Wiggle Track ASCII Text Format (.wig)

Wiggle files and its bedgraph variant allow you to plot quantitative data as either shades of color (dense mode) or bars of varying height (full and pack mode) on the genome. Both are text files that are easy to create, but need to be converted for actual use by the genome browser.

The bedGraph format is a very similar format for sparse data or data that contains elements of varying size. bedGraph can also be converted to compressed/indexed binary bigWig files. If you have other data to show in addition to the quantitative data, e.g. data you want to show on mouseover or when the user clicks the feature (like GWAS data), you should have a look at bigBed files with the "lollipop" type (contact us for more info). For a list of all possible formats for graphing, see the following wiki page.

Text files in wiggle format can be uploaded as custom tracks as-is to UCSC where they are compressed and stored for some time. But we recommand that you convert them on your own computer to the binary bigWig storage format. You then copy bigWig files onto your own webserver and they are referenced in custom tracks or track hubs via their URL.

Unlike bigWig binar files, wiggle ASCII text files can be uploaded as custom tracks onto our server. After the upload, wiggle data is compressed and stored internally in 128 unique bins. This compression means that there is a minor loss of precision when data is exported from a wiggle track (i.e., with output format "data points" or "bed format" within the Table Browser). For custom tracks, use the bedGraph format if it is important to retain exact data when exporting. However, the size of all custom tracks is limited. For these reasons, we recommend always converting wiggle files to the bigWig storage format and reference these from your custom tracks or track hubs via their URL.

General structure

Wiggle format is line-oriented. For wiggle custom tracks, the first line must be a track definition line (i.e., track type=wiggle_0), which designates the track as a wiggle track and adds a number of options for controlling the default display. For conversion to bigWig, the most common use case, this line must not be present.

Wiggle format is composed of declaration lines and data lines, and require a separate wiggle track definition line. There are two options for formatting wiggle data: variableStep and fixedStep. These formats were developed to allow the file to be written as compactly as possible.

variableStep format

This format is used for data with irregular intervals between new data points, and is the more commonly used wiggle format. After the wiggle track definition line, variableStep begins with a declaration line and is followed by two columns containing chromosome positions and data values: 

variableStep  chrom=chrN
[span=windowSize]
  chromStartA  dataValueA
  chromStartB  dataValueB
  ... etc ...  ... etc ...

The declaration line starts with the word variableStep and is followed by a specification for a chromosome. The optional span parameter (default: span=1) allows data composed of contiguous runs of bases with the same data value to be specified more succinctly. The span begins at each chromosome position specified and indicates the number of bases that data value should cover. For example, this variableStep specification:

variableStep chrom=chr2
300701 12.5
300702 12.5
300703 12.5
300704 12.5
300705 12.5

is equivalent to:

variableStep chrom=chr2 span=5
300701 12.5

Both versions display a value of 12.5 at position 300701-300705 on chromosome 2.

Caution about sparse variableStep data: The wiggle format was designed for quickly displaying data that is quite dense. The variableStep format, in particular, becomes very inefficient when there are only a few data points per 1,024 bases. If variableStep data points (i.e., chromStarts) are greater than about 100 bases apart, it is advisable to use BedGraph format.

fixedStep format

This format is used for data with regular intervals between new data values and is the more compact wiggle format. After the wiggle track definition line, fixedStep begins with a declaration line and is followed by a single column of data values: 

fixedStep  chrom=chrN
start=position  step=stepInterval
[span=windowSize]
  dataValue1
  dataValue2
  ... etc ...

The declaration line starts with the word fixedStep and includes specifications for chromosome, start coordinate, and step size. The span specification has the same meaning as in variableStep format. For example, this fixedStep specification:

fixedStep chrom=chr3 start=400601 step=100
11
22
33

displays the values 11, 22, and 33 as single-base regions on chromosome 3 at positions 400601, 400701, and 400801, respectively. Adding span=5 to the declaration line:

fixedStep chrom=chr3 start=400601 step=100 span=5
11
22
33

causes the values 11, 22, and 33 to be displayed as 5-base regions on chromosome 3 at positions 400601-400605, 400701-400705, and 400801-400805, respectively.

