View LIF files in your browser
The project file Leica's confocals and widefield microscopes save, every image of a session in one. Open one right here, each image under Images. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your image opens with each channel in its own color, mixed as the microscope's software shows them, with Z, time and scenes on sliders.
- Channels • Each in its color with its own levels
- Z, time and scenes • A slider each
- Measure • Lengths in µm, with a scale bar
- Export • Save the view as PNG or the plane as OME-TIFF
About LIF
Leica's LAS X, and LAS AF before it, keep a whole session's images in one LIF project: every stack, time-lapse and tile scan from STELLARIS and SP8 confocals, THUNDER imagers and DMi8 stands, in the folders they were sorted into.
A LIF starts with an XML document that describes each image: its channels and their colors, its dimensions with how far apart their steps are, the objective, and when each plane was taken. The pixels follow in memory blocks, one for each image, kept as they came off the detector.
Filepeek reads it in your browser. The images are listed down the left by their folders, each channel is mixed in its color on your graphics card with its own levels, Z, time and tile positions go where they belong, Measure gives lengths in µm, and Export saves the view as PNG or the plane as OME-TIFF.
Leica Image File
.lif
Format
- MIME type
- application/octet-stream
- Made by
- Leica Microsystems, for its LAS X software
Inside the file
- Pixels
- 8, 16 or 32 bit
- Holds
- A session's images, in folders
- Each image
- Channels, Z, time and tiles
- Metadata
- XML of the microscope and the run
Opens in every browser
Filepeek opens LIF in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. No browser shows it by itself.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open LIF
- WindowsFiji with Bio-Formats and QuPath, free • LAS X
- MacFiji with Bio-Formats and QuPath, free
- iPhone and iPadNo app built in opens it
- AndroidNo app built in opens it
Questions
How do I open a LIF file?
Drop it on this page or press Peek a LIF. Its images are listed under Images by the folders LAS X sorted them into, and the first opens with each channel in its color.
Why does my LIF hold so many images?
LAS X saves a whole project in one LIF, so every stack, time-lapse and tile scan of a session lands in the same file. Pick one under Images, or step through them with the Scene slider.
Why is my LIF black in other apps?
Leica's detectors keep 12 or 16 bits, far more levels than a screen shows. Filepeek sets each channel's levels from its own values, and Auto in Channels sets them again for the plane on show.
Can I measure a cell?
Yes. Turn on Measure and drag across it. The length shows in µm from the pixel size the file keeps, and the scale bar follows the zoom.
Does it open LOF and XLEF files?
LAS X's XLEF projects keep each image in a LOF file of its own, which this viewer doesn't read. LAS X can save the project as a LIF, which opens here.