BCFtools is a set of utilities for working with variant calls in Variant Call Format (VCF) and its binary counterpart BCF. Written in C as part of the coordinated Samtools software suite, it provides command-line tools for variant calling and for manipulating, filtering, querying, comparing, annotating, and summarising variant data. The software works with both VCF and BCF files, including compressed forms commonly used in genomics workflows.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Provides utilities for working with variant calls in VCF and BCF formats.
- Supports both uncompressed and BGZF-compressed VCF and BCF files.
- Includes tools for variant calling and related analysis tasks.
- Offers filtering, querying, and summarising functions for variant data.
- Supports comparing and intersecting variant datasets.
- Includes annotation and format-conversion tools for variant files.
- Forms part of the coordinated Samtools software suite.
Website: github.com/samtools/bcftools
Support:
Developer: Petr Danecek, Shane McCarthy and John Marshall
License: MIT/Expat License or GNU General Public License
BCFtools is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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