Free Online TI Workbench DTF Viewer (No Signup)
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What Is a TI Workbench DTF File?
TI Workbench is a Mac program from Takeshi Inoue’s laboratory at Waseda University in Tokyo for acquiring and analysing microscope camera images together with electrophysiology recordings, used above all for calcium imaging. It saves an image sequence as a .dts file and the full-frame picture taken beside a sequence as a .dtf file.
Each file is a train of data segments: a header with the camera region, the binning, the data id and a comment, then the frames, stored plain or with the program’s Huffman compression, and often a short property list with the objective, the filter device and the focus position. Other programs cannot open these files, so labs usually export TIFF from TI Workbench to share them.
This viewer reads the file with its own decoder, in your browser, and shows the first frame as a greyscale picture, contrast-stretched the way imaging software shows a camera frame. It exports as PNG, JPG or PDF.
Who Uses TI Workbench DTF Files?
Neuroscience and physiology labs that image cells with TI Workbench, students and collaborators who receive .dtf or .dts files without a Mac running TI Workbench, and anyone going through old imaging data who needs to see what a file holds.
Common Use Cases
- See a TI Workbench .dtf or .dts frame without TI Workbench
- Check which field of view a file holds before analysing it
- Open imaging data on Windows, a Chromebook or a phone
- Save a PNG or JPG of a frame for a lab meeting, a notebook or an email
- Find a file’s image size, bit depth, binning and objective
Features
Opens .dtf and .dts Files
Full-frame images and sequences saved by TI Workbench, recognised by their content, also inside a .zip.
Huffman Compression
Frames saved with TI Workbench’s Compress option are decoded, and so are plain ones.
8 and 16 Bits
Camera frames at 8 and 16 bits per pixel, from Intel and PowerPC Macs alike.
Automatic Contrast
The frame is stretched between its darkest and brightest pixels so it reads clearly.
Status Line
Bit depth, compression, binning, frame count, objective and data id under the picture.
Export to PNG, JPG or PDF
Save the frame from the Export menu for a lab meeting, a notebook or an email.
Nothing Is Uploaded
The frame is decoded entirely in your browser. No account, no upload, no copy of your data on a server.
Share and Embed
Send a link that opens the picture in any browser, or put the viewer in your own page with one iframe.
Compatibility & Format Notes
The viewer reads TI Workbench image segments from Intel and PowerPC Macs alike, in the current “newformat” layout and in the classic layout, with frames stored plain or Huffman compressed, at 8 or 16 bits per pixel. The picture size comes from the camera region and the binning in the header.
The first frame of the first image segment is shown, stretched between its darkest and brightest pixels for display. The status line gives the bit depth, the compression, the binning, the number of frames, the objective and the data id.
Later frames of a sequence, ratio and calcium calculations, regions of interest and electrophysiology (A/D) data are not shown; for those, use TI Workbench itself. Nothing is sent to a server.
Embed on Your Website
Add this viewer to your own site with a single line of HTML. Click Embed in the toolbar to generate an embed code, or use the snippet below with your own file URL.
Your Files Stay on Your Computer
Your TI Workbench DTF files are parsed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or shared unless you explicitly click the Share button. Shared files are hosted for 90 days then deleted.
Frequently Asked Questions
▶How do I open a .dtf file from TI Workbench?
Drop it on this page. The viewer decodes the frame in your browser and shows it as a greyscale picture, on Windows, a Mac, a Chromebook, Linux or a phone alike. From the Export menu you can save it as PNG, JPG or PDF.
▶Why does my picture look brighter than in TI Workbench?
A camera frame rarely fills the whole 16-bit range, so the viewer stretches the frame between its darkest and brightest pixels for display. TI Workbench uses the display range you set there. The pixel values in the file are not changed.
▶My .dts sequence shows only one frame. Why?
The viewer shows the first frame of the file, and the status line says how many frames the file holds. To see the whole sequence or its time course, open it in TI Workbench or export it from there as a TIFF stack for ImageJ or Fiji.
▶Is this a DTF printing (direct-to-film) file?
No. The .dtf extension is used by several unrelated programs. The viewer recognises TI Workbench files by their content, whatever their name, and opens only those as microscope images.
▶Is this TI Workbench viewer really free?
Yes, completely free. No signup, no watermarks, no file size limits on the viewer (the optional share-link feature has a 100 MB upload cap). Built by Innerscene as a tool for architects, engineers, and designers.
▶Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. All parsing, rendering, and conversion runs in your browser: nothing is uploaded, stored, or transmitted by default. The Share button is the only feature that uploads a file, and only when you explicitly click it.
▶Can I convert to another format?
Yes, to image formats. Click Export in the toolbar to save the frame as a PNG, a JPG or a PDF. The viewer does not write .dtf or .dts.
▶Can I embed this viewer on my own site?
Yes. Click Embed in the toolbar to generate a one-line <iframe> snippet you can paste into any HTML page. You can choose whether the embed shows the viewer’s toolbar.
TI Workbench is software of the Inoue laboratory, Waseda University. Innerscene is not affiliated with it.