PacBio BAM format specification

The BAM format is a binary, compressed, record-oriented container format for raw or aligned sequence reads. The associated SAM format is a text representation of the same data. The specifications for BAM/SAM are maintained by the SAM/BAM Format Specification Working Group.

PacBio-produced BAM files are fully compatible with the BAM specification. In this document we describe the way we make use of the extensibility mechanisms of the BAM specification to encode PacBio-specific information, as well as conventions we adhere to.

An example file adhering to this specification will be maintained in the pbcore Python library.

Version

The PacBio BAM specification version described here is 6.0.0. PacBio BAM files adhering to this spec contain the tag pb:6.0.0 in the @HD header.

Coordinate conventions

The BAM format uses a 0-based coordinate system to refer to positions and intervals on the reference.

PacBio also uses a 0-based coordinate system to refer to positions and intervals within sequence reads. Positions in PacBio reads are reckoned from the first ZMW read base (as base 0), not the first base in the HQ region.

Perhaps confusingly, the text SAM format uses 1-based coordinate system.

Note that following the SAM/BAM specification, 0-based coordinate intervals are defined as half-open (end exclusive) while 1-based intervals are closed.

Query versus aligned query terminology

A sequence read presented to an aligner is termed a query; typically this query will be a subsequence of an entire PacBio ZMW read—most commonly, it will be a subread, which is basecalls from a single pass of the insert DNA molecule.

Upon alignment, generally only a subsequence of the query will align to the reference genome, and that subsequence is referred to as the aligned query. Under soft-clipping, the entirety of the query is stored in the aligned BAM, but the CIGAR field indicates that some bases at either end are excluded from the alignment.

Abstractly, we denote the extent of the query in ZMW read as [qStart, qEnd) and the extent of the aligned subinterval as [aStart, aEnd) The following graphic illustrates these intervals:

          qStart                         qEnd
0         |  aStart                aEnd  |
[--...----*--*---------------------*-----*-----...------)  < "ZMW read" coord. system
          ~~~----------------------~~~~~~                  <  query; "-" = aligning subseq.
[--...-------*---------...---------*-----------...------)  < "ref." / "target" coord. system
0            tStart                tEnd

In our BAM files, the qStart, qEnd are contained in the qs and qe tags, (and reflected in the QNAME); the bounds of the aligned query in the ZMW read can be determined by adjusting qs and qe by the number of soft-clipped bases at the ends of the alignment (as found in the CIGAR).

HiFi reads

HiFi reads are defined as consensus reads with a QV ≥20. These are treated in the same manner as CCS reads in PacBio BAM files, unless noted otherwise.

Fail reads

Fail reads are CCS reads that did not pass all HiFi criteria that are going to be expanded over subsequent software releases. If one of the following criteria is violated, the CCS read is moved to the .fail_reads.barcode.bam file:

* the consensus read has predicted quality below QV 20 (≥v13.0; QV 10-19 ≥v12.0), or
* the read contains a residual SMRTbell adapter (≥v12.0), or
* the read is a control sequence (≥v13.0), or
* the read is single-stranded (≥v13.0), or
* the read is a subread (the median full-length one) from a ZMW that does not
produce a consensus but has at least one full pass (≥v13.0).

QNAME convention

By convention the QNAME (“query template name”) for CCS / HiFi reads, the convention is:

{movieName}/{holeNumber}/ccs

The QNAME for by-strand CCS reads includes a suffix fwd or rev to indicate strand relative to the other by-strand read for the ZMW. Strand assignment by CCS is arbitrary and does not imply the strand that may be assigned during mapping.

