VCF Files

VCF is a text file format that contains information about variants found at specific positions in a reference genome. The file format consists of meta-information lines, a header line, and then data lines. Each data line contains information about a single variant.

Use VCF files for direct interpretation or as a starting point for further analysis with downstream analysis that is compatible with VCF, such as IGV or the UCSC Genome Browser. Do not use VCF files with tools that are not compatible with the VCF format, such as Outlook.

If you use a BaseSpace Sequence Hub app that uses VCF files as input, the app locates the file when launched. If using VCF files in other tools, download the file to use it in the external tool.