brain images: convert between different formats

1 min read

For single file to single file conversion, you usually use mri_convert of freesurfer. For example
mri_convert x.img y.nii

Other options would be LONI Debabeler or MRICro.

Here are some special cases:
multiple 3D ANALYZE to a single 4D Nifti: mri_concat
mri_concat is a program of freesurfer. Assume the original image files are f001.img, f002.img … etc. The output file is f.nii.

mri_concat f???.img --o f.nii

You can also use FSL’s fslmerge to achieve the same thing (but pay attention to your fsl environment setting for default output format).
multiple DICOM to other format
To convert DICOM files to other format, use mri_convert

mri_convert I0001.dcm  T1.mgz

If you have a bunch of DICOM files (slices) for a single brain, you only need to input the 1st one as the argument of mri_convert.

Another way is to use SPM’s DICOM import. In the end you get ANALYZE files.
GE 7 file to ANALYZE or Nifti: makevols and makenifti
.7 files are functional images produced by GE scanners in Stanford. You use makevols to convert.

makevols E*P*.7 I
rename I.V I_ I.V*

You will get a bunch of .img/.hdr files.
To make a Nifti file, you run

makenifti Efilename outfilename

The output is a single nii file (outfilename.nii).

Note: If you rename the .7 files, you might not get makevols to work. For example, if you rename P06144.7 to P06144_mer1.7, makevols doesn’t work (only produces a lot .hdr files but not .img files).

makevols and makenifti are written by Dr. Gary Glover at Stanford University. Here you can download the two programs.

Check out here to see how to convert images with different number of bytes per voxel.



写作助手,把中式英语变成专业英文


AI writing papers with real references


Want to receive new post notification? 有新文章通知我

第七十三期fNIRS Journal Club视频 梁正博士 赵庆柏课题组

Youtube: https://youtu.be/5r8OR9rmDxo 优酷:https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjU0ODIxNDEwNA==.html 创造性思维是
Wanling Zhu
20 sec read

第七十三期fNIRS Journal Club通知2026/7/11, 10am 赵庆柏教授

创造性思维是人类高级认知的重要体现,也是教育、创新与团队协作等领域关注的核心问题。近年来,功能性近红外光谱(fNIRS)凭借其良好的生态效度和多人同步测量优势,为创造性思维及其社会互动神经机制的研究提
Wanling Zhu
13 sec read

第七十二期fNIRS Journal Club视频 曹家铭博士

Youtube: https://youtu.be/9mY_m7C8Z8s 优酷:https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjU0MTE5NjMwNA==.html 随着近年来深
Wanling Zhu
16 sec read

2 Replies to “brain images: convert between different formats”

  1. Hi Professor,

    Is it possible to convert/merge multiple 3D Analyze files into a single 4D NIFTI using R?

    Thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *