universal_dtypes

Stable — v2.0.0. The public API is committed to Semantic Versioning guarantees. (2.0.0 is the first stable major: 1.0.0 was published in error very early and yanked, and PyPI reserves a version number permanently — see docs/RELEASING.md §3.)

universal_dtypes is a stand-alone Python package that registers the Stillwater Universal number systems as first-class NumPy dtypes, so alternative real-number formats can be used directly in NumPy (and pandas) arrays. It is modeled on ml_dtypes, which does the same for the machine-learning float formats used by JAX and TensorFlow — and goes further: posits, fixed-point (including the commercial DSP Q-formats), the logarithmic number system, and double/triple/quad-double cascades have no ml_dtypes counterpart.

Linear algebra over these types (dense/sparse solvers, and the quire-based exact accumulation policy) lives in the sister package mtl5-python, which consumes these dtypes. See Relationship to MTL5.

The dtypes

28 dtypes ship, across six families. Full tables — bit layouts, ranges, resolutions, and the exact Universal template configuration behind each — are in docs/dtypes.md.

The set is compiled in, so the registries are the source of truth for what a given build ships:

import universal_dtypes as ud

list(ud.dtypes)  # every name
ud.posit_dtypes  # just one family (also cfloat_/lns_/fixpnt_/cascade_dtypes)
ud.build_info()  # {'version': '2.0.0', 'universal': True, 'dtypes': True}

Adding a posit configuration is a one-line table entry plus a rebuild — see docs/dtypes.md.

Installation

pip install universal_dtypes

Binary wheels are published for CPython 3.10–3.12 on Linux x86-64 (manylinux_2_28), macOS arm64, and Windows x64. Other platforms and Python versions build from the sdist, which needs a C++20 compiler and CMake (the build fetches the Universal headers via FetchContent).

NumPy 2.x is required at both build and run time: these are NEP-42 dtypes (PyArrayInitDTypeMeta_FromSpec, ArrayMethod casts, ufunc loops), an API that does not exist in NumPy 1.x.

Optional extras:

pip install 'universal_dtypes[pandas]'   # pandas ExtensionDtype/ExtensionArray
pip install 'universal_dtypes[dev]'      # pytest, ml_dtypes, pandas

From source:

git clone https://github.com/stillwater-sc/universal_dtypes
cd universal_dtypes
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Example usage

import numpy as np
import universal_dtypes as ud

a = np.array([1.0, 2.0, 3.0], dtype=ud.posit16)
b = a * 2  # element-wise arithmetic, in posit16
c = np.sum(a)  # reductions (in-type accumulation — see below)
n = np.sqrt(a)  # math ufuncs
s = np.sort(a)  # sort / argsort
m = a > 1  # comparisons

Every dtype supports array creation, casts, element-wise arithmetic and math ufuncs (including **, minimum/maximum, clip), comparisons, reductions, sort/argsort, hashable scalars, and pickling.

The dtypes also register under their string names:

np.dtype("posit16")
np.zeros(4, dtype="posit16")
np.full(4, 2.5, dtype="fp8e5m2")

Python int/float/bool scalars mix in directly, on either side:

a * 2
a + 1.5
2 - a
a > 1
np.clip(a, 0, 1)

The scalar is converted into the array's dtype first, so it rounds or saturates by that type's rules — a * 2 is always exactly a * ud.posit16(2). On a bounded format that has teeth: 2 saturates to maxpos in q15 (range ±1), so q15_arr * 2 scales by ~0.99997 instead of doubling. Any conversion that saturates reports it, so that doesn't happen silently:

np.array([0.5], dtype=ud.q15) * 2
# RuntimeWarning: value 2 out of range for q15 (max 0.999969482421875); saturated

A concrete NumPy operand still raises, deliberately — rounding a whole float64 