Import Data into Encord

STEP 1: Set up your Org

Add Users

An overview of all your Organization’s users and user roles is found on the Users tab of your Organization.

User roles

Organizations have several kinds of users.

Internal: Users that your Organization directly employs. Can be either Member or Admin.
External: Users not directly employed, or contractually employed by your Organization. This includes external annotation teams.
Workforce: Users belonging to a Workforce Organization that are added to another Organization’s Project or Dataset.

Internal users can have the Member OR Admin role in your Organization. The following table outlines permissions of both internal user roles.

Admin	Member
Executive privileges over the Organization such as adding and removing users, and the ability to view all Projects in the Organization.	No administrative privileges over your Organization. Can only view Projects they create, or have been invited to.

In addition to having a user role within the Organization, all users have distinct roles in Projects, Datasets, and Ontologies.

Adding and removing users

Only Organization Admins have the ability to add users to, or remove users from, the Organization.

Users belonging to your Organization are managed on the Users tab of your Organization dashboard. The Users tab displays by default when you navigate to your Organization. All users belonging to your Organization are listed on the Users tab.

To add new users to your Organization:

Click the + Add user button. A dialog appears

Type the email addresses of the users you want to add.
Select the role you want the users to have.
Click Add to add the users to your Organization.

Add User Groups

User groups are collections of members that are grouped together, allowing them to be added to Projects, Datasets, and Ontologies collectively. User groups are managed on the Groups tab of your Organization’s dashboard.

Create user groups

To create a user group:

Navigate to the Groups tab of your Organization.
Click + Create group. A dialog appears.

Give your group a meaningful name and description.
Search for and select users to include in the group.
Click Add to add the selected users to the group. Users can be removed by clicking the delete icon next to the user.
Click Create group to create the user group.

Add Project Tags

Project tags serve as a labeling system that helps to categorize, group, and filter Projects within your Organization. Project tags are created and managed in the Project tags tab of the Organization’s dashboard.

Project tags are applied to Projects on the Project level, not from your Organization dashboard.

The Project tags tab is only visible to Organization Admins, and only Organization Admins can create Project tags.

Create Project tags

Project tags must be created before they can be added to a Project.

Click + New project tag on the Project tags tab.

Give the new Project tag a name.
Press Enter to create the tag.

All Project tag names must be unique.

STEP 2: Create a Cloud Integration

Select your cloud provider.

AWS Integration

GCP Integration

Azure Integration

OTC Integration

Wasabi Integration

Oracle Integration

Direct Access Integration

STEP 3: Create Metadata Schema

Based on your Data Discoverability Strategy, you need to create a metadata schema. The schema provides a method of organization for your custom metadata. Encord supports:

Scalers: Methods for filtering.
Enums: Methods with options for filtering.
Embeddings: Method for embedding plot visualization, similarity search, and natural language search.

Metadata Schema keys support letters (a-z, A-Z), numbers (0-9), and the following blank spaces ( ), hyphens (-), underscores (_), and periods (.).

Custom metadata

Custom metadata refers to any additional information you attach to files, allowing for better data curation and management based on your specific needs. It can include any details relevant to your workflow, helping you organize, filter, and retrieve data more efficiently. For example, for a video of a construction site, custom metadata could include fields like "site_location": "Algiers", "project_phase": "foundation", or "weather_conditions": "sunny". This enables more precise tracking and management of your data.

Before importing any files with custom metadata to Encord, we recommend that you import a metadata schema. Encord uses metadata schemas to validate custom metadata uploaded to Encord and to instruct Index and Active how to display your metadata.

To handle your custom metadata schema across multiple teams within the same organization, we recommend using namespacing for metadata keys in the schema. This ensures that different teams can define and manage their own metadata schema without conflicts. For example, team A could use video.description, while team B could use audio.description. Another example could be TeamName.MetadataKey. This approach maintains clarity and avoids key collisions across departments.

Metadata schema table

Metadata Schema keys support letters (a-z, A-Z), numbers (0-9), and blank spaces ( ), hyphens (-), underscores (_), and periods (.). Metadata schema keys are case sensitive.

Use add_scalar to add a scalar key to your metadata schema.

