Error using load Unable to read file 'Test.mat'. Input must be a MAT-file or an ASCII file containing numeric data.

I am trying to load a .mat file and I received below error: Error using load Unable to read file 'Test.mat'. Input must be a MAT-file or an ASCII file containing numeric data. Does anyone know how to open this .mat file?Thanks!

[Walter Roberson]

filename = 'Test.mat';
[fid, msg] = fopen(filename, 'r');
if fid < 0
    error('failed to open "%s" because "%s"', filename, msg);
end
bytes = fread(fid, [1 74], '*uint8');
fclose(fid);
char(bytes)

If it is a valid .mat file, then char(bytes) will look something like

'MATLAB 5.0 MAT-file, Platform: PCWIN, Created on: Fri Jan 17 15:35:01 2003

If you see something drastically different, then your Test.mat file is not a valid .mat file.

[Sam]

Thank you for your comment! I ran the script above and received below answer:

'MATLAB 7.3 MAT-file, Platform: PCWIN64, Created on: Thu May 28 16:54:39 20'

It seems a valid .mat file. Now the question still remains that why MATLAB can't open it! any idea?

[Stephen23]

Please click the *paperclip* button to upload the .mat file

[Walter Roberson]

@Stephen23 at least as of yesterday, attaching with the paperclip was not yet restored functionality.

[Walter Roberson]

Internally, MATLAB 7.3 files are HDF5 files, whose content can be probed using tools such as h5info ; https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/hdf5-files.html

[Sam]

Thank you Walter! I used “>> uiimport("*.mat") command and I was able to open the file.