As i had matlab 2019b i thought i would have the latest and greatest mat file version if i type the following ont he command line.
Mat file version 7 3.
Use the matfile function to access matlab variables directly from mat files on disk without loading the full variables into memory.
For variables larger than 2gb use mat file version 7 3 or later.
From matlab v7 compressed mat version 5 files are used by default 3 5 which is supported by this function.
In this case the default mat file version is 7 3.
When you create a new file using matfile the function creates a version 7 3 mat file that also lets you save variables larger than 2 gb.
If for some reason it fails use save v6 in matlab to write non compressed mat v5 files sic.
These files can be read in python using for instance the pytables or h5py package.
The only exception to this is when you create new mat files using the matfile function.
To identify or change the default mat file version access the mat files preferences.
By default all save operations create version 7 mat files.
Your matlab is r2010a which should be later than v7 3.
About mat files saved in matlab using v7 3.
Beginning at release 7 3 of matlab mat files are actually saved using the hdf5 format by default except if you use the vx flag at save time see help save in matlab.
March 7 2005 support for memory mapped files.
Reading matlab structures in mat files does not seem supported at this point.
By default all save operations create version 7 mat files.
The only exception to this is when you create new mat files using the matfile function.
In order to save your data to a mat file with version 7 3 or later specify the v7 3 flag as the version input argument.
Reading compressed mat files.
Matlab 7 1 r14sp3 1 5 0 september 1 2005 first 64 bit version available for windows xp 64 bit matlab 7 2 r2006a 15 1 5 0 2006 march 1 2006 matlab 7 3 r2006b 16 1 5 0 september 1 2006 hdf5 based mat file support matlab 7 4 r2007a 17 1 5 0 07 2007 march 1 2007.
In this case the default mat file version is 7 3.