Note that for both variableStep and fixedStep formats, the same span must be used throughout the dataset. If no span is specified, the default span of 1 is used. As the name suggests, fixedStep wiggles require the same size step throughout the dataset. If not specified, a step size of 1 is used.

Data values

Wiggle track data values can be integer or real, positive or negative values. Only positions specified have data. Positions not specified do not have data and will not be graphed. All positions specified in the input data must be in numerical order. NaN values are not supported by the browser and, if included, may have unforeseen effects.

1-start coordinate system in use for variableStep and fixedStep

The bedGraph format, like all BED-based formats and most file formats used by UCSC, use "0-start, half-open" coordinates, but the wiggle ASCII text format for variableStep and fixedStep data uses "1-start, fully-closed" coordinates. Wiggle (variableStep and fixedStep) is the only format defined by UCSC that uses a 1-based format, for historical reasons. For example, for a chromosome of length N, the first position is 1 and the last position is N. For more information, see:

Parameters for custom wiggle track definition lines

All options are placed in a single line separated by spaces (line breaks are inserted in the following example to facilitate readability):

track type=wiggle_0 name=track_label
description=center_label
visibility=display_mode color=r,g,b
altColor=r,g,b priority=priority
autoScale=on|off alwaysZero=on|off
gridDefault=on|off
maxHeightPixels=max:default:min
graphType=bar|points
viewLimits=lower:upper
yLineMark=real-value yLineOnOff=on|off
windowingFunction=mean+whiskers|maximum|mean|minimum
smoothingWindow=off|2-16

The track type with version is REQUIRED, and it currently must be wiggle_0:

type wiggle_0

The remaining values are OPTIONAL:

name              <trackLabel>                         # default is "User Track"
description       <centerLabel>                        # default is "User Supplied Track"
visibility        <full|dense|hide>                    # default is hide
color             <RRR,GGG,BBB>                        # default is 255,255,255
altColor          <RRR,GGG,BBB>                        # default is 128,128,128
priority          <N>                                  # default is 100

For a list of additional options, see the bigWig format page. Note that bigWig files created from bedGraph cannot be converted to wiggle using bigWigToWig and instead will be reverted back to their original bedGraph format. Also, for tracks using altColor with the windowing function "mean+whiskers" the shading of colors will be impacted with lighter shades for values within a standard deviation around the mean, most noticeable when zoomed out and average calculations are taking place.

Examples

This example specifies 19 separate data points in two tracks (the first is name="variableStep" and the second is name="fixedStep" where priority= orders them) in the region chr19:49,304,200-49,310,700. To view this example as a custom track in the Genome Browser, copy the text and paste it into the "Add Custom Tracks" text box.

browser position chr19:49304200-49310700
browser hide all
#	150 base wide bar graph at arbitrarily spaced positions,
#	threshold line drawn at y=11.76
#	autoScale off viewing range set to [0:25]
#	priority = 10 positions this as the first graph
#	Note, one-relative coordinate system in use for this format
track type=wiggle_0 name="variableStep" description="variableStep format" visibility=full autoScale=off viewLimits=0.0:25.0 color=50,150,255 yLineMark=11.76 yLineOnOff=on priority=10
variableStep chrom=chr19 span=150
49304701 10.0
49304901 12.5
49305401 15.0
49305601 17.5
49305901 20.0
49306081 17.5
49306301 15.0
49306691 12.5
49307871 10.0
#	200 base wide points graph at every 300 bases, 50 pixel high graph
#	autoScale off and viewing range set to [0:1000]
#	priority = 20 positions this as the second graph
#	Note, one-relative coordinate system in use for this format
track type=wiggle_0 name="fixedStep" description="fixedStep format" visibility=full autoScale=off viewLimits=0:1000 color=0,200,100 maxHeightPixels=100:50:20 graphType=points priority=20
fixedStep chrom=chr19 start=49307401 step=300 span=200
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