ECMWF offers three file-naming convention templates for real-time product delivery via the ECMWF Production Data Store (ECPDS). These templates can be selected using the Product Requirements Editor (PRED) if you have access, otherwise requests of template change can be made through the ECMWF Support Portal.

  1. LEGACY Template

    • Currently used for all real-time IFS products delivered through ECPDS.

    • AIFS and IFS-COMPO (CAMS) products are not configurable with this template.

    • This template will be phased out in 2026.

  2. ECMWF Template

    • Currently used for all real-time AIFS and IFS-COMPO (CAMS) products delivered through ECPDS.

    • IFS products are configurable to use this template.

  3. WMO Template

    • Configuration for IFS, AIFS and IFS-COMPO (CAMS) products delivered through ECPDS are supported.

1. LEGACY

Feed Stream

BasedDate
(MMDDHHmm)

ValidDate
(MMDDHHmm)

 Experiment
A1 D 07 25 00 00 08 08 18 00 1
A1D07250000080818001
  • Feed: The feed name, as defined in the PREd
  • Stream: The stream indicator (see table below)
  • Based Date: The month, day, hour and minute on which the products are based (in MMDDHHmm format)
  • Valid Date: The month, day, hour and minute at which the products are valid (in MMDDHHmm format)
    • MMDDHHmm is set to "MM______" for seasonal forecast products, where MM indicates the valid month
    • mm is set to "01" for high resolution forecast (type=fc, step=0)
  • Experiment: The version number (as EXPVER keyword in MARS, operational files use 1). 

1.1. Stream indicator

S

Stream,
Type

Description

Forecast Range

Runs
Frequency
A stream=oper,
type=wp		 HRES Weather Parameter products 15-day 00z/12z
daily
B stream=enfo,
type=wp		 ENS Weather Parameter products 15-day 00z/12z
daily
C stream=oper/scda,
type=tf		 HRES Tropical Cyclone trajectory products 10-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
D stream=oper HRES Atmospheric model products 15-day 00z/12z
daily
E stream=enfo ENS Atmospheric model products 15-day 00z/12z
daily
F stream=eefo ENS Subseasonal atmospheric model products 46-day 00z
daily
G stream=waef  ENS Wave model products 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
H stream=eefh/eehs ENS Subseasonal atmospheric model re-forecast products 46-day 00z
every other day (1/3/5...)
I

stream=enfh/efhs

ENS Atmospheric model re-forecast products

15-day

00z
every four days (1/5/9...)
J stream=enwh/wehs ENS Wave model re-forecast products 15-day 00z
every four days (1/5/9...)
L stream=mmsm/mmsf/mmsa ENS Seasonal model forecasting system products (SEAS) 7-months 00z
monthly
M stream=oper,
type=fc		 HRES Atmospheric model products for Thermofeel* parameters 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
N stream=wasf ENS Seasonal model products (SEAS-WAM) 7-months 00z 
monthly
O stream=enfo,
type=pf/cf 		 ENS Atmospheric model products for Thermofeel* parameters 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
P stream=wave HRES Wave model products (HRES-WAM ) 15-day 00z/12z
daily
Q stream=scwv HRES Wave model products (HRES-WAM ) 15-day 06z/18z
daily
S stream=scda HRES Atmospheric model products 15-day 06z/18z
daily
T stream=enfo,
type=tf		 ENS Tropical Cyclone trajectory products 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
U stream=waef,
type=em/efi/sot/ep		 ENS Wave model post-processed products 15-day  00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
V stream=weef ENS Subseasonal wave model products (ENS-WAM) 46-day

00z
daily
W stream=waef  ENS Wave model probabilistic products (ENS-WAM) 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
X stream=enfo  ENS Atmospheric model products 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily
Y stream=enfo,
type=em/efi/sot/ep		 ENS Post-processed atmospheric model products 15-day 00z/06z/12z/18z
daily 
Z stream=weeh/wees ENS Subseasonal re-forecast wave model products  46-day 00z
daily  
(*) 2 metre relative humidity (2r), Apparent temperature (aptmp), Globe temperature (gt), Heat index (heatx), Humidex (hmdx), Mean radiant temperature (mrt), Normal effective temperature (nefft), Universal thermal climate index (utci), Wet-bulb globe temperature (wbgt), Wet-bulb temperature (wbt), Wind chill factor (wcf)
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2. ECMWF

2.1. Medium-Range

Destination Feed ModelName Class Stream Type BasedDate
(YearMonthDayTHourMinuteSecondsZ)		 ValidDate
(YearMonthDayTHourMinuteSecondsZ)		 Step
(Hourh)		 Experiment
(Optional)
abc a1 aifs-ens ai enfo pf  20250725T000000Z  20250808T180000Z  354  
abc_a1_aifs-ens_ai_enfo_pf_20250725T000000Z_20250808T180000Z_354h
  • Destination: The destination name used in ECPDS. The file-naming convention will always use the name of the primary destination where the data are installed, even if you receive the files via an alias destination.
  • Feed: The feed name, as defined in the PREd
  • ModelName: The model identifier
  • Class: The class of forecast data
  • Stream: The stream name
  • Type: The type of forecast
  • BasedDate: The base date and time of the product, in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ (ISO 8601 format) (This marks when the forecast was initiated)
  • ValidDate: The date and time for which the product is valid, in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ (ISO 8601 format) (This marks the time the forecast is intended to represent)
  • Step: The forecast step in hours
  • Experiment: The experiment version number (as EXPVER keyword in MARS, operational files use 1) (Not shown when operational)

