WFDB C Software Package

The WFDB Software Package in C is the original, highly portable implementation of the WFDB standards for reading, writing, and analyzing physiological waveform data.

It was initially developed by George B. Moody in the late 1980s at MIT and continues to be actively maintained.

The C package provides both:

  • A core library (libwfdb) for reading and writing waveform and annotation data.
  • A suite of command-line applications for signal processing, visualization, and automated analysis.

Installation

Requirements

  • C compiler (e.g., gcc)
  • Recommended libraries:
    • libcurl (for reading remote files directly from PhysioNet)
    • libFLAC (for reading/writing compressed signal files)

Install via package managers (Linux)

You can install precompiled binaries via apt (Debian/Ubuntu systems):

sudo apt-get install wfdb-tools

Or, to compile from source:

Build from Source 

git clone https://github.com/MIT-LCP/wfdb-app-toolbox.git
cd wfdb-app-toolbox
./configure
make
sudo make install

This will build the libwfdb library and install over 70 command-line tools.

Repository and Contributions

Contributions are welcome! Please refer to the GitHub repository for issue tracking and pull requests.

Basic Usage Example

After installing, you can read a waveform record using one of the command-line tools, such as rdsamp:

rdsamp -r mitdb/100 -p

This command downloads and prints samples from record 100 of the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database hosted on PhysioNet.

Or you can compile a C program that uses the WFDB library:

#include <wfdb/wfdb.h>

int main(void) {
    WFDB_Sample v;
    WFDB_Anninfo ai;
    WFDB_Annotation annot;
    ai.name = "atr";
    ai.stat = WFDB_READ;

    if (annopen("mitdb/100", &ai, 1) < 0)
        return 1;

    while (getann(0, &annot) == 0) {
        printf("Annotation at sample %ld: type %d\n", annot.time, annot.anntyp);
    }
    return 0;
}

Features

  • Read and write WFDB-formatted signals and annotations
  • Support for compressed (.dat, .dat.gz, .dat.flac) and remote records
  • Extensive command-line tools (e.g., rdsamp, rdann, xform, snip, psd)
  • ANSI/ISO C compliance for cross-platform portability
  • C, C++, and Fortran compatibility

Citing

If you use the WFDB Software Package in your research, please cite:

Moody, G., Pollard, T., & Moody, B. (2022). WFDB Software Package (version 10.7.0). PhysioNet. https://doi.org/10.13026/gjvw-1m31