npTDMS
Cross-platform, NumPy based module for reading TDMS files produced by LabView
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. npTDMS is stable (Production/Stable status), actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a specific problem—TDMS I/O—with a minimal dependency footprint. The LGPL-3.0 copyleft license is standard for scientific tools but requires review if you ship proprietary code. Install it if you work with LabVIEW data or National Instruments DAQ systems.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python ≥3.9; does not support TDMS files with XML headers or extended precision floating point data.
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with only numpy as a runtime dependency.
- Active maintenance with a release 51 days ago and recent commits; supports Python 3.9–3.12.
License · maintenance · safety
LGPL-3.0-only (copyleft) — LGPL-3.0-only (copyleft): you may use and modify the package freely, but any derivative work must also be released under LGPL-3.0 or a compatible license. Proprietary applications using this package should review copyleft obligations.
last release 2026-06-24 (51 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-02 · 274 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 343,268 downloads/mo, #7,384 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
from nptdms import TdmsFile
tdms_file = TdmsFile.read("path_to_file.tdms")
group = tdms_file['group name']
channel = group['channel name']
channel_data = channel[:]- Performance characteristics when working with very large TDMS files or many channels.
- Completeness of write support relative to all TDMS file features produced by LabVIEW.
What it is and what it does
npTDMS is a Python library for reading and writing TDMS files, the binary format produced by LabVIEW and other National Instruments data acquisition tools. It exposes TDMS data as numpy arrays, making it easy to integrate acquired measurements into scientific Python workflows. The library understands TDMS's hierarchical structure—files contain groups, which contain channels, and channels hold the actual array data alongside metadata properties.
You can read entire files into memory with `TdmsFile.read()` for quick access, or use `TdmsFile.open()` for streaming access to large files when memory is constrained. Writing is supported through `TdmsWriter` and `ChannelObject`, allowing you to construct TDMS files from numpy arrays. Optional dependencies enable export to HDF5 (`hdf` extra) or pandas DataFrames (`pandas` extra), and thermocouple scaling support (`thermocouple_scaling` extra).
Use it for
- Import measurement data from LabVIEW DAQ systems into Python for analysis and visualization.
- Convert TDMS files to HDF5 or pandas DataFrames for use in machine learning or statistical pipelines.
- Archive or reformat acquired sensor data by reading TDMS and writing to a different format.
- Process large TDMS files with streaming access to avoid loading entire datasets into memory.
- Automate data extraction from multiple TDMS channels for batch processing or report generation.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
npTDMS is stable (Production/Stable status), actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a specific problem—TDMS I/O—with a minimal dependency footprint. The LGPL-3.0 copyleft license is standard for scientific tools but requires review if you ship proprietary code. Install it if you work with LabVIEW data or National Instruments DAQ systems.
Install
nptdms on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with only numpy as a runtime dependency. Active maintenance with a release 51 days ago and recent commits; supports Python 3.9–3.12.
Requires Python ≥3.9; does not support TDMS files with XML headers or extended precision floating point data.
License in practice
LGPL-3.0-only (copyleft): you may use and modify the package freely, but any derivative work must also be released under LGPL-3.0 or a compatible license. Proprietary applications using this package should review copyleft obligations.
Quickstart
from nptdms import TdmsFile
tdms_file = TdmsFile.read("path_to_file.tdms")
group = tdms_file['group name']
channel = group['channel name']
channel_data = channel[:]Verify before relying
- Performance characteristics when working with very large TDMS files or many channels.
- Completeness of write support relative to all TDMS file features produced by LabVIEW.
Package facts
| License | LGPL-3.0-only copyleft |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 1 packagenumpy |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 51 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 343,268 / month, #7,384 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchNatural Language :: EnglishOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Topic :: Scientific/Engineering |
Evidence: nptdms-1.11.0-py3-none-any.whl
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