Scalar Key	Description	Display Benefits
boolean	Binary data type with values “true” or “false”.	Filtering by binary values
datetime	ISO 8601 formatted date and time.	Filtering by time and date
number	Numeric data type supporting float values.	Filtering by numeric values
uuid	Customer specified unique identifier for a data unit.	Filtering by customer specified unique identifier
varchar	Textual data type. Formally `string`. `string` can be used as an alias for `varchar`, but we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you use `varchar`.	Filtering by string.
text	Text data with unlimited length (example: transcripts for audio). Formally `long_string`. `long_string` can be used as an alias for `text`, but we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you use `text`.	Storing and filtering large amounts of text.

Use add_enum and add_enum_options to add an enum and enum options to your metadata schema.

Key	Description	Display Benefits
enum	Enumerated type with predefined set of values.	Facilitates categorical filtering and data validation

Use add_embedding to add an embedding to your metadata schema.

Key	Description	Display Benefits
embedding	512 dimension embeddings for Active, 1 to 4096 for Index.	Filtering by embeddings, similarity search, 2D scatter plot visualization (Coming Soon)

Incorrectly specifying a data type in the schema can cause errors when filtering your data in Index or Active. If you encounter errors while filtering, verify your schema is correct. If your schema has errors, correct the errors, re-import the schema, and then re-sync your Active Project.

Import your metadata schema to Encord

Verify your schema

After importing your schema to Encord we recommend that you verify that the import is successful. Run the following code to verify your metadata schema imported and that the schema is correct.

STEP 4: Create a Folder in Index

You must create a folder in Index to store your files.

Navigate to Files under the Index heading in the Encord platform.
Click the + New folder button to create a new folder. A dialog to create a new folder appears.

Give the folder a meaningful name and description.
Click Create to create the folder. The folder is listed in Files.

STEP 5: Create JSON or CSV for Import

To import files from cloud storage into Encord, you must create a JSON or CSV file specifying the files you want to upload.

Find helpful scripts for creating JSON and CSV files for the data upload process here.

All types of data (videos, images, image groups, image sequences, and DICOM) from a private cloud are added to a Dataset in the same way, by using a JSON or CSV file. The file includes links to all images, image groups, videos and DICOM files in your cloud storage.

For a list of supported file formats for each data type, go here

Encord supports file names up to 300 characters in length for any file or video for upload.

Create JSON file for Import

For detailed information about the JSON file format used for import go here.

The information provided about each of the following data types is designed to get you up and running as quickly as possible without going too deeply into the why or how. Look at the template for each data type, then the examples, and adjust the examples to suit your needs.

If skip_duplicate_urls is set to true, all object URLs that exactly match existing images/videos in the dataset are skipped.

AWS JSON

Videos

BEST PRACTICE: If you want to use Index or Active with your video data, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND using key frames, custom metadata, and custom embeddings. When specifying key frames set the sampling_rate to 0. This imports only the first frame and any key frames you specify in the video. This can significantly speed up the import of your data into Active and Index and help you to focus on only data you identify as critical.

The following table provides some guidance for the examples provided after the table.

Title	Description
Template	Provides the proper JSON format to import videos into Encord. This template provides examples from the most basic to the most complex.
Data	Imports videos into Encord. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to add labels and classifications to your data. You DO NOT want to use Index or Active.
Key Frames	Imports videos with an Encord title and specifies key frames (frames of interest) for Active and Index. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index. You want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Custom Metadata	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), and custom metadata for Active and Index. Why would I do this? Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Embeddings	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), custom metadata, and custom embeddings for Active and Index. This example includes the following custom metadata types: boolean, varchar, datetime, uuid, number. Why would I do this? Importing custom embeddings allows you to use scatter plots to examine your data AND allows you to use similarity search and natural language searches. Active and Index support embedding dimensions from 1 to 4096. Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying custom embeddings for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`. Refer to our documentation for more information about Index with Custom Metadata, Index with Custom Embeddings, Active with Custom Metadata and Active with Custom Embeddings.
Video Metadata	Imports videos with the videoMetadata flag. When the videoMetadata flag is present in the JSON file, we directly use the supplied metadata without performing any additional validation, and do not store the file on our servers. To guarantee accurate labels, it is crucial that the metadata you provide is accurate.

DICOM

For detailed information about the JSON file format used for import go here.

