MATLAB: How does MATLAB 7.0.2 (R14SP2) read data that is saved using a non-native byte order format

Question

I have a MAT-File that was saved on a system that stores data in big endian format. I wish to read this data on a system that uses the little endian byte format to store data.

Answer 1

This enhancement has been incorporated in Release 2006b (R2006b). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:

MATLAB saves numeric data to a MAT-file in the native byte format. When MATLAB reads a MAT-file, it determines whether byte-swapping needs to be performed by looking at a 2-byte integer in the 128-byte MAT-File header.

For more information about the MAT-File format, refer to the following URL:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/pdf_doc/matlab/matfile_format.pdf

In the case of file I/O functions, you can use a third input argument with the FOPEN function to specify whether or not byte-swapping is necessary depending on the native byte order.