AvialSync documentation

The Advanced Video and Instrument Alignment Library.

AvialSync helps you inspect video and time-stamped experiment recordings on one shared timeline. It is for looking carefully at data, checking alignment, and preparing observations for analysis.

Three cameras at 230 fps with per-camera 2D pose, triangulated 3D pose in a fourth column no wider than one camera view, and the running-wheel encoder velocity below — one second of it, at the speed it was recorded, every source moving on one master clock. The folder was opened by dropping it on the window; a session plugin recognised the layout and the skeleton.

Project links

• Source code on GitHub

• Report an issue

• Releases and changelog

• Package on PyPI

• Contributing guide

Every page also carries an “Edit this page” link to its source in the repository.

Guides

• Installation
  • Install with pip (recommended)
  • Desktop installers
  • Check the installation
• Quickstart
  • Before you start
  • After installing
  • Try it without your own data
  • Open files
  • Inspect one moment
  • Align recordings
  • Where to go next
• User Guide
  • Main areas of the window
  • Where the detail lives
  • Aligning recordings
  • Messages the recording carries
  • Flagging and exporting
  • Useful controls
  • Correcting a tracked point
  • 3D tracking controls
  • Placing a 3D marker
  • Physical props
  • Placing a running wheel
  • Getting help
  • Screen readers and the keyboard
  • Appearance and font size
• Sessions, proxies, and the 3D view
  • Sessions
  • The cache
  • Proxies
  • The 3D tracking view
  • Two-photon imaging
  • Plot navigation
  • Undoing what you did
  • Nothing blocks you, and nothing is lost on quit
  • Preferences
  • Overlays on the video
  • Named layouts
  • Time display
  • Finding a command
  • The Help menu
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Appearance
• Tutorial: inspect a first session
  • 1. Load the camera
  • 2. Load the recording
  • 3. Find an event
  • 4. Mark it
  • 5. Save an observation
  • Next
• Tutorial: import sensor and recording data
  • Structure: how to split the file
  • Time: what the numbers mean
  • Timezone: state it, never assume it
  • Missing values and decimal commas
  • What happens after you accept
  • Review every dropped import
• Tutorial: align recordings
  • Before you start
  • 1. A fixed offset, when one recording is simply early or late
  • 2. Evidence-based alignment from TTL or frame triggers
  • 3. Load a trigger file, and say what its lines are
  • 4. Check the result
• Tutorial: flag frames and export
  • Flag a frame
  • Mark a range
  • Review and label what you flagged
  • Export
  • What is not exported
• Tutorial: fix switched identities
  • Two tools, two kinds of mistake
  • Before you start
  • 1. See the problem
  • 2. Open the panel
  • 3. Review a crossing
  • 4. Apply the swap
  • 5. Undo, remove, compare
  • Declare a group of your own
  • Fixing a single point instead
  • Where your work is kept, and how to use it
• Formats
  • Video
  • Two-photon imaging
  • Sensor and tracking data
  • Acquisition recordings
  • Neurodata Without Borders (NWB)
  • Trigger and TTL files
  • Lab formats
• Troubleshooting
  • A startup error naming numpy or quantities
  • Video does not play after pip install
  • AvialSync freezes and uses no CPU
  • A video says “No Footage”
  • The video pane stays blank
  • Videos and traces do not line up
  • A file does not open
  • An Open Ephys recording will not open, and the error names an event stream
  • The Messages tab is empty
  • The import wizard read my timestamps wrong
  • The plots look slow or too dense
  • AvialSync does not follow my system’s dark or light appearance

Extending and internals

• Writing a plugin
  • Two kinds of plugin
  • The one question about time
  • API version
• Your first loader
  • Optional extras
• A folder of trials
  • What each part does
• Trigger lines
• Plugin settings
• Recordings made on two machines
  • Dropped together: scan_together
  • Searched for: find_partner
• Installing and testing
  • A drop-in: the installed application, no pip
  • A package: pip users
  • Which plugin reads what
  • Testing: avialsync plugin-check
• Plugin reference
  • Time-series plugins
  • Session plugins
  • Naming your format
  • Video plugins
  • Imaging plugins
  • Trigger lines
• Technical reference
  • Architecture
  • Data handling
  • Performance verification
  • Local engineering measurements — 2026-10-14
  • Development and release
• Licensing
  • What you can do
  • Plugins are your own work
  • Contributing
  • Bundled components