Each dicom_series element can contain one or more DICOM series.
Each series requires a title and at least one object URL, as shown in the example below.
If skip_duplicate_urls is set to true, all object URLs exactly matching existing DICOM files in the dataset will be skipped.

Custom metadata is distinct from patient metadata, which is included in the .dcm file and does not have to be specific during the upload to Encord.

The following is an example JSON for uploading three DICOM series belonging to a study. Each title and object URL correspond to individual DICOM series.

The first series contains only a single object URL, as it is composed of a single file.
The second series contains 3 object URLs, as it is composed of three separate files.
The third series contains 2 object URLs, as it is composed of two separate files.

Template
{
  "dicom_series": [
    {
      "title": "Series-1",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/study1-series1-file.dcm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Series-2",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/study1-series2-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/study1-series2-file2.dcm",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/study1-series2-file3.dcm",
    },
      {
      "title": "Series-3",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/study1-series3-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/study1-series3-file2.dcm",
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

NIfTI

The following is an example JSON file for uploading two NIfTI files to Encord.

Template
{
    "nifti": [
      {
        "title": "<file-1>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file1.nii"
      },
      {
        "title": "<file-2>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file2.nii.gz"
      }
    ],
    "skip_duplicate_urls": true
  }

You can upload multiple file types using a single JSON file. The example below shows 1 image, 2 videos, 2 image sequences, and 1 image group.

Multiple file types

{
  "images": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/Image1.png"
    }
  ],
  "videos": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/videos/Cooking.mp4"
    },
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/videos/Oranges.mp4"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-light",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(35).jpg"
    },
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-dark",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/2+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/2+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/2+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/2+(35).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-ios-light",
      "createVideo": false,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/3+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/3+(33).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

GCP JSON

Videos

The following table provides some guidance for the examples provided after the table.

Title	Description
JSON for videos	Provides the proper JSON format to import videos into Encord. This template provides examples from the most basic to the most complex.
Data	Imports videos into Encord. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to add labels and classifications to your data. You DO NOT want to use Index or Active.
Key Frames	Imports videos with an Encord title and specifies key frames (frames of interest) for Active and Index. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index. You want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Custom Metadata	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), and custom metadata for Active and Index. Why would I do this? Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Embeddings	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), custom metadata, and custom embeddings for Active and Index. This example includes the following custom metadata types: boolean, varchar, datetime, uuid, number. Why would I do this? Importing custom embeddings allows you to use scatter plots to examine your data AND allows you to use similarity search and natural language searches. Active and Index support embedding dimensions from 1 to 4096. Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying custom embeddings for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`. Refer to our documentation for more information about Index with Custom Metadata, Index with Custom Embeddings, Active with Custom Metadata and Active with Custom Embeddings.
Video Metadata	Imports videos with the videoMetadata flag. When the videoMetadata flag is present in the JSON file, we directly use the supplied metadata without performing any additional validation, and do not store the file on our servers. To guarantee accurate labels, it is crucial that the metadata you provide is accurate.

DICOM

For detailed information about the JSON file format used for import go here.

Each dicom_series element can contain one or more DICOM series.
Each series requires a title and at least one object URL, as shown in the example below.
If skip_duplicate_urls is set to true, all object URLs exactly matching existing DICOM files in the dataset will be skipped.

Custom metadata is distinct from patient metadata, which is included in the .dcm file and does not have to be specific during the upload to Encord.

The following is an example JSON for uploading three DICOM series belonging to a study. Each title and object URL correspond to individual DICOM series.

The first series contains only a single object URL, as it is composed of a single file.
The second series contains 3 object URLs, as it is composed of three separate files.
The third series contains 2 object URLs, as it is composed of two separate files.

JSON for DICOM
{
  "dicom_series": [
    {
      "title": "Series-1",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/study1-series1-file.dcm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Series-2",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/study1-series2-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/study1-series2-file2.dcm",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/study1-series2-file3.dcm",
    },
      {
      "title": "Series-3",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/study1-series3-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/study1-series3-file2.dcm",
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

NIfTI

The following is an example JSON file for uploading two NIfTI files to Encord.

{
    "nifti": [
      {
        "title": "<file-1>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file1.nii"
      },
      {
        "title": "<file-2>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file2.nii.gz"
      }
    ],
    "skip_duplicate_urls": true
  }

You can upload multiple file types using a single JSON file. The example below shows 1 image, 2 videos, 2 image sequences, and 1 image group.