{movieName}/{holeNumber}/ccs/fwd {movieName}/{holeNumber}/ccs/rev

For segmented CCS reads, the base QNAME follows the CCS read conventions, while also appending the 0-based coordinate interval [qStart, qEnd) that represents a span within the source read:

{movieName}/{holeNumber}/ccs/{qStart}_{qEnd}
{movieName}/{holeNumber}/ccs/fwd/{qStart}_{qEnd}
{movieName}/{holeNumber}/ccs/rev/{qStart}_{qEnd}

CIGAR conventions

The “M” CIGAR op (BAM_CMATCH) is forbidden in PacBio BAM files. PacBio BAM files use the more explicit ops “X” (BAM_CDIFF) and “=” (BAM_CEQUAL). PacBio software will abort if BAM_CMATCH is found in a CIGAR field.

BAM filename conventions

Since we will be using BAM format for different kinds of data, we will use a suffix.bam filename convention:

Data type	Filename template
HiFi reads	.hifi_reads.barcode.bam
Aligned HiFi reads	.aligned.hifi_reads.barcode.bam
Fail reads	.fail_reads.barcode.bam

BAM sorting conventions

Aligned PacBio reads shall be sorted by position in the standard fashion as done by samtools sort. The BAM @HD::SO tag shall be set to coordinate.

Unaligned PacBio reads are grouped by ZMW hole number, but since SMRT Link v12.0 no longer sorted by hole number. Reads from a ZMW are stored contiguously in a BAM file. Within a ZMW subreads are stored first, sorted numerically by {qStart}_{qEnd}, followed by CCS reads, and finally segmented CCS reads, sorted numerically by {qStart}_{qEnd}. This is similar to sorting by QNAME but not strictly alphabetical, so the BAM @HD:SO header tag is set to unknown.

Prior to Revio ICS v13.0 and SMRT Link v13.0, the BAM @HD:SO header tag is set to unknown.

In Revio ICS v13.0 and SMRT Link v13.0, the reads are grouped by minimizer and the @HD:SO header tag is set to coordinate.

Use of headers for file-level information

Beyond the usual information encoded in headers that is called for SAM/BAM spec, we encode special information as follows.

@RG (read group) header entries:

ID tag (identifier):

contains an 8-character string interpretable as the hexadecimal representation of an integer. Optionally, a read group identifier may contain barcode labels to distinguish demultiplexed samples. Read groups should have distinct ID values.

Note

Standard read group identifiers for PacBio data are calculated as follows:

RGID_STRING := md5(movieName + "//" + readType)[:8]

where movieName is the moviename (@RG::PU) and readType is the read type (found in @RG::DS). Note that movieName is lowercase while readType is uppercase. md5 is understood to be the (lowercase) hex md5 digest of the input string.

Optionally for readType CCS, strandness can be encoded in the ID. This is to ensure that multiple types of reads, double- and single- stranded, can be stored in the same BAM file, without hole number collisions in the PacBio BAM index file. The RGID_STRING is then defined as:

RGID_STRING := md5(movieName + "//" + readType + "// + strand)[:8]

where strand must be lowercase fwd or rev; it may not be empty.

The RGID_INT is defined as:

RGID_INT    := int32.Parse(RGID_STRING)

RGID_STRING is used in the @RG header and in the RG tag of BAM records, while RGID_INT is used in the PacBio BAM index file.

Note that RGID_INT may be negative.

Example: CCS reads for a movie named “movie32” would have

• RGID_STRING = “f5b4ffb6”

• RGID_INT = -172687434

Optional barcode labels must be appended to the RGID_STRING as follows:

{RGID_STRING}/{bcForward}--{bcReverse}

where the bcForward and bcReverse labels correspond to the 0-based positions in the FASTA file of barcodes. These are the same values used to populate a barcoded record’s bc tag.

PL tag (“platform”):

contains "PACBIO".

PM tag (“platform model”):

contains "ASTRO", "RS", "SEQUEL", or "REVIO", reflecting the PacBio instrument series.

PU tag (“platform unit”):

contains the PacBio movie name.

LB tag (“Well Sample Name”):

contains the user-supplied name of the library.

SM tag (“Bio Sample Name”):

contains the user-supplied name of the biological sample.

