The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Technical Standards Committee serves as a forum for discussion of geophysical developments in which standards for acquisition and processing of geophysical data need to be identified or improved.
When data problems of a sufficient magnitude to warrant action by SEG are identified, an appropriate subcommittee is appointed to develop a set of standards and make a recommendation to the SEG Board of Directors concerning their adoption. The committee works in partnership with a wide range of industry organizations. Standards are provided in PDF to support the geophysics industry.
Questions or comments about the documents, or corrections needed to them, should be reported to the committee chair.
Positioning Standards
In 2009, SEG transferred custodianship of positioning standards to the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP). These standards are available through the IOGP’s publication library.
| SEG Technical Standards |
| Data Recording | 2025 | SEG-Y_r2.1: Extended Textual Header Clarification | SEG Technical Standards Committee; SEG-Y Revision 2.1 Clarification Subcommittee May 2025 public announcement (PDF) | |
| File Access | Seismic Data | 2025 | Open Example of SEG-Y rev. 2.1 | SEG Technical Standards Committee: SEG-Y rev. 2.1: Open Example |
| Data Recording | 2023 | SEG-Y_r2.1 | SEG Technical Standards Committee; SEG-Y Revision 2.1 Subcommittee November 2023 public announcement (PDF) January 2024 TLE announcement | |
| Data Recording | 2017 | SEG-Y_r2.0 | SEG Technical Standards Committee; SEG-Y Revision 2.0 Subcommittee March 2017 public announcement (PDF) May 2017 TLE announcement | |
| Data Recording | 2015 | SEG-D_r3.1 | SEG Technical Standards Committee; SEG-D Revision 3.1 Subcommittee October 2015 release letter (PDF) July 2024 updated appendix A (PDF) | |
| Data Recording | 2014 | SEG-D_r3.0 Update | SEG Technical Standards Committee; SEG-D Revision 3.0 Subcommittee September 2014 update release letter (PDF) | |
| Ancillary Data Exchange | 2006 | SEG SPS_r2.1 | SEG Technical Standards Committee on Ancillary Data Formats, Shell Processing Support Format for Land 3-D Surveys, 2006. | |
| Data Recording | 2006 | SEG-D_r2.1 | Lewis, J., B. Firth, N. Aatland, R. Hagelund, B. Svenkerud, J. Hamon, M. Lansley, A. Stott, H.A. Al-Ghambi, J. Richard, and S. Hubbell, SEG-D, Revision 2.1 SEG Field Tape Standards. | |
| Data Recording | 2002 | SEG-Y_r1.0 | The SEG Y Data Exchange Format (rev 0) was published in 1975, and has achieved widespread usage. However, since 1975, the nature of seismic data acquisition, processing, and seismic hardware has changed significantly. SEG Y Revision 1 addresses these changes and updates the format for modern usage. | |
| Executable | Ancillary Data Exchange | 1999 | SEG ADS reading sample | Approved by the SEG Executive Committee, scheduled for publication in Geophysics. Michael Hares, Sample Code to read an SEG ADS Dataset, 1999. This is a self-extracting archive containing C source code. |
| Ancillary Data Exchange | 1999 | SEG ADS Trace Attribute | Norris, Michael, Michael Hares, and Alan Faichney, 2001, SEG-UKOOA Ancillary Data Standard – ADS Trace Attributes: Geophysics, 66, no. 6, 1999–2039. | |
| Ancillary Data Exchange | 1999 | SEG ADS Trace Edit | Norris, Michael, Michael Hares, and Alan Faichney, 2001, SEG-UKOOA Ancillary Data Standard – ADS Trace Edit: Geophysics, 66, no. 6, 2040–2054. | |
| Ancillary Data Exchange | 1999 | SEG ADS | Faichney, A., M. Norris, G. Hiscox, J.K. Hovde, D. Bingham, J. Stigant, C. Racer, K. Reynolds, and M. Hares, 2001, SEG-UKOOA Ancillary Data Standard – Metafile Format Description: Geophysics, 66, no. 6, 1961–1998. | |
