Programs to View, Validate, and Edit CIF Files

By Timothy Tibbetts

on 06/15/2023

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A reader asked us about programs to open CIF files. We admit this is one of those times we were stumped because we hadn't heard of a CIF file, but you learn something new every day.

Once we went to Wikipedia, we understood why we have never heard of the CIF format:

Crystallographic Information File (CIF) is a standard text file format for representing crystallographic information, promulgated by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). The IUCr Working Party developed CIF on Crystallographic Information in an effort sponsored by the IUCr Commission on Crystallographic Data and the IUCr Commission on Journals.

Now that we learned something new, how can you open or edit CIF files?

While there are numerous webpages and topics on how to open CIF files, it turns out your best bet is to go to the source. It only took a little research before we found a list of software at IUCr.

Depending on your needs, there are thirteen categories of apps to find the right app for your situation.

1. General STAR File utilities
2. CIF validation
3. Software libraries
4. File manipulation programs
5. coreCIF applications
6. pdCIF and msCIF applications
7. mmCIF applications
8. imgCIF/CBF applications
9. Editors with graphical user interfaces
10. Visualization tools
11. Rapid development tools
12. Obsolete or early development software
13. Other

Again, the website is https://www.iucr.org/resources/cif/software

We hope we were able to help.