CFITSIO is a library of C and Fortran subroutines for reading and writing data files in FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) data format. CFITSIO provides simple high-level routines for reading and writing FITS files that insulate the programmer from the internal complexities of the FITS format. CFITSIO also provides many advanced features for manipulating and filtering the information in FITS files.

Download the latest 4.0.0 version of CFITSIO - see what's new

(Files may also be directly retrieved from the ftp area).
• Latest V4.0.0 source code package - Compile It Yourself
  • Unix .tar file cfitsio-4.0.0.tar.gz - see the README file for instructions. The .tar file places unpacks files into a directory named 'cfitsio-4.0.0'.
    (The latest version is always available from this link: cfitsio_latest.tar.gz).

  • Windows PC cfit-4.0.0.zip file - see the README.win file for build instructions.

• Unsupported previous versions of CFITSIO and FITSIO

Documentation:

• How to install CFITSIO on Mac OS X.
• How to compile CFITSIO with the Android NDK:
  • Android.mk contains a general explanation of the procedure, and
  • build.sh explains how to do the actual cross-compilation.
• Various sample multi-threaded test programs. CFITSIO Quick Start Guide (also PDF version or .tar file of all the html pages).
• C Programmer Reference Guide (also PDF version or .tar file of all the html pages).
• Fortran Programmer Reference Guide (also PDF version).

• Examples of CFITSIO's Extended File Name Filters
• Data compression support in CFITSIO.
• Background information about CFITSIO
• Acknowledgements of some (mainly early) contributors to CFITSIO
• Some major users of CFITSIO (not comprehensive nor up-to-date)

• The FITS Support Office - a large and fairly complete source of information about FITS
• FITS resources at the HEASARC - General information about the FITS format

Help Desk:

• Submit questions or bug reports related to CFITSIO to the CFITSIO/CCFITS help desk.

Related Software Tools:

• Example C programs - Suite of small FITS utility programs in C showing how to use CFITSIO
• Example Fortran program - Fortran example program that calls CFITSIO subroutines
• Verify any FITS file using a Web form. Can also download this utility program to run on your local machine.
• fpack and funpack - FITS image compression utilities that give higher compression and are faster than gzip. (fpack Users Guide)
• Fv - The FITS file viewer and editor
• Hera - a large package of FITS file analysis programs that can be run from your web browser.

Interfaces for calling CFITSIO from Other Programming Languages:

Contact the original developer for questions about these interfaces.
• C++: CCfits
• C-sharp: FitsLib (no longer supported; use CSharpFITS instead.)
• Perl: CFITSIO.pm
• Tcl: fitsTcl
• Python: PFITS
• Ruby: RFits
• S-lang: CFITSIO wrappers for the S-lang programmer's library and interpreter.
• MatLab: MFITSIO-1.2.4 (this has been unsupported for many years)
• LabVIEW: GFITSIO -
• Adobe Photoshop: Liberator