How to open a .mat file
Quick, free ways to open MAT on any system.
A .mat file is a MATLAB Data File. If double-clicking does nothing, your computer simply does not have an app that reads MAT yet. Here is how to fix that on each operating system, using free software wherever possible.
Open a .mat file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .mat. Drop it into the WhatFileType file identifier, which reads its signature without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with MATLAB or GNU Octave.
- On Mac, use MATLAB or GNU Octave.
- On Linux, try GNU Octave or Python (scipy.io).
- Still stuck? Convert the .mat to csv, which opens more widely.
Best apps to open .mat files
Windows
- MATLAB
- GNU Octave
- Python (scipy.io)
macOS
- MATLAB
- GNU Octave
- Python (scipy.io)
Linux
- GNU Octave
- Python (scipy.io)
- MATLAB
!
Before you open it: Safe. A .mat file is numerical data. It stores variables, not executable code.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I open my .mat file?
Almost always because no installed app understands MAT. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads.
How do I open a .mat file without MATLAB?
Use GNU Octave, which is free and largely MATLAB-compatible, or read it in Python with scipy.io.loadmat.
What is inside a .mat file?
Saved MATLAB variables: matrices, arrays, structs and cell arrays, stored in binary with a text header naming the format version.