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This vignette is based on readJDX version 0.6.4.

1 Background

The JCAMP-DX format was developed as an manufacturer-independent means of sharing spectroscopic data. The standard is described in a series of publications (McDonald and Wilks 1988; Grasselli 1991; A. Davies and Lampen 1993; Lampen et al. 1994, 1999; Baumbach et al. 2001; Cammack et al. 2006; Woollett et al. 2012). There is a recent overview of the standard (A. N. Davies et al. 2022). JCAMP-DX was developed during a time when data storage was expensive, and hence makes extensive use of compression schemes. The original application was to IR spectroscopy, but the standard has evolved over time to accommodate other spectroscopies.

2 File Structure

JCAMP-DX files consist of two parts:

3 Challenges When Reading Files

The JCAMP-DX standard allows a lot of flexibility and instrument manufacturers have written widely varying export functions. Some of the challenges in reading a JCAMP-DX file include:

4 Supported Formats

5 Formats That are Not Supported

6 Practical Matters

readJDX tries its best to deal with all these options. If you have a file that you believe should be supported but gives an error, please file an issue at GitHub. Be sure to attach the file that is giving you problems.

Before release, readJDX is tested against a large collection of files with varying formats. A few of these files were obtained locally. Others were collected from publically available sources (e.g. www.jcamp-dx.org). These files are not included with the package to save space, and in addition, while they are publically available, for many of them the licensing status is unclear (i.e. the OWNER entry).

The JCAMP standard requires a number of checks on the integrity of the data decompression process. readJDX implements most of these either directly or indirectly. Verification is important, and we have found JCAMP files that were not written correctly in the process of checking integrity. For details about how data decompression is checked, please see the original source files.

References

Baumbach, JI, AN Davies, P Lampen, and H Schmidt. 2001. JCAMP-DX. A Standard Format for the Exchange of Ion Mobility Spectrometry Data - (IUPAC recommendations 2001).” Pure and Applied Chemistry 73 (11): 1765–82. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac200173111765/html.
Cammack, R, Y Fann, RJ Lancashire, JP Maher, PS McIntyre, and R Morse. 2006. JCAMP-DX for electron magnetic resonance(EMR).” Pure and Applied Chemistry 78 (3): 613–31. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac200678030613/html.
Davies, AN, and P Lampen. 1993. JCAMP-DX for NMR.” Applied Spectroscopy 47 (8): 1093–99.
Davies, Antony N., Robert M. Hanson, Peter Lampen, and Robert J. Lancashire. 2022. “An Overview of the JCAMP-DX Format.” Pure and Applied Chemistry 94 (6): 705–23. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/pac-2021-2010/html.
Gasteiger, J., B. M. P. Hendricks, Hoever P., Jochum C., and Somberg H. 1991. JCAMP-CS: A Standard Exchange Format for Chemical Structure Information in a Computer-Readible Form.” Applied Spectroscopy 45 (1): 4–11.
Grasselli, JG. 1991. JCAMP-DX, A Standard Format for Exchange of Infrared-Spectra in Computer Readible Form.” Pure and Applied Chemistry 63 (12): 1781–92. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac199163121781/html.
Lampen, P, H Hillig, AN Davies, and M Linscheid. 1994. JCAMP-DX for Mass Spectrometry.” Applied Spectroscopy 48 (12): 1545–52.
Lampen, P, J Lambert, RJ Lancashire, RS McDonald, PS McIntyre, DN Rutledge, T Frohlich, and AN Davies. 1999. An Extension to the JCAMP-DX Standard File Format, JCAMP-DX V.5.01 (IUPAC Recommendations 1999).” Pure and Applied Chemistry 71 (8): 1549–56. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac199971081549/html.
McDonald, RS, and PA Wilks. 1988. JCAMP-DX, A Standard Format for Exchange of Infrared-Spectra in Computer Readible Form.” Applied Spectroscopy 42 (1): 151–62.
Woollett, Benjamin, Daniel Klose, Richard Cammack, Robert W. Janes, and B. A. Wallace. 2012. JCAMP-DX for circular dichroism spectra and metadata (IUPAC Recommendations 2012).” Pure and Applied Chemistry 84 (10): 2171–82. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1351/PAC-REC-12-02-03/html.

  1. Professor Emeritus of Chemistry & Biochemistry, DePauw University, Greencastle IN USA., ↩︎

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