BC tag (“barcodes”):

contains the barcode sequences associated with this read group. This tag is not required in all PacBio BAM files, but must be provided when the read group ID includes barcode labels.

The value must be represented in the format recommended by the SAM/BAM spec. Barcode sequences will be concatenated by a single dash. If both barcodes are the same, only one needs to be provided.

{seq} {seq1}-{seq2}

Note that this differs from the format used to label barcode indices on a read group’s ID.

DS tag (“description”):

contains some semantic information about the reads in the group, encoded as a semicolon-delimited list of “Key=Value” strings, as follows:

Mandatory items:

Key	Value spec	Value example
READTYPE	One of SUBREAD, CCS, SEGMENT, ZMW, HQREGION, SCRAP, or UNKNOWN	SUBREAD
SOURCE	For segmented reads, the READTYPE of its source read. Key is present for segmented reads only.	CCS
BINDINGKIT	Binding kit part number	100-236-500
SEQUENCINGKIT	Sequencing kit part number	001-558-034
BASECALLERVERSION	Basecaller version number	5.0.0
FRAMERATEHZ	Frame rate in Hz	100
CONTROL	TRUE if reads are classified as spike-in controls, otherwise CONTROL key is absent	TRUE
STRAND	Stores strandness of single-stranded reads as FORWARD or REVERSE. Key is absent if reads are double-stranded. Only applies to CCS or segmented CCS reads.	FORWARD

Note

The READTYPE values encountered in secondary analysis will be limited to SUBREAD, CCS, and SEGMENT. The remaining READTYPE values will only be encountered in intermediate steps before secondary analysis.

Optional items:

Key	Value spec	Value example
SMRTCELLKIT	SMRT cell part number	102-202-200
SMRTCELLID	SMRT cell identifier	EA005414
RUNID	Run identifier	r84026_20221130_001601
ICSVERSION	ICS version	12.0.0.172107
MOVIELENGTH	Movie length, in minutes	1440.0

Base feature manifest—absent item means feature absent from reads:

Key	Value spec	Value example
Ipd:Frames	Name of tag used for IPD, in raw frame count.	ip
Ipd:CodecV1	Name of tag used for IPD, compressed according to Codec V1.	ip
PulseWidth:Frames	Name of tag used for PulseWidth, in raw frame count.	pw
PulseWidth:CodecV1	Name of tag used for PulseWidth, compressed according to Codec V1.	pw

Optional items:

Note

These items are optional if there are no “bc” tags in the reads belonging to this read-group, otherwise they are mandatory.

Key	Value spec	Value example
BarcodeFile	Name of the Fasta file containing the sequences of the barcodes used	pacbio_384_barcodes.fasta
BarcodeHash	The MD5 hash of the contents of the barcoding sequence file, as generated by the md5sum commandline tool	0a294bb959fc6c766967fc8beeb4d88d
BarcodeCount	The number of barcode sequences in the Barcode File	384
BarcodeMode	Experimental design of the barcodes Must be Symmetric/Asymmetric or None	Symmetric
BarcodeQuality	The type of value encoded by the bq tag Must be Score/Probability/None	Score

Use of read tags for per-read information

Note

CCS reads can either be used directly after being generated by ccs, in the following table referred to as original, or they can be modified by other software applications, such as skera or lima. If CCS reads are clipped or extracted, tags qs and qe are with respect to the original read. The length of a CCS read is len = qe - qs.

Tag	Type	Description
qs	i	For CCS reads, the 0-based start of the query in its original CCS read.
qe	i	For CCS reads, the 0-based end of the query in its original CCS read.
ws	i	For CCS reads, the start of the first base of the first incorporated subread in approximate raw frame count since start of movie.
we	i	For CCS reads, the start of the last base of the first incorporated subread in approximate raw frame count since start of movie.
zm	i	ZMW hole number.
np	i	Number of passes. 1 for subreads, variable for CCS reads - encodes number of complete passes of the insert.
ec	f	Effective coverage. The average subread coverage across all windows (only present in CCS reads).
rq	f	Float in [0, 1] encoding predicted accuracy.
sn	B,f	4 floats for the average signal-to-noise ratio of A, C, G, and T (in that order) over the HQRegion.

