What is a VMS file? A VMS file is a slide specimen image created by Hamamatsu NanoZoomer, a pathology slide scanning device. It is a compressed archive that contains an index file, two or more .JPEG images, and an optimization file. VMS files can be viewed using the slide-viewing software that comes with NanoZoomer or in other slide-viewing applications.

More Information Digital slide scanners and virtual microscopes save slide specimen images in a variety of image formats. Hamamatsu NanoZoomer saves slide images in the VMS, .VMU , and .NDPI formats. The VMS format packages a single slide image as at least two JPEGs. One JPEG contains a high-resolution copy of the slide, and the other contains a lower-resolution copy. If the high-resolution image would be larger than 65,535 pixels on one side, NanoZoomer instead saves the high-resolution image as multiple JPEGs, which slide-viewing software automatically combines into one image. In addition to JPEG files, VMS files contain plain text index and optimization files. These files contain metadata that slide-viewing applications use to show slide images correctly.