Supported inputs

VoilaBlot is instrument-agnostic. It works from the image — not from one vendor’s proprietary software — so you’re never locked to the imager that captured your blot. If you can export a picture of your membrane, VoilaBlot can quantify it.

Image file formats

Upload any of these directly. For quantitative work, format matters: lossless files preserve the pixel values densitometry depends on, while lossy compression can silently distort them.

TIFF

.tif · .tiffRecommended

Lossless, and the format your imager writes natively. Both 8-bit and 16-bit TIFFs are supported. Prefer 16-bit: it carries 65,536 intensity levels instead of 256, and VoilaBlot quantifies 16-bit TIFFs at full precision against the original dynamic range rather than an 8-bit down-scaled view.

PNG

.pngGood

Lossless, so pixel intensities are preserved exactly. A solid choice when a 16-bit TIFF isn’t available — though PNG is 8-bit per channel, so you lose the extra dynamic range a 16-bit TIFF would give you.

JPEG

.jpg · .jpegWorks — with a caveat

VoilaBlot will read a JPEG, but its lossy compression can distort quantification: JPEG discards image information and introduces block artifacts around bands, which shifts integrated-intensity values. Fine for a quick look; avoid it for numbers you intend to publish. If a JPEG is all you have, re-export the original from the imager as TIFF or PNG first.

Imagers & scanners it works with

Because every one of these exports a standard image, VoilaBlot works with all of them — chemiluminescence, fluorescence / near-infrared, and scanned film alike. This list isn’t exhaustive: if your instrument can save a TIFF, PNG, or JPEG, you’re covered.

  • Bio-Rad ChemiDoc / GelDoc

    Chemiluminescence & gel documentation

  • LI-COR Odyssey

    Near-infrared fluorescence

  • Amersham / Cytiva ImageQuant

    Chemiluminescence & fluorescence

  • Amersham / Cytiva Typhoon

    Laser-scanner fluorescence

  • Azure Biosystems

    Chemi, fluorescent & visible

  • GE ImageQuant

    Legacy GE imaging systems

  • Syngene

    G:BOX & related documentation systems

  • Scanned film / autorads

    Flatbed-scanned X-ray film

Proprietary raw instrument files — for example Bio-Rad .scn scans, or any other vendor-specific container — can’t be read directly. Open them in the imager’s own software and export to TIFF first (16-bit if the option is offered), then upload that.

Getting the cleanest quantification

The single biggest determinant of a defensible densitometry result is the image you start from. A few habits at export time make the difference:

  • Export the raw, unadjusted image. Don’t bake brightness or contrast changes into the saved file — adjusting the display is fine, but quantification must run on the original pixel values. Save the untouched capture and let VoilaBlot handle display scaling.
  • Prefer 16-bit TIFF over 8-bit. More intensity levels mean more headroom for faint and bright bands to be measured on the same scale, and VoilaBlot uses the full 16-bit range for its math.
  • Avoid saturated bands. A band that has hit the detector’s ceiling can’t be quantified — the extra signal is simply invisible. Shorten the exposure so even your strongest band stays below saturation.
  • Don’t crop away the background. Background subtraction needs clean membrane around each band to estimate the local baseline. Leave a margin of blank membrane in the exported image; tight crops that trim the surrounding background remove the very pixels VoilaBlot samples.
Have an imager or file type you’d like us to support? hello@voilascience.com— Team VoilaScience