Open Matlab file .mat with module PICKLE in Python
Question: I want open a **Matlab** project with the module **Pickle** or **cPickle** in
**Python language**. NOT with:

    
    
    from scipy.io import matlab
    mat=matlab.loadmat('file.mat')
    

Can I use `pickle.load` with a .mat file?


Answer: For some years now, Matlab has used HDF5 to store data. Python has support for
HDF5, via `PyTables`. No need to use Pickle. In fact, HDF5 may surprise you
for its speed relative to Pickle. A friend reported 2-10X speedups in
read/write for some very large datasets.

* * *

Update 1: A concise guide to loading the files, via HDF5, can be found [at
this page](http://www.scipy.org/Cookbook/Reading_mat_files).

In addition, several good references and resources may be found [at this
page](http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/newsreader/view_thread/290116).
There's also a [PyMat project on Sourceforge](http://pymat.sourceforge.net/).

