---
title: Data
---
# Data: Ins and Outs

Data flows through Caffe as [Blobs](net_layer_blob.html#blob-storage-and-communication).
Data layers load input and save output by converting to and from Blob to other formats.
Common transformations like mean-subtraction and feature-scaling are done by data layer configuration.
New input types are supported by developing a new data layer -- the rest of the Net follows by the modularity of the Caffe layer catalogue.

This data layer definition

    layer {
      name: "mnist"
      # Data layer loads leveldb or lmdb storage DBs for high-throughput.
      type: "Data"
      # the 1st top is the data itself: the name is only convention
      top: "data"
      # the 2nd top is the ground truth: the name is only convention
      top: "label"
      # the Data layer configuration
      data_param {
        # path to the DB
        source: "examples/mnist/mnist_train_lmdb"
        # type of DB: LEVELDB or LMDB (LMDB supports concurrent reads)
        backend: LMDB
        # batch processing improves efficiency.
        batch_size: 64
      }
      # common data transformations
      transform_param {
        # feature scaling coefficient: this maps the [0, 255] MNIST data to [0, 1]
        scale: 0.00390625
      }
    }

loads the MNIST digits.

**Tops and Bottoms**: A data layer makes **top** blobs to output data to the model.
It does not have **bottom** blobs since it takes no input.

**Data and Label**: a data layer has at least one top canonically named **data**.
For ground truth a second top can be defined that is canonically named **label**.
Both tops simply produce blobs and there is nothing inherently special about these names.
The (data, label) pairing is a convenience for classification models.

**Transformations**: data preprocessing is parametrized by transformation messages within the data layer definition.

    layer {
      name: "data"
      type: "Data"
      [...]
      transform_param {
        scale: 0.1
        mean_file_size: mean.binaryproto
        # for images in particular horizontal mirroring and random cropping
        # can be done as simple data augmentations.
        mirror: 1  # 1 = on, 0 = off
        # crop a `crop_size` x `crop_size` patch:
        # - at random during training
        # - from the center during testing
        crop_size: 227
      }
    }

**Prefetching**: for throughput data layers fetch the next batch of data and prepare it in the background while the Net computes the current batch.

**Multiple Inputs**: a Net can have multiple inputs of any number and type. Define as many data layers as needed giving each a unique name and top. Multiple inputs are useful for non-trivial ground truth: one data layer loads the actual data and the other data layer loads the ground truth in lock-step. In this arrangement both data and label can be any 4D array. Further applications of multiple inputs are found in multi-modal and sequence models. In these cases you may need to implement your own data preparation routines or a special data layer.

*Improvements to data processing to add formats, generality, or helper utilities are welcome!*

## Formats

Refer to the layer catalogue of [data layers](layers.html#data-layers) for close-ups on each type of data Caffe understands.

## Deployment Input

For on-the-fly computation deployment Nets define their inputs by `input` fields: these Nets then accept direct assignment of data for online or interactive computation.