1. NWB:N Storage

1.1. What is the role of data storage?

The NWB:N format specification defined using the NWB:N specification language describes how to organize large collections of neuroscience data using basic primitives, e.g., Files, Groups, Datasets, Attributes, and Links to describe and hierarchically group data. The role of the data storage then is to store large collections of neuroscience data. In other words, the role of the storage is to map NWB:N primitives (and types, i.e., neurodata_types) to persistent storage. For an overview of the various components of the NWB:N project see here .

1.2. How are NWB:N files stored?

The NWB:N format currently uses HDF5 as primary storage mechanism. The mapping of the NWB:N format to HDF5 files is described in more detail in Section 2.

1.3. Are backends other than HDF5 supported?

NWB:N currently only officially supports HDF5 as main storage backend. However, the PyNWB API has been designed to enable the design of custom read/write backends for the API, enabling other storage backends to be mapped to NWB:N.