Editing DICOM (section)

=== Offline media (files) ===
The format for offline media files is specified in Part 10 of the DICOM Standard. Such files are sometimes referred to as "Part 10 files".

DICOM restricts the filenames on DICOM media to 8 characters (some systems wrongly use 8.3, but this does not conform to the standard). No information must be extracted from these names (PS3.10 Section 6.2.3.2). This is a common source of problems with media created by developers who did not read the specifications carefully.  This is a historical requirement to maintain compatibility with older existing systems. It also mandates the presence of a media directory, the DICOMDIR file, which provides index and summary information for all the DICOM files on the media. The DICOMDIR information provides substantially greater information about each file than any filename could, so there is less need for meaningful file names.

DICOM files typically have a .dcm file extension if they are not part of a DICOM media (which requires them to be without extension).

The [[MIME]] type for DICOM files is defined by RFC 3240 as application/dicom.

The [[Uniform Type Identifier]] type for DICOM files is org.nema.dicom.

There is also an ongoing media exchange test and "connectathon" process for CD media and network operation that is organized by the [[Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise|IHE]] organization.