Nagura Lab Runs in your browser. Files never leave your computer.

What is a .dx file? JCAMP-DX or Agilent OpenLab, and how to tell

The extension .dx is used for two unrelated things. Spectrometers write JCAMP-DX spectra (IR, Raman, UV-Vis, NMR, mass spectra) with it, and Agilent's OpenLab CDS 2 uses it for each HPLC or GC injection. Both open in Nagura Lab, and you do not have to know which one you have.

The two kinds of .dx file

JCAMP-DXAgilent OpenLab CDS 2
What it holdsOne or more spectra, as textOne chromatography injection: signals, manifest, run details
Comes fromSpectroscopy software: IR, Raman, UV-Vis, NMR, mass spectrometryOpenLab CDS 2, from an HPLC or GC run
InsidePlain text: header lines such as ##TITLE=, then a data tableA zip archive (it begins with the letters PK)
Other extensions.jdx, .jcmNone; always .dx
GuideOpen a JCAMP-DX fileOpen an OpenLab .dx file

How to tell which one you have

  1. Where did it come from? From a spectrometer or its software: JCAMP-DX. From an Agilent chromatography run in OpenLab CDS 2: OpenLab.
  2. Open a copy in a text editor such as Notepad. Readable lines starting with ## mean JCAMP-DX. A wall of unreadable characters that starts with PK means a zip archive, so OpenLab.
  3. Or just drop it into Nagura Lab. It recognizes the file by its contents, not its extension, so a JCAMP-DX file and an OpenLab file both open without you choosing anything.

Open it in your browser

  1. Open Nagura Lab and drop the .dx file on the page, or use Open data and pick Files.
  2. A spectrum is plotted on the axis it was recorded on. A chromatography injection shows its signals, such as the DAD channels, named from the file's manifest.
  3. Download CSV gives the plotted data in columns, Download PNG gives the figure.

The file is decoded on your computer and never uploaded. If a .dx file is neither of the two, Nagura Lab says it cannot read it, and you can report it from the page.

More detail