DICOM
A standard file and communication format for medical imaging that can combine pixel data with patient, study, acquisition, and device metadata.
General information
- Format name
- Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
- Extension
.dcm- MIME type
application/dicom- Category
- image
- Data type
- Binary
- Developer
- National Electrical Manufacturers Association
Image properties
- Structure
- Raster
- Compression
- Varies
- Animation
- No
File signatures
| Offset | Hexadecimal | ASCII | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 128 | 44 49 43 4D | DICM | DICOM Part 10 files normally contain the DICM prefix after a 128-byte preamble. Some DICOM datasets are stored without this file meta-information header. |
Common uses
Medical imaging
Radiology
CT and MRI scans
Ultrasound images
Clinical image exchange
Related formats
Technical resources
| Resource | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|
| DICOM Standard | DICOM Standards Committee | Open resource ↗ |
| Media Types Registry | IANA | Open resource ↗ |
Record information
- Verified
- October 4, 2026
- Last updated
- October 4, 2026