Multiple file types

{
  "images": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/Image1.png"
    }
  ],
  "videos": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/videos/Cooking.mp4"
    },
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/videos/Oranges.mp4"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-light",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/1+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://encord-integration.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/1+(35).jpg"
    },
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-dark",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/2+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/2+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/2+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/2+(35).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-ios-light",
      "createVideo": false,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/3+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://storage.cloud.google.com/encord-image-bucket/images/3+(33).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

Azure JSON

Videos

The following table provides some guidance for the examples provided after the table.

Title	Description
Template	Provides the proper JSON format to import videos into Encord. This template provides examples from the most basic to the most complex.
Data	Imports videos into Encord. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to add labels and classifications to your data. You DO NOT want to use Index or Active.
Key Frames	Imports videos with an Encord title and specifies key frames (frames of interest) for Active and Index. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index. You want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Custom Metadata	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), and custom metadata for Active and Index. Why would I do this? Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Embeddings	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), custom metadata, and custom embeddings for Active and Index. This example includes the following custom metadata types: boolean, varchar, datetime, uuid, number. Why would I do this? Importing custom embeddings allows you to use scatter plots to examine your data AND allows you to use similarity search and natural language searches. Active and Index support embedding dimensions from 1 to 4096. Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying custom embeddings for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`. Refer to our documentation for more information about Index with Custom Metadata, Index with Custom Embeddings, Active with Custom Metadata and Active with Custom Embeddings.
Video Metadata	Imports videos with the videoMetadata flag. When the videoMetadata flag is present in the JSON file, we directly use the supplied metadata without performing any additional validation, and do not store the file on our servers. To guarantee accurate labels, it is crucial that the metadata you provide is accurate.

DICOM

For detailed information about the JSON file format used for import go here.

Each dicom_series element can contain one or more DICOM series.
Each series requires a title and at least one object URL, as shown in the example below.
If skip_duplicate_urls is set to true, all object URLs exactly matching existing DICOM files in the dataset will be skipped.

Custom metadata is distinct from patient metadata, which is included in the .dcm file and does not have to be specific during the upload to Encord.

The following is an example JSON for uploading three DICOM series belonging to a study. Each title and object URL correspond to individual DICOM series.

The first series contains only a single object URL, as it is composed of a single file.
The second series contains 3 object URLs, as it is composed of three separate files.
The third series contains 2 object URLs, as it is composed of two separate files.

Template
{
  "dicom_series": [
    {
      "title": "Series-1",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/study1-series1-file.dcm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Series-2",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/study1-series2-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/study1-series2-file2.dcm",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/study1-series2-file3.dcm",
    },
      {
      "title": "Series-3",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/study1-series3-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/study1-series3-file2.dcm",
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

NIfTI

The following is an example JSON file for uploading two NIfTI files to Encord.

Template
{
    "nifti": [
      {
        "title": "<file-1>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file1.nii"
      },
      {
        "title": "<file-2>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file2.nii.gz"
      }
    ],
    "skip_duplicate_urls": true
  }

You can upload multiple file types using a single JSON file. The example below shows 1 image, 2 videos, 2 image sequences, and 1 image group.

{
  "images": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/Image1.png"
    }
  ],
  "videos": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/Cooking.mp4"
    },
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/Oranges.mp4"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-light",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/1-Samsung-S4-Light+Environment/1+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/1-Samsung-S4-Light+Environment/1+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/1-Samsung-S4-Light+Environment/1+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/1-Samsung-S4-Light+Environment/1+(35).jpg"
    },
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-dark",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/2-samsung-S4-Dark+Environment/2+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/2-samsung-S4-Dark+Environment/2+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/2-samsung-S4-Dark+Environment/2+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/2-samsung-S4-Dark+Environment/2+(35).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-ios-light",
      "createVideo": false,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/3-IOS-4-Light+Environment/3+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/encordcontainer/3-IOS-4-Light+Environment/3+(33).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

OTC JSON

Videos

The following table provides some guidance for the examples provided after the table.