2.2. Sub-seasonal

Destination Feed ModelName Class Stream Type BasedDate
(YearMonthDayTHourMinuteSecondsZ)		 ValidDate
(YearMonthDay)		 Step
(dDay)		 Experiment
(Optional)
abc a1 ifs-subs od eefo cf  20260419T000000Z 20260604  47  
abc_a1_ifs-subs_od_eefo_cf_20260419T000000Z_20260604_d47
  • ValidDate: The date which the product is valid, in the format YYYYMMDD (This marks the time the forecast is intended to represent)
  • Step: The forecast step in days

2.3. Seasonal

Destination Feed ModelName Class Stream Type BasedDate
(YearMonthDayTHourMinuteSecondsZ)		 ValidDate
(YearMonth)		 Step
(MMonth)		 Experiment
(Optional)
abc a1 ifs-seas od mmsf fc  20260401T000000Z 202610  07  

abc_a1_ifs-seas_od_mmsf_fc_20260401T000000Z_202610_M07
  • ValidDate: The date which the product is valid, in the format YYYYMM (This marks the time the forecast is intended to represent)
  • Step: The forecast step in months


3. WMO

PFlag ProductIdentifier
(locationIndicator,modelName,destination+
feed+class+stream+type +expver)		 OFlag Originator ProductionDate
(YearMonthDayTHourMinuteSeconds)		 FreeFormat
(ValidDate_Step_FileFormat)
(YearMonthDayTHourMinuteSecondsZ_Step_FileFormat)		 Extension
W xx-ecmwf-reading,aifs+single,egs+e5+ai+oper+fc+0001 C ECMF 20250725T000000 20250808T180000Z_354h_grib bin

W_xx-ecmwf-reading,aifs+single,abc+a1+ai+enfo+pf+0001_C_ECMF_20250725T000000_20250808T180000Z_354h_grib.bin
  • PFlag: Indicating how to decode the product identifier field
  • ProductIdentifier: Comma-separated values indicating the location, model name, and product metadatalocationIndicator
    • Location: The WMO location indicator of the production centre
    • ModelName: The model identifier
    • Destination: The destination name used in ECPDS. The file-naming convention will always use the name of the primary destination where the data are installed, even if you receive the files via an alias destination.
    • Feed: The feed name, as defined in the PREd
    • Class: The class of forecast data
    • Stream: The stream name
    • Type: The type of forecast
    • Expver: The experiment version number (as EXPVER keyword in MARS, operational files use 1) (Not shown when operational)
  • OFlag: Indicating how to decode the originator field
  • Originator: WMO originator code
  • ProductionDate: Based date and time of the product, in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS (This marks when the forecast was initiated)
  • FreeFormat: A free-format field containing valid date, step and file format
    • ValidDate: The date and time for which the product is valid, in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ (ISO 8601 format) (This marks the time the forecast is intended to represent)
    • Step: The forecast step in hours or days
    • FileFormat: The format of the data file
  • Extension: The file extension


File Format

About half of ECMWF products are encoded in WMO FM-92 GRIB edition 1, and the other half in GRIB edition 2, unless otherwise specified in our Catalogue of Real-time products.

However, some product subsets use different encoding formats:

  • HRES Atmospheric model (Product subset I-i-c) and ENS Atmospheric model (III-i-c):

  • AIFS model products are encoded in WMO FM-92 GRIB edition 2.

  • Time Series of Weather Parameters (Product subsets I-ii, III-iv) and Tropical Cyclones (I-iii, III-viii):

    • These are encoded in WMO FM-94 BUFR format.


Possible ModelName, Class and Streams for ECMWF and WMO templates

Full Name ModelName Class Stream Type

IFS High Resolution Data Assimilation 

ifs-da

od

oper/scda/scwv/wave

an

IFS Medium-range Ensemble Forecast 

ifs-ens

od

enfo/waef

cf/cf-ths/cm/cr/efi/em/ep/es/pf/pf-ths/sot

IFS Medium-range Control Forecast

ifs-ens-cf

od

oper/scda/scwv/wave

fc/fc-ths/ssd

IFS Medium-range Reforecast

ifs-ens-refc 

od

enfh

cf/pf
IFS Sub-seasonal Forecast 

ifs-subs 

od

eefo/weef

cf/efi/ep/fcmean/pb/pd/pf/sot/taem
IFS Sub-seasonal Reforecast 

ifs-subs-refc 

od

eefh

cf/pf

IFS Seasonal Forecast 

ifs-seas 

od

mmsa/mmsf/msmm/wasf

em/fc/fcmean

AIFS Single Forecast 

aifs-single 

ai

oper

fc/tf

AIFS Ensemble Forecast 

aifs-ens 

ai

enfo

cf/em/ep/es/pf

IFS Atmospheric Composition Forecast

 ifs-compo mc oper fc

IFS Atmospheric Composition Data Assimilation

 ifs-compo-da mc oper an
  • The "-ths" type has been introduced for Thermofeel parameters. It is now available where applicable, for example as fc-ths, cf-ths, and pf-ths.