FCS1.0 and FCS2.0 Data File format

FCS is the abreviation for Flow Cytometry Standard. Most of the commercially available flow cytometers save listmode and histogram data into FCS1.0 or FCS2.0 file format. The FCS2.0 format has been developed by the Data File Standard Committee of the Society for Flow Cytometry. The standard has been published in the following paper: Data File Standard for Flow Cytometry, Cytometry, 11:323-332. 1990.

FCS data files contain HEADER, TEXT, DATA and ANALYSIS parts.

Non-FCS file structure is used, for example, in the EPICS and Profile flow systems of the Coulter Corporation. The EPICS and Profile files can be converted to FCS files with the FCAP-inp communication program.