Title	Description
Template	Provides the proper JSON format to import videos into Encord. This template provides examples from the most basic to the most complex.
Data	Imports videos into Encord. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to add labels and classifications to your data. You DO NOT want to use Index or Active.
Key Frames	Imports videos with an Encord title and specifies key frames (frames of interest) for Active and Index. Why would I do this? You ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index. You want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Custom Metadata	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), and custom metadata for Active and Index. Why would I do this? Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying key frames for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`.
Embeddings	Imports videos with an Encord title, specifies key frames (frames of interest), custom metadata, and custom embeddings for Active and Index. This example includes the following custom metadata types: boolean, varchar, datetime, uuid, number. Why would I do this? Importing custom embeddings allows you to use scatter plots to examine your data AND allows you to use similarity search and natural language searches. Active and Index support embedding dimensions from 1 to 4096. Importing custom metadata allows you to filter your data in Active and Index to make it easier to find the data you want to focus on. This speeds up creating Collections and by extension Datasets. Specifying key frames means you ONLY want to see frames that you deem critical in Active and Index AND you want to significantly improve the time to import videos into Active and Index. `config` is optional when specifying custom embeddings for Active and Index: Specifying a `sampling_rate` of `0` only imports the first frame and all key frames of your video into Active and Index. `"config": { "sampling_rate": "<samples-per-second>", "keyframe_mode": "frame" or "seconds", },` If `config` is not specified, the `sampling_rate` is 1 frame per second, and the `keyframe_mode` is `frame`. Refer to our documentation for more information about Index with Custom Metadata, Index with Custom Embeddings, Active with Custom Metadata and Active with Custom Embeddings.
Video Metadata	Imports videos with the videoMetadata flag. When the videoMetadata flag is present in the JSON file, we directly use the supplied metadata without performing any additional validation, and do not store the file on our servers. To guarantee accurate labels, it is crucial that the metadata you provide is accurate.

DICOM

For detailed information about the JSON file format used for import go here.

Each dicom_series element can contain one or more DICOM series.
Each series requires a title and at least one object URL, as shown in the example below.
If skip_duplicate_urls is set to true, all object URLs exactly matching existing DICOM files in the dataset will be skipped.

Custom metadata is distinct from patient metadata, which is included in the .dcm file and does not have to be specific during the upload to Encord.

The following is an example JSON for uploading three DICOM series belonging to a study. Each title and object URL correspond to individual DICOM series.

The first series contains only a single object URL, as it is composed of a single file.
The second series contains 3 object URLs, as it is composed of three separate files.
The third series contains 2 object URLs, as it is composed of two separate files.

JSON for DICOM
{
  "dicom_series": [
    {
      "title": "Series-1",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/study1-series1-file.dcm"
    },
    {
      "title": "Series-2",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/study1-series2-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/study1-series2-file2.dcm",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/study1-series2-file3.dcm",
    },
      {
      "title": "Series-3",
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/study1-series3-file1.dcm",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/study1-series3-file2.dcm",
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

NIfTI

The following is an example JSON file for uploading two NIfTI files to Encord.

{
    "nifti": [
      {
        "title": "<file-1>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file1.nii"
      },
      {
        "title": "<file-2>",
        "objectUrl": "https://my-bucket/.../nifti-file2.nii.gz"
      }
    ],
    "skip_duplicate_urls": true
  }

You can upload multiple file types using a single JSON file. The example below shows 1 image, 2 videos, 2 image sequences, and 1 image group.

Multiple file types

{
  "images": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/Image1.png"
    }
  ],
  "videos": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/videos/Cooking.mp4"
    },
    {
      "objectUrl": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/videos/Oranges.mp4"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-light",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/1+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/1+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/1+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/1+(35).jpg"
    },
    {
      "title": "apple-samsung-dark",
      "createVideo": true,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/2+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/2+(33).jpg",
      "objectUrl_2": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/2+(34).jpg",
      "objectUrl_3": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/2+(35).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "image_groups": [
    {
      "title": "apple-ios-light",
      "createVideo": false,
      "objectUrl_0": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/3+(32).jpg",
      "objectUrl_1": "https://encord-bucket.obs.eu-de.otc.t-systems.com/images/3+(33).jpg"
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

Use a Multi-Region Access Point

When using a Multi-Region Access Point for your AWS S3 buckets the JSON file has to be slightly different from the examples provided. Instead of an object’s URL, objects are specified using the ARN of the Multi-Region Access Point followed by the object name. The example below shows how video files from a Multi-Region Access Point would be specified.

