The only exception to this is when you create new mat files using the matfile function.
Matlab mat file versions.
Name of file specified as a character vector or string scalar.
In this case the default mat file version is 7 3.
To identify or change the default mat file version access the mat files.
In this case the default mat file version is 7 3.
By default all save operations create version 7 mat files.
Learn more about matlab io matfile matfile type file format matlab.
Level 5 matlab array data element formats.
The save variables to version 7 3 mat file example on that page shows the exact syntax.
In this case the default mat file version is 7 3.
Matlab releases r2006b and later all support all mat file versions.
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.
By default all save operations create version 7 mat files.
Matlab releases r2006b and later all support all mat file versions.
To identify or change the default mat file version access the mat files.
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.
If you do not specify filename the save function saves to a file named matlab mat.
If filename has no extension that is no period followed by text and the value of format is not specified then matlab appends mat if filename does not include a full path matlab saves to the current folder.
Support for memory mapped files.
Matlab releases r2006b and later all support all mat file versions.
As a side note i find it highly ironic that the proprietary v6 v7 mat format is more cross platform compatible due to its documentation compared to the v7 3 format that is supposed to rely on the standard hdf5 format and yet is sufficiently different in a non documented manner to make this format unusable on any platform outside matlab.
Level 5 mat file format on page 1 3 describes the internal format of mat files that are compatible with matlab versions 5 and up.