Use mkv to store custom data

Question

I want to develop some simulation software. It produces long arrays of data. Is it good idea to store this data in mkv file with custom codec ? The goal of it is to get fast random access to data and avoid headache with handling big arrays(bigger then 32bit address space)

And if so, is there are any simple mkv c++ library ?

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure the things you get from mkv are nowhere near as sophisticated for scientific (simulation) data as HDF5. It was designed for exactly the use case you describe.

Answer 2

Also, mkv is a specific application of EBML, a sort of binary xml language, optimized for media. If you decided the features are right for you, EBML would be what you would use, which would allow you to customize for your specific application.

mkv is the file extension for the Matroska format, which would help you with your search.

Here is the Matroska source code page, which includes links to EBML and Matroska c libraries.

http://www.matroska.org/team/source-code.html