Provided by: dcmtk_3.6.9-4_amd64 
NAME
dcm2json - Convert DICOM file and data set to JSON
SYNOPSIS
dcm2json [options] dcmfile-in [jsonfile-out]
DESCRIPTION
The dcm2json utility converts the contents of a DICOM file (file format or raw data set) to JSON
(JavaScript Object Notation). The output refers to the 'DICOM JSON Model', which is found in DICOM Part
18 Section F.
If dcm2json reads a raw data set (DICOM data without a file format meta-header), it will attempt to guess
the transfer syntax by examining the first few bytes of the file. It is not always possible to correctly
guess the transfer syntax and it is better to convert a data set to a file format whenever possible
(using the dcmconv utility). It is also possible to use the -f and -t[ieb] options to force dcm2json to
read a data set with a particular transfer syntax.
PARAMETERS
dcmfile-in DICOM input filename to be converted ('-' for stdin)
jsonfile-out JSON output filename (default: stdout)
OPTIONS
general options
-h --help
print this help text and exit
--version
print version information and exit
--arguments
print expanded command line arguments
-q --quiet
quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
-v --verbose
verbose mode, print processing details
-d --debug
debug mode, print debug information
-ll --log-level [l]evel: string constant
(fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
use level l for the logger
-lc --log-config [f]ilename: string
use config file f for the logger
input options
input file format:
+f --read-file
read file format or data set (default)
+fo --read-file-only
read file format only
-f --read-dataset
read data set without file meta information
input transfer syntax:
-t= --read-xfer-auto
use TS recognition (default)
-td --read-xfer-detect
ignore TS specified in the file meta header
-te --read-xfer-little
read with explicit VR little endian TS
-tb --read-xfer-big
read with explicit VR big endian TS
-ti --read-xfer-implicit
read with implicit VR little endian TS
processing options
encoding of infinity and not-a-number:
-es --encode-strict
report error for 'inf' and 'nan' (default)
-ee --encode-extended
permit 'inf' and 'nan' in JSON numbers
encoding of IS and DS (integer/decimal string) elements:
-ia --is-ds-auto
encode as number if valid, as string otherwise (default)
-in --is-ds-num
always encode as number, fail if invalid
-is --is-ds-string
always encode as string
output options
output format:
+fc --formatted-code
enable whitespace formatting (default)
# prints additional spaces and newlines for increased
# readability
-fc --compact-code
print only required characters
+m --write-meta
write data set with meta information
(warning: not conforming to the DICOM standard)
JSON Format
The basic structure of the JSON output created from a DICOM file looks like the following (see DICOM Part
18 Section F for details):
{
'00080005': {
'vr': 'CS',
'Value': [
'ISO_IR 192'
]
},
'00080020': {
'vr': 'DT',
'Value': [
'20130409'
]
},
'00080030': {
'vr': 'TM',
'Value': [
'131600.0000'
]
},
'00080050': {
'vr': 'SH',
'Value': [
'11235813'
]
},
'00080056': {
'vr': 'CS',
'Value': [
'ONLINE'
]
},
'00080061': {
'vr': 'CS',
'Value': [
'CT',
'PET'
]
},
'00080090': {
'vr': 'PN',
'Value': [
{
'Alphabetic': '^Bob^^Dr.'
}
]
},
'00081190': {
'vr': 'UR',
'Value': [
'http://wado.nema.org/studies/
1.2.392.200036.9116.2.2.2.1762893313.1029997326.945873'
]
},
'00090010': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'Vendor A'
]
},
'00091002': {
'vr': 'UN',
'InlineBinary': 'z0x9c8v7'
},
'00100010': {
'vr': 'PN',
'Value': [
{
'Alphabetic': 'Wang^XiaoDong'
}
]
},
'00100020': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'12345'
]
},
'00100021': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'Hospital A'
]
},
'00100030': {
'vr': 'DA',
'Value': [
'19670701'
]
},
'00100040': {
'vr': 'CS',
'Value': [
'M'
]
},
'00101002': {
'vr': 'SQ',
'Value': [
{
'00100020': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'54321'
]
},
'00100021': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'Hospital B'
]
}
},
{
'00100020': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'24680'
]
},
'00100021': {
'vr': 'LO',
'Value': [
'Hospital C'
]
}
}
]
},
'0020000D': {
'vr': 'UI',
'Value': [
'1.2.392.200036.9116.2.2.2.1762893313.1029997326.945873'
]
},
'00200010': {
'vr': 'SH',
'Value': [
'11235813'
]
},
'00201206': {
'vr': 'IS',
'Value': [
4
]
},
'00201208': {
'vr': 'IS',
'Value': [
942
]
}
}
Bulk Data
Binary data, i.e. DICOM element values with Value Representations (VR) of OB or OW, as well as OD, OF,
OL, OV and UN values are always written as 'InlineBinary' (base64 encoding) to the JSON output. A future
version of this tool might optionally use a 'BulkDataURI' instead, i.e. the WADO-RS URL of a bulk data
item that contains the element value. This would be particularly useful for large amounts of data, such
as pixel data.
