Extract text from CRAM files
To convert your CRAM file to another format, you need Samtools or other Data software.
To convert other file formats to the "Bioinformatics & Filesystems" file type, you need software like Samtools or a similar tool.
The .CRAM format primarily serves as a high-efficiency compressed storage standard for genomic sequencing data, developed by the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. It is essentially a modernized, space-saving alternative to the industry-standard BAM (Binary Alignment/Map) format. While .CRAM files can reduce storage footprints by 30-50% compared to BAM, this efficiency comes with significant friction: the format often relies on reference-based compression. If you do not possess the exact reference genome file used during compression, the file may be unreadable or incomplete. Furthermore, decoding .CRAM files is computationally intensive, creating bottlenecks in high-throughput bioinformatics pipelines.
For general analysis, visualization, or sharing with collaborators who lack specialized tools like Samtools or IGV, users frequently need to convert .CRAM back to the ubiquitous BAM format or the human-readable SAM text format. A secondary, distinct use of the .CRAM extension is for CramFS (Compressed ROM File System) images used in embedded Linux systems. These are read-only filesystems designed for small footprint devices. These images are often difficult to mount on modern Linux kernels which favor SquashFS. To access the data inside a legacy CramFS image, the most practical solution is converting the file structure into a standard archive format like TAR or extracting the contents directly.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CRAM file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CRAI, TBI, AVI, PDF, BAM, ZLIB, LAZ and VCF files.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our CRAM converter.