mat-io

library1.0.0pypypi✓ verified 89d ago

A modern Python library for reading and writing MATLAB .mat files (v7 and v7.3 formats) with native support for MATLAB datatypes like table, string, datetime, struct, and cell. Version 0.7.1 runs on Python ≥3.11. Development is active, with regular releases.

data serialization

pip install mat-io

github ↗package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · MAT-IO

mat-io

datapythonv1.0.0

Install

11.3s avg

Import

—

Disk

326MB

Pass rate

8/ 10

Env Coverage8 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v0.4.2 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

glibc

py 3.10

✓ —

✓ 11.4s

py 3.11

✓ —

✓ 10.9s

py 3.12

✓ —

✓ 11.2s

py 3.13

✓ —

✓ 11.8s

py 3.9

✕ build_error

326MB installed

● package 326MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

load_from_mat

✓ from matio import load_from_mat

✗ from matio import MatFileReader

save_to_mat

✓ from matio import save_to_mat

whosmat

✓ from matio import whosmat

Load a .mat file and print variable names.

from matio import MatFileReader import os filename = 'example.mat' if os.path.exists(filename): reader = MatFileReader(filename) data = reader.read() print(data.keys()) else: print('File not found.')

Debug

Known issues

breakingPython >=3.11 required; no support for older Python versions.

fix

Upgrade Python to 3.11 or later.

affects: <0.5.0 or Python<3.11

gotchaMATLAB string arrays containing NaN are not supported in write operations (v0.5.2+).

fix

Use missing strings or convert NaN to empty strings before saving.

affects: >=0.5.2

deprecatedThe old scipy.io.loadmat is not a drop-in replacement; mat-io has different API and handles newer MATLAB types.

fix

Use mat-io's MatFileReader for proper table/string support.

affects: all

Upgrade

Version history

1.0.0latest on PyPI · released May 17, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

numpyrequiredRequired for array data handling

h5pyoptionalRequired for v7.3 HDF5-based files

Agent activity

4 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/foreverallama/matio ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/mat-io/ ↗