NOTES
Numbers as Strings
The DICOM standard allows certain numeric DICOM value representations, DS, IS, SV and UV, to be converted
either to a JSON number or a JSON string. dcm2json converts DS and IS values to JSON numbers if they are
valid decimal strings or integer strings, and to strings if they contain any illegal character. dcm2json
converts SV and UV values to numbers if they are not larger than 9007199254740991ll or smaller than
-9007199254740991ll, and to strings otherwise. While the JSON specification permits larger numbers, these
are the largest integers that JavaScript can handle. Therefore, many JSON parsers cannot process larger
numbers.
Character Encoding
As required by the DICOM JSON encoding, dcm2json always creates output in Unicode UTF-8 encoding and
converts DICOM datasets accordingly. If this is not possible, for example because DCMTK has been compiled
without character set conversion support, an error is returned.
LOGGING
The level of logging output of the various command line tools and underlying libraries can be specified
by the user. By default, only errors and warnings are written to the standard error stream. Using option
--verbose also informational messages like processing details are reported. Option --debug can be used to
get more details on the internal activity, e.g. for debugging purposes. Other logging levels can be
selected using option --log-level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In such very severe
error events, the application will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging levels,
see documentation of module 'oflog'.
In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with logfile rotation), to syslog (Unix)
or the event log (Windows) option --log-config can be used. This configuration file also allows for
directing only certain messages to a particular output stream and for filtering certain messages based on
the module or application where they are generated. An example configuration file is provided in
<etcdir>/logger.cfg.
COMMAND LINE
All command line tools use the following notation for parameters: square brackets enclose optional values
(0-1), three trailing dots indicate that multiple values are allowed (1-n), a combination of both means 0
to n values.
Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+' or '-' sign, respectively.
Usually, order and position of command line options are arbitrary (i.e. they can appear anywhere).
However, if options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance is used. This behavior conforms to
the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.
In addition, one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign as a prefix to the filename
(e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is replaced by the content of the corresponding text file
(multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless they appear between two quotation marks)
prior to any further evaluation. Please note that a command file cannot contain another command file.
This simple but effective approach allows one to summarize common combinations of options/parameters and
avoids longish and confusing command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
EXIT CODES
The dcm2json utility uses the following exit codes when terminating. This enables the user to check for
the reason why the application terminated.
general
EXITCODE_NO_ERROR 0
EXITCODE_COMMANDLINE_SYNTAX_ERROR 1
input file errors
EXITCODE_CANNOT_READ_INPUT_FILE 20
EXITCODE_NO_INPUT_FILES 21
output file errors
EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_OUTPUT_FILE 40
processing errors
EXITCODE_CANNOT_CONVERT_TO_UNICODE 80
EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_VALID_JSON 81
ENVIRONMENT
The dcm2json utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified in the DCMDICTPATH
environment variable. By default, i.e. if the DCMDICTPATH environment variable is not set, the file
<datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built into the application (default for
Windows).
The default behavior should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH environment variable only used when
alternative data dictionaries are required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same format as
the Unix shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates entries. On Windows systems, a semicolon
(';') is used as a separator. The data dictionary code will attempt to load each file specified in the
DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.
The dcm2json utility will attempt to load character set mapping tables. This happens when DCMTK was
compiled with the oficonv library (which is the default) and the mapping tables are not built into the
library (default when DCMTK uses shared libraries).
The mapping table files are expected in DCMTK's <datadir>. The DCMICONVPATH environment variable can be
used to specify a different location. If a different location is specified, those mapping tables also
replace any built-in tables.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2016-2024 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.
Version 3.6.9 Wed Feb 19 2025 21:30:57 dcm2json(1)