Use of read tags for fail per-read information

Tag	Type	Description
ff	i	Fail flag indicating the failed HiFi criteria: 0x1 for CCS reads with predicted accuracy below QV 20 0x2 for control CCS reads 0x4 for single-stranded CCS reads 0x8 for the median full-length subread from molecules that do not produce a CCS read but have at least one full pass 0x10 for CCS reads which are a concatenation of the adapter, with possible short non-adapter sequence in between 0x20 for CCS reads with miscalled adapter which is enclosed by a sequence and its reverse complement, either spanning to the end 0x40 for CCS reads that have one or more adapters close to either end

Use of read tags for HiFi per-read-base kinetic information

The following read tags encode features measured/calculated per-basecall. Each contains averaged kinetic information (IPD/PulseWidth) from subreads when applying CCS to generate HiFi reads. These are computed and stored independently for both orientations of the insert, if possible. Forward is defined and stored with respect to the orientation represented in SEQ and is considered to be the native orientation. Reverse tags are stored in the opposite direction, e.g. from the last base to the first. As with other PacBio-specific tags, aligners will not re-orient these fields.

Tag	Type	Description
fi	B,C	Forward IPD (codec V1)
ri	B,C	Reverse IPD (codec V1)
fp	B,C	Forward PulseWidth (codec V1)
rp	B,C	Reverse PulseWidth (codec V1)
fn	i	Forward number of complete passes (zero or more)
rn	i	Reverse number of complete passes (zero or more)

For single-stranded reads, HiFi kinetics are stored in native orientation in following tags:

Tag	Type	Description
ip	B,C or B,S	IPD (raw frames or codec V1)
pw	B,C or B,S	PulseWidth (raw frames or codec V1)

The following clipping example illustrates the coordinate system for these tags, shown as stored in the BAM file:

--------
Original
--------

    SEQ:  A   A   C   C   G   T   T   A   G   C
  fi/fp: f0, f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6, f7, f8, f9
  ri/rp: r9, r8, r7, r6, r5, r4, r3, r2, r1, r0

-----------------
Clipped to [1, 4)
-----------------

    SEQ:  A   C   C
  fi/fp: f1, f2, f3
  ri/rp: r3, r2, r1

Note

• The IPD (interpulse duration) value associated with a base is the number of frames preceding its incorporation, while the PW (pulse width) is the number of frames during its incorporation.

• Encoding of kinetics features (ip, pw) is described below.

• When CCS filtering is disabled, no averaging occurs with ZMWs that don’t have enough passes to generate HiFi reads. Instead, the pw/ip values are passed as is from a representative subread.

• Minor cases exist where a certain orientation may get filtered out entirely from a ZMW, preventing valid values from being passed for that record. In these cases, empty lists will be passed for the respective record/orientation and number of passes will be set to zero.

• Flanking zeroes in kinetics arrays should be ignored for the respective strand. For instance, when SEQ is AAACGCGTTT and fp:B:C,0,0,0,3,4,5,6,0,0,0, then any downstream application should only use CGCG in its analysis, and ignore the AAA and TTT stretches.

• Unlike SEQ and QUAL, aligners will not orient these tags.

Use of read tags for HiFi per-read-base pileup summary

The following (optional) read tags encode the alignment pileup of subreads to the consensus read.

Tag	Type	Description
sa	B,I	Run-length encoded per-base coverage by subread alignments in form of <length>,<coverage>,…
sm	B,C	Per-base number of aligned matches
sx	B,C	Per-base number of aligned mismatches

Use of read tags for per-read-base base modifications

The following read tags encode base modification information. Base modifications are encoded according to the SAM tags specifications and any conflict is unintentional.