| Data Archival | 1997 | SEG Rode | Updated version of RODE format with amended SEG-Y example. This document is an updated version of: Booth, E., U. Algan, P. Duke, W. Guyton, M. Norris, S. Stainsby, J. Theriot, B. Wildgoose, and D. Wilhelmsen, 1996, SEG RODE FORMAT: Record Oriented Data Encapsulation: Geophysics, 61, no. 5, 1545–1558. | |
| Data Archival | 1997 | SEG-D_r2.0 | Wood, G., P. Behn, C. Borresen, W. Guyton, L. Miles, D. O’Neill, S. Oishi, and T. Scales, SEG-D, Revision 2 SEG Field Tape Standards: Geophysics, 62, no. 3, 1004–1031. | |
| Data Archival | 1996 | SEG Rode | Booth, E., U. Algan, P. Duke, W. Guyton, M. Norris, S. Stainsby, J. Theriot, B. Wildgoose, and D. Wilhelmsen, 1996 SEG RODE FORMAT: Record Oriented Data Encapsulation: Geophysics, 61, no. 5, 1545–1558. | |
| Ancillary Data Exchange | 1995 | SEG SPS | SEG Technical Standards Committee on Ancilliary Data Formats, 1995, Shell Processing Support Format For Land 3-D Surveys: Geophysics, 60, no. 2, 596–610 | |
| Data Recording | 1994 | SEG-D_r1.0 | Allen, R., G. Crews, W. Guyton, C.A. McLemore, B. Peterson, C. S. Rapp, L. Walker, L.R. Whigham, D.A. White, and G. Wood, 1994, Digital field tape format standards — SEG-D, REVISION 1: Geophysics, 59, no. 4, 668–684. | |
| Polarity | 1993 | SEG Polarity 1993 | Landrum, R.A., R.A. Brook, and J.J. Sallas, 1994, Polarity convention for vibratory source and recording systems: Geophysics, 59, no. 2, 315–322. | |
| Data Recording | 1990 | SEG-2 | Pullan, S.E., 1990, Recommended standard for seismic (/radar) files in the personal computer environment: Geophysics, 55, no. 9, 1260–1271. | |
| Digital recorders | 1988 | Digital recorders | Badger, A.S., 1988, Digital Seismic Recorder Specification Standards: Geophysics, 53, no. 3, 415–416. | |
| Marine energy sources | 1988 | Marine energy sources | Johnston, R.C., D.H. Reed, and J.F. Desler, 1988, Special report on marine seismic energy source standards*: Geophysics, 53, no. 4, 566–575. (*Errata in Geophysics, 53, no. 7, 1011) | |
| Marine streamers | 1987 | Marine streamers | Reed, D.H., R.L. Selsam, and W.A. Knox, 1987, Special report on SEG standards for marine seismic hydrophones and streamer cables*: Geophysics, 52, no. 2, 242–248. (*Errata in Geophysics, 52, no. 5, 720) | |
| Positioning | 1983 | SEG-P1 SEG-P2 SEG-P3 | Morgan, J. G., L.H. Spradley, G.A. Worthington, and I.J. McClelland, 1983, Special report on SEG standard exchange formats for positional data: Geophysics, 48, no. 4, 488–490. | |
| E&M | 1987 | MT/EMAP | Wright, David E., MT/EMAP Data Interchange Standard, Revision 1.0, Dec 1987. This standard was not published in Geophysics. It later appeared in: Wright, D.E., SEG standard for MT and EMAP data, 1988, SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 1988, 249–251. | |
| Units | 1980 | SEG SI Metric | Hilterman, Fred, Franklyn Levin, Norman Neidell, Robert Sheriff, and Lee Lenz, The SI Metric System of Units And SEG Tentative Metric Standard, 1980. This document was not published in Geophysics. | |
| Polarity | 1975 | SEG Polarity 1975 | Thigpen, B.B., A.E. Dalby, and R. Landrum, 1975, Special Report of the Subcommittee on Polarity Standards*: Geophysics, 40, no. 4, 694–699. (*Discussion by W.T. Valenta in Geophysics, 41, no. 2, 324; reply by B.B. Thigpen in Geophysics, 41, no. 2, 324) | |
| Data Recording | 1975 | SEG-D | Barry, K.M., D.A. Cavers, and C.W. Kneale, 1975, Recommended standards for digital tape formats: Geophysics, 40, no. 2, 344–352. | |
| Data Recording | 1975 | SEG-Y | Barry, K.M., D.A. Cavers, and C.W. Kneale, 1975, Recommended standards for digital tape formats: Geophysics, 40, no. 2, 344–352. | |
| Data Recording | 1972 | SEG-C | Meiners, E.P., L.L. Lenz, A.E. Dalby, and J.M. Hornsby, 1972, Recommended standards for digital tape formats: Geophysics, 37, no. 1, 36–44. | |
| Data Recording | 1967 | SEG-A SEG-B SEG-EX | Northwood, E.J., R.C. Weisinger, and J.J. Bradley, 1967, Recommended standards for digital tape formats: Geophysics, 32, no. 6, 1073–1084. |