Save a mne.io.Raw object to EDF/EDF+/BDF/BDF+

save_edf.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
Created on Wed Dec  5 12:56:31 2018
@author: skjerns
Gist to save a mne.io.Raw object to an EDF file using pyEDFlib
(https://github.com/holgern/pyedflib)
Disclaimer:
    - Saving your data this way will result in slight 
      loss of precision (magnitude +-1e-09).
    - It is assumed that the data is presented in Volt (V), 
      it will be internally converted to microvolt
    - BDF or EDF+ is selected based on the filename extension
    - Annotations preserved
    
Update: Since 2021, MNE also supports exporting EDF via edfio: 
https://mne.tools/stable/generated/mne.export.export_raw.html
"""

import pyedflib # pip install pyedflib
from pyedflib import highlevel # new high-level interface
from pyedflib import FILETYPE_BDF, FILETYPE_BDFPLUS, FILETYPE_EDF, FILETYPE_EDFPLUS
from datetime import datetime, timezone, timedelta
import mne
import os

def _stamp_to_dt(utc_stamp):
    """Convert timestamp to datetime object in Windows-friendly way."""
    if 'datetime' in str(type(utc_stamp)): return utc_stamp
    # The min on windows is 86400
    stamp = [int(s) for s in utc_stamp]
    if len(stamp) == 1:  # In case there is no microseconds information
        stamp.append(0)
    return (datetime.fromtimestamp(0, tz=timezone.utc) +
            timedelta(0, stamp[0], stamp[1]))  # day, sec, μs


def write_mne_edf(mne_raw, fname, picks=None, tmin=0, tmax=None, 
                  overwrite=False):
    """
    Saves the raw content of an MNE.io.Raw and its subclasses to
    a file using the EDF+/BDF filetype
    pyEDFlib is used to save the raw contents of the RawArray to disk
    Parameters
    update 2021: edf export is now also supported in MNE:
    https://mne.tools/stable/generated/mne.export.export_raw.html
    ----------
    mne_raw : mne.io.Raw
        An object with super class mne.io.Raw that contains the data
        to save
    fname : string
        File name of the new dataset. This has to be a new filename
        unless data have been preloaded. Filenames should end with .edf
    picks : array-like of int | None
        Indices of channels to include. If None all channels are kept.
    tmin : float | None
        Time in seconds of first sample to save. If None first sample
        is used.
    tmax : float | None
        Time in seconds of last sample to save. If None last sample
        is used.
    overwrite : bool
        If True, the destination file (if it exists) will be overwritten.
        If False (default), an error will be raised if the file exists.
    """
    print('did you know EDF export is now supported in MNE via edfio? have a look at https://mne.tools/stable/generated/mne.export.export_raw.html')
    if not issubclass(type(mne_raw), mne.io.BaseRaw):
        raise TypeError('Must be mne.io.Raw type')
    if not overwrite and os.path.exists(fname):
        raise OSError('File already exists. No overwrite.')
        
    # static settings
    has_annotations = True if len(mne_raw.annotations)>0 else False
    if os.path.splitext(fname)[-1] == '.edf':
        file_type = FILETYPE_EDFPLUS if has_annotations else FILETYPE_EDF
        dmin, dmax = -32768, 32767 
    else:
        file_type = FILETYPE_BDFPLUS if has_annotations else FILETYPE_BDF
        dmin, dmax = -8388608, 8388607
    
    print('saving to {}, filetype {}'.format(fname, file_type))
    sfreq = mne_raw.info['sfreq']
    date = _stamp_to_dt(mne_raw.info['meas_date'])
    
    if tmin:
        date += timedelta(seconds=tmin)
    # no conversion necessary, as pyedflib can handle datetime.
    #date = date.strftime('%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S')
    first_sample = int(sfreq*tmin)
    last_sample  = int(sfreq*tmax) if tmax is not None else None

    
    # convert data
    channels = mne_raw.get_data(picks, 
                                start = first_sample,
                                stop  = last_sample)
    
    # convert to microvolts to scale up precision
    channels *= 1e6

    # set conversion parameters
    n_channels = len(channels)
    
    # create channel from this   
    try:
        f = pyedflib.EdfWriter(fname,
                               n_channels=n_channels, 
                               file_type=file_type)
        
        channel_info = []
        
        ch_idx = range(n_channels) if picks is None else picks
        keys = list(mne_raw._orig_units.keys())
        for i in ch_idx:
            try:
                ch_dict = {'label': mne_raw.ch_names[i], 
                           'dimension': mne_raw._orig_units[keys[i]], 
                           'sample_rate': mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['n_samps'][i], 
                           'physical_min': mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['physical_min'][i], 
                           'physical_max': mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['physical_max'][i], 
                           'digital_min':  mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['digital_min'][i], 
                           'digital_max':  mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['digital_max'][i], 
                           'transducer': '', 
                           'prefilter': ''}
            except:
                ch_dict = {'label': mne_raw.ch_names[i], 
                           'dimension': mne_raw._orig_units[keys[i]], 
                           'sample_rate': sfreq, 
                           'physical_min': channels.min(), 
                           'physical_max': channels.max(), 
                           'digital_min':  dmin, 
                           'digital_max':  dmax, 
                           'transducer': '', 
                           'prefilter': ''}
        
            channel_info.append(ch_dict)
        f.setPatientCode(mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['subject_info'].get('id', '0'))
        f.setPatientName(mne_raw._raw_extras[0]['subject_info'].get('name', 'noname'))
        f.setTechnician('mne-gist-save-edf-skjerns')
        f.setSignalHeaders(channel_info)
        f.setStartdatetime(date)
        f.writeSamples(channels)
        for annotation in mne_raw.annotations:
            onset = annotation['onset']
            duration = annotation['duration']
            description = annotation['description']
            f.writeAnnotation(onset, duration, description)
        
    except Exception as e:
        raise e
    finally:
        f.close()    
    return True

Hey, thanks for the great little snippet. Somehow I have the problem that when I write something to .edf using it, the remainder of the last full second is zero padded (at least when I open it using MNE). Do you have any idea why that might be, or how to prevent it? Thanks.

That is due to the way EDF is implemented, as it saves data in discrete blocks. By default these blocks are 1 second long. This blocksize (record_size) is also used to calculate the sampling frequency together with nr of samples in each data record (per channel) -> smp_per_record. so if you change the record_size toaccomodate exactly for the number of samples you want to store, you must adapt the smp_per_record accordingly. e.g. if you have 12.5 seconds of data with 100 Hz, you need to choose a record_size such that it fits into the 12.5 seconds and set the smp_per_record accordingly, here record_size=0.5 and smp_per_record=50 would work. However it becomes more difficult if you have a really odd number of seconds or sampling frequency, especially one where the solution for smp_per_record would not result in a neat integer.

in summary: it is possible to avoid the zero-padding, but it's not as easy as it seems.

PS: MNE now supports exporting EDF via edfio: https://mne.tools/stable/generated/mne.export.export_raw.html

Thanks for the fast and very helpful reply!

Here is a solution that works for me, though clearly has some downsides to it: https://gist.github.com/rectified-evasion/dce33a21e947623fb2c6c77292bf7bc8 (loss of precision + truncation, if necessary).