ZEN, and supports advanced features for high-content and multi-channel imaging. Because it is proprietary, comprehensive public documentation is limited, though several open-source tools and libraries (for example, Bio-Formats and some imaging platforms) can read or convert CZI files. The format is intended to facilitate efficient storage and retrieval of large, complex microscopy datasets while preserving detailed metadata.