OpenTFRaw
OpenTFRaw is one of the vendor readers in
OpenProteo, a Rust- and
Python-native stack for proteomics raw-file access. Sibling readers:
OpenWRaw (Waters .raw/),
OpenTimsTDF (Bruker .d/).
OpenTFRaw is a Rust library that reads Thermo Fisher .raw
mass-spectrometry files - the binary format produced by Thermo
instruments from the LCQ Classic (mid-1990s) through the Orbitrap
Astral and modern TSQ triple quadrupoles.
It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with no dependency on the Thermo
.NET runtime or RawFileReader library. The format was decoded by
binary analysis of a public corpus of mass-spectrometry datasets
(PRIDE accessions); see CORPUS.md.
Optional Python bindings are available via the
opentfraw wheel.
What it covers
| Component | Status |
|---|---|
| File header + audit tags | supported |
| Sample information + sequence row | supported |
| RAW file info + instrument method block | supported |
| Run header (single + multi-controller) | supported |
| Scan index + trailer | supported |
| Scan-data packets (header + flat variants) | supported |
| Scan event hierarchy + filter strings | supported |
| Scan parameters + generic data section | supported |
| Error log + instrument log | supported |
| Device / instrument classification | best-effort |
| Full tune-method block | planned |
Supported format versions: 8, 47, 57, 60, 62, 63, 64, 66 (covering LCQ through Orbitrap Astral and modern TSQ).
Next steps
- Install the Rust crate or the Python package.
- Run through the Quickstart.
- Read the Format specification for the binary layer.
- Browse the API on docs.rs.
License
OpenTFRaw is Apache-2.0 licensed. See License.