Version 0.1 Specification

Last updated: July 08, 2026

Contents

• Array Standard
  • Format Requirements
  • Multiresolution
  • Additional Array Types
  • Dimensions
  • Data Types
  • Performance
  • Compression
  • Data Normalization
• Metadata Standard
  • OME-Zarr Metadata
  • Additional Metadata
• Validator
  • Install
  • CLI
  • Python API
  • Interpreting Results
  • S3 Access

Overview

The Dynamic Cell Atlas (DCA) data resource provides 5D fluorescence microscopy datasets in a standardized format that makes them interchangeable for further processing.

The DCA standard aims to be optimized for handling 5D datasets (3D+time+channels). It also supports 4D data (2D+time+channel, 3D+channel), but will not be optimized for it.

Use Cases

The standard is designed to support multiple use cases:

• Writing full arrays (data ingest)

• Reading full arrays (data processing such as denoising, AI inference)

• Reading partial arrays (visualization)

• Reading with (pseudo-)random access (training AI models)

• Copying full arrays (data management, backup)

While each use case might benefit from further optimization (e.g. chunk size), Zarr v3 chunking + sharding allows us to aim for a single array stored on disk that covers all use cases reasonably well.

Conformance

Throughout this document, conformance requirements are expressed with descriptive assertions using RFC 2119 terminology:

• MUST / REQUIRED / SHALL: Absolute requirement

• MUST NOT / SHALL NOT: Absolute prohibition

• SHOULD / RECOMMENDED: Strong recommendation

• SHOULD NOT / NOT RECOMMENDED: Strong discouragement

• MAY / OPTIONAL: Truly optional