{
  "videos": [
    {
      "objectUrl": "Multi-Region-Access-Point-ARN + <object name_1>"
    },
    {
      "objectUrl": "Multi-Region-Access-Point-ARN + <object name_2>",
      "title": "my-custom-video-title.mp4",
      "clientMetadata": {"optional": "metadata"}
    }
  ],
  "skip_duplicate_urls": true
}

Create CSV file for import

In the CSV file format, the column headers specify which type of data is being uploaded. You can add and single file format at a time, or combine multiple data types in a single CSV file.

Details for each data format are given in the sections below.

Encord supports up to 10,000 entries for upload in the CSV file.

Object URLs can’t contain whitespace.
For backwards compatibility reasons, a single column CSV is supported. A file with the single ObjectUrl column is interpreted as a request for video upload. If your objects are of a different type (for example, images), this error displays: “Expected a video, got a file of type XXX”.

Videos

A CSV file containing videos should contain two columns with the following mandatory column headings:
‘ObjectURL’ and ‘Video title’. All headings are case-insensitive.

The ‘ObjectURL’ column containing the objectUrl. This field is mandatory for each file, as it specifies the full URL of the video resource.
The ‘Video title’ column containing the video_title. If left blank, the original file name is used.

In the example below files 1, 2 and 4 will be assigned the names in the title column, while file 3 will keep its original file name.

ObjectUrl	Video title
path/to/storage-location/frame1.mp4	Video 1
path/to/storage-location/frame2.mp4	Video 2
path/to/storage-location/frame3.mp4
path/to/storage-location/frame4.mp4	Video 3

A CSV file containing single images should contain two columns with the following mandatory headings:
‘ObjectURL’ and ‘Image title’. All headings are case-insensitive.

The ‘ObjectURL’ column containing the objectUrl. This field is mandatory for each file, as it specifies the full URL of the image resource.
The ‘Image title’ column containing the image_title. If left blank, the original file name is used.

In the example below files 1, 2 and 4 will be assigned the names in the title column, while file 3 will keep its original file name.

ObjectUrl	Image title
path/to/storage-location/frame1.jpg	Image 1
path/to/storage-location/frame2.jpg	Image 2
path/to/storage-location/frame3.jpg
path/to/storage-location/frame4.jpg	Image 3

Image groups

A CSV file containing image groups should contain three columns with the following mandatory headings:
‘ObjectURL’, ‘Image group title’, and ‘Create video’. All three headings are case-insensitive.

The ‘ObjectURL’ column containing the objectUrl. This field is mandatory for each file, as it specifies the full URL of the resource.
The ‘Image group title’ column containing the image_group_title. This field is mandatory, as it determines which image group a file will be assigned to.

In the example below the first two URLs are grouped together into ‘Group 1’, while the following two files are grouped together into ‘Group 2’.

ObjectUrl	Image group title	Create video
path/to/storage-location/frame1.jpg	Group 1	false
path/to/storage-location/frame2.jpg	Group 1	false
path/to/storage-location/frame3.jpg	Group 2	false
path/to/storage-location/frame4.jpg	Group 2	false

Image groups do not require ‘write’ permissions.

Image sequences

A CSV file containing image sequences should contain three columns with the following mandatory headings: ‘ObjectURL’, ‘Image group title’, and ‘Create video’. All three headings are case-insensitive.

The ‘ObjectURL’ column containing the objectUrl. This field is mandatory for each file, as it specifies the full URL of the resource.
The ‘Image group title’ column containing the image_group_title. This field is mandatory, as it determines which image sequence a file will be assigned to. The dimensions of the image sequence are determined by the first file in the sequence.
The ‘Create video’ column. This can be left blank, as the default value is ‘true’.

In the example below the first two URLs are grouped together into ‘Sequence 1’, while the second two files are grouped together into ‘Sequence 2’.

ObjectUrl	Image group title	Create video
path/to/storage-location/frame1.jpg	Sequence 1	true
path/to/storage-location/frame2.jpg	Sequence 1	true
path/to/storage-location/frame3.jpg	Sequence 2	true
path/to/storage-location/frame4.jpg	Sequence 2	true

Image groups and image sequences are only distinguished by the presence of the ‘Create video’ column.

