description: Learn about dataset formats compatible with Ultralytics YOLO for robust object detection. Explore supported datasets and learn how to convert formats.
Training a robust and accurate object detection model requires a comprehensive dataset. This guide introduces various formats of datasets that are compatible with the Ultralytics YOLO model and provides insights into their structure, usage, and how to convert between different formats.
The Ultralytics YOLO format is a dataset configuration format that allows you to define the dataset root directory, the relative paths to training/validation/testing image directories or `*.txt` files containing image paths, and a dictionary of class names. Here is an example:
Labels for this format should be exported to YOLO format with one `*.txt` file per image. If there are no objects in an image, no `*.txt` file is required. The `*.txt` file should be formatted with one row per object in `class x_center y_center width height` format. Box coordinates must be in **normalized xywh** format (from 0 to 1). If your boxes are in pixels, you should divide `x_center` and `width` by image width, and `y_center` and `height` by image height. Class numbers should be zero-indexed (start with 0).
When using the Ultralytics YOLO format, organize your training and validation images and labels as shown in the [COCO8 dataset](coco8.md) example below.
- [Argoverse](argoverse.md): A dataset containing 3D tracking and motion forecasting data from urban environments with rich annotations.
- [COCO](coco.md): Common Objects in Context (COCO) is a large-scale object detection, segmentation, and captioning dataset with 80 object categories.
- [LVIS](lvis.md): A large-scale object detection, segmentation, and captioning dataset with 1203 object categories.
- [COCO8](coco8.md): A smaller subset of the first 4 images from COCO train and COCO val, suitable for quick tests.
- [Global Wheat 2020](globalwheat2020.md): A dataset containing images of wheat heads for the Global Wheat Challenge 2020.
- [Objects365](objects365.md): A high-quality, large-scale dataset for object detection with 365 object categories and over 600K annotated images.
- [OpenImagesV7](open-images-v7.md): A comprehensive dataset by Google with 1.7M train images and 42k validation images.
- [SKU-110K](sku-110k.md): A dataset featuring dense object detection in retail environments with over 11K images and 1.7 million bounding boxes.
- [VisDrone](visdrone.md): A dataset containing object detection and multi-object tracking data from drone-captured imagery with over 10K images and video sequences.
- [VOC](voc.md): The Pascal Visual Object Classes (VOC) dataset for object detection and segmentation with 20 object classes and over 11K images.
- [xView](xview.md): A dataset for object detection in overhead imagery with 60 object categories and over 1 million annotated objects.
- [Roboflow 100](roboflow-100.md): A diverse object detection benchmark with 100 datasets spanning seven imagery domains for comprehensive model evaluation.
- [Brain-tumor](brain-tumor.md): A dataset for detecting brain tumors includes MRI or CT scan images with details on tumor presence, location, and characteristics.
- [African-wildlife](african-wildlife.md): A dataset featuring images of African wildlife, including buffalo, elephant, rhino, and zebras.
- [Signature](signature.md): A dataset featuring images of various documents with annotated signatures, supporting document verification and fraud detection research.
If you have your own dataset and would like to use it for training detection models with Ultralytics YOLO format, ensure that it follows the format specified above under "Ultralytics YOLO format". Convert your annotations to the required format and specify the paths, number of classes, and class names in the YAML configuration file.
Remember to double-check if the dataset you want to use is compatible with your model and follows the necessary format conventions. Properly formatted datasets are crucial for training successful object detection models.