Openslide is a c library that provides a simple interface to read whole-slide images also known as virtual slides.

whole-slide images, also known as virtual slides, are large, high resolution images used in digital pathology. reading these images using standard image tools or libraries is a challenge because these tools are typically designed for images that can comfortably be uncompressed into ram or a swap file. whole-slide images routinely exceed ram sizes, often occupying tens of gigabytes when uncompressed. additionally, whole-slide images are typically multi-resolution, and only a small amount of image data might be needed at a particular resolution.

this library currently supports:
- aperio (.svs, .tif)
- hamamatsu (.vms, .vmu, .ndpi)
- leica (.scn)
- mirax (.mrxs)
- sakura (.svslide)
- trestle (.tif)
- generic tiled tiff (.tif)
this package contains the libraries needed to run openslide applications.