Image sequences require ‘write’ permissions against your storage bucket to save the compressed video.

A CSV file containing DICOM files should contain two columns with the following mandatory headings: ‘ObjectURL’ and ‘Dicom title’. Both headings are case-insensitive.

The ‘ObjectURL’ column containing the objectUrl. This field is mandatory for each file, as it specifies the full URL of the resource.
The ‘Series title’ column containing the dicom_title. When two files are given the same title they are grouped into the same DICOM series. If left blank, the original file name is used.

In the example below the first two files are grouped into ‘dicom series 1’, the next two files are grouped into ‘dicom series 2’, while the final file will remain separated as ‘dicom series 3’.

ObjectUrl	Series title
path/to/storage-location/frame1.dcm	dicom series 1
path/to/storage-location/frame2.dcm	dicom series 1
path/to/storage-location/frame3.dcm	dicom series 2
path/to/storage-location/frame4.dcm	dicom series 2
path/to/storage-location/frame5.dcm	dicom series 3

Multiple file types

You can upload multiple file types with a single CSV file by using a new header each time there is a change of file type. Three headings will be required if image sequences are included.

Since the ‘Create video’ column defaults to true all files that are not image sequences must contain the value false

The example below shows a CSV file for the following:

Two image sequences composed of 2 files each.
One image group composed of 2 files.
One single image.
One video.

ObjectUrl	Image group title	Create video
path/to/storage-location/frame1.jpg	Sequence 1	true
path/to/storage-location/frame2.jpg	Sequence 1	true
path/to/storage-location/frame3.jpg	Sequence 2	true
path/to/storage-location/frame4.jpg	Sequence 2	true
path/to/storage-location/frame5.jpg	Group 1	false
path/to/storage-location/frame6.jpg	Group 1	false
ObjectUrl	Image title	Create video
path/to/storage-location/frame1.jpg	Image 1	false
ObjectUrl	Image title	Create video
full/storage/path/video.mp4	Video 1	false

STEP 6: Import your data

Import Cloud Data

We recommend uploading smaller batches of data: limit uploads to 100 videos and up to 1000 images at a time. Familiarize yourself with our limits and best practices for data import before uploading data to Encord.

Navigate to Files section of Index in the Encord platform.
Click into a Folder.
Click + Upload files. A dialog appears.

Click Import from cloud data.

We recommend turning on the Ignore individual file errors feature. This ensures that individual file errors do not lead to the whole upload process being aborted.

Click Add JSON or CSV files to add a JSON or CSV file specifying cloud data that is to be added.

Import Local Data

Navigate to Files section of Index in the Encord platform.
Click into a Folder.
Click + Upload files. A dialog appears.

Click one of the following:
- Upload: Upload images, videos, and audio files.
- Batch images as: Upload image batches as image groups or image sequences.
- DICOM/NifTi: Upload DICOM or NifTi series.
Click Upload after selecting your images or series.

Your files upload into the Folder in Encord.

You can import and update custom metadata once your data is imported.

Get started

General

Index

Annotate

Active

Other

​STEP 1: Set up your Org

​Add Users

​User roles

​Adding and removing users

​Add User Groups

​Create user groups

​Add Project Tags

​Create Project tags

​STEP 2: Create a Cloud Integration

​STEP 3: Create Metadata Schema

​Custom metadata

​Metadata schema table

​Import your metadata schema to Encord

​Verify your schema

​STEP 4: Create a Folder in Index

​STEP 5: Create JSON or CSV for Import

Create JSON file for Import

AWS JSON

GCP JSON

Azure JSON

OTC JSON

Use a Multi-Region Access Point

Create CSV file for import

Videos

Image groups

Image sequences

Multiple file types

​STEP 6: Import your data

​Import Cloud Data

​Import Local Data

STEP 1: Set up your Org

Add Users

User roles

Adding and removing users

Add User Groups

Create user groups

Add Project Tags

Create Project tags

STEP 2: Create a Cloud Integration

STEP 3: Create Metadata Schema

Custom metadata

Metadata schema table

Import your metadata schema to Encord

Verify your schema

STEP 4: Create a Folder in Index

STEP 5: Create JSON or CSV for Import

STEP 6: Import your data

Import Cloud Data

Import Local Data