Tag	Type	Description
MM	Z	Base modifications / methylation
ML	B,C	Base modification probabilities

Notes:

• For informational purposes only: The continuous probability range of 0.0 to 1.0 is remapped to the discrete integers 0 to 255 inclusively in the ML tag. The probability range corresponding to an integer N is N/256 to (N + 1)/256.

QUAL

The QUAL field in BAM alignments is intended to reflect the reliability of a basecall, using the Phred-encoding convention, as described in the SAM spec.

Both CCS and raw read BAM files respect this convention; historically, and for the present moment, the encoded probability reflects the confidence of a basecall against alternatives including substitution, deletion, and insertion.

Missing adapter annotation in CCS reads

The ma and ac tags indicate whether the molecule that produces a CCS read is missing a SMRTbell adapter on its left/start or right/end. The tags are produced by CCS version 6.3.0 and newer based on the ADAPTER_BEFORE_BAD and ADAPTER_AFTER_BAD information in the subread cx tag.

Tag	Type	Description
ac	B,i	Array containing four counts, in order: - detected adapters on left/start - missing adapters on left/start - detected adapters on right/end - missing adapter on right/end
ma	i	Bitmask storing if an adapter is missing on either side of the molecule. A value of 0 indicates neither end has a confirmed missing adapter. - 0x1 if adapter is missing on left/start - 0x2 if adapter is missing on right/end

Barcode analysis

In multiplexed workflows, we record per-read tags representing the barcode call and a score representing the confidence of that call. For CCS reads, the actual data used to inform the barcode calls—the barcode sequences and associated features—will be retained in a separate tag to enable restoring of the source read.

Tag	Type	Description
bc	B,S	Barcode Calls
bq	i	Barcode Quality

• The bc tag contains the barcode call, a uint16[2] representing the inferred forward and reverse barcodes sequences (as determined by their ordering in the Barcode FASTA), or more succinctly, it contains the integer pair \(B_F, B_R\). Integer codes represent 0-based position in the FASTA file of barcodes.

• The integer (int) bq tag contains the barcode call confidence. The tag represents the mean normalized sum of the calculated Smith-Waterman scores that support the call in the bc tag across all subreads. For each barcode, the sum of the Smith-Waterman score is normalized by the length of the barcode times the match score, then multiplied by 100 and rounded; this provides an integer value between 0 - 100.

The following (optional) tags describe clipped barcode sequences:

Tag	Type	Description
bl	Z	Barcode sequence clipped from leading end
bt	Z	Barcode sequence clipped from trailing end
ls	B,C	Binary blob storing data that is clipped off.
ql	Z	Qualities of barcode bases clipped from leading end, stored as a FASTQ string
qt	Z	Qualities of barcode bases clipped from trailing end, stored as a FASTQ string
bx	B,i	Pair of clipped barcode sequence lengths

Encoding of kinetics pulse features

Interpulse duration (IPD) and pulsewidth are measured in frames; natively they are recorded as a uint16 per pulse/base event. They may be encoded in BAM read tags in one of two fashions:

• losslessly as an array of uint16; necessary for PacBio-internal applications but entails greater disk space usage.

• lossy 8-bit compression stored as a uint8 array, following the codec specified below (“codec V1”). Provides a substantial disk-space savings without affecting important production use cases (base modification detection).

In the default production instrument configuration, the lossy encoding will be used. The instrument can be switched into a mode (PacBio-internal mode) where it will emit the full lossless kinetic features.

The lossy encoding for IPD and pulsewidth values into the available 256 codepoints is as follows (codec v1):

Frames	Encoding
0 .. 63	0, 1, .. 63
64, 66, .. 190	64, 65, .. 127
192, 196 .. 444	128, 129 .. 191
448, 456, .. 952	192, 193 .. 255

In other words, we use the first 64 codepoints to encode frame counts at single frame resolution, the next 64 to encode the frame counts at two-frame resolution, and so on. Durations exceeding 952 frames are capped at 952. Durations not enumerated in “Frames” above are rounded to the nearest enumerated duration then encoded. For example, a duration of 194 frames would round to 196 and then be encoded as codepoint 129.

This encoding has the following features, considered essential for internal analysis use cases:

• Exact frame-level resolution for small durations (up to 64 frames)

• Maximal representable duration is 9.52 seconds (at 100fps), which is reasonably far into the tail of the distributions of these metrics. Analyses of “pausing” phenomena may still need to account for this censoring.

A reference implementation of this encoding/decoding scheme can be found in pbcore.

Note

Revio with SMRT Link 12.0 generates raw frames for HiFi kinetics, earlier and later versions will generate V1 codec encoded HiFi kinetics.

Segmented reads

Some library preparation approaches produce SMRTbell molecules that are a concatenation of smaller DNA fragments separated by known sequences (segment adapters). Segmented reads are the result of splitting the read generated from those molecules back into the constituent fragments.

The segment adapter sequences provide markers for splitting the source read and their expected sequential order allows the detection of malformed reads. These sequences are excised from segmented reads stored in the BAM file.

Tag	Type	Description
di	i	Index of this segment [0, N), denoting its position within the original CCS read
dl	i	0-based segment adapter index matching the left flank -1 if not applicable
dr	i	0-based segment adapter index matching the right flank -1 if not applicable
ds	B,C	Supplemental data enabling reconstitution of the source read Binary representation, for internal use only

Molecular Inversion Probes CCS reads

The mimux tool identifies the two probes (genomic hybridization sequences), removes outside sequences and the probes. It annotates the output file with following tags:

Tag	Type	Description
ie	i	Index of the leading probe.
il	i	Index of the trailing probe.
lu	Z	Unique molecular identifier (UMI) sequence for leading end.
tu	Z	Unique molecular identifier (UMI) sequence for trailing end.
lm	i	Leading score of probe.
tm	i	Leading score of probe.

Iso-Seq CCS reads

Iso-Seq contains various tools to identify, annotate, and process transcripts from CCS reads. These tools add following tags (more details on `isoseq.how<https://isoseq.how/isoseq-tags.html>`_):

Tag	Type	Description
CB	Z	Corrected cell barcode.
CR	Z	Raw (uncorrected) cell barcode.
XA	Z	Order of tags names.
XC	Z	Raw cell barcode.
XG	Z	PacBio’s GGG UMI suffix tag.
XM	Z	Raw (after tag) or corrected (after correct) UMI.
XO	Z	Overhang sequence tag.
gp	i	Flag specifying whether or not the barcode for the given read passes
ic	i	Number of reads used to generate consensus. If less than is, this means that reads were down-sampled when consensus-calling.
im	Z	List of names of input reads used in generating consensus.
is	i	Number of reads associated with isoform.
it	Z	List of barcodes / UMIs clipped during tag.
iz	i	Maximum number of subreads used for polishing.
nb	i	Edit distance from the barcode for the read to the barcode to which it was reassigned. This is 0 if the barcode matches exactly, -1 if the barcode could not be rescued, and the edit distance otherwise.
nc	i	Number of candidate barcodes.
oc	Z	String representation of other potential barcodes / choices. filters. 1 for passing, 0 for failing.
rc	i	Predicted real cell. This is 1 if a read is predicted to come from a real cell and 0 if predicted to be a non-real cell.

Alignment: the contract for a mapper

An aligner is expected to accept BAM input and produce aligned BAM output, where each aligned BAM record in the output preserves intact all tags present in the original record. The aligner should not attempt to orient or complement any of the tags.

(Note that this contrasts with the handling of SEQ and QUAL, which are mandated by the BAM/SAM specification to be (respectively) reverse-complemented, and reversed, for reverse strand alignments.)

Alignment: soft-clipping

In the standard production configuration, PacBio’s aligners will be used to align either subreads or CCS reads. In either case, we will use soft clipping to preserve the unaligned bases at either end of the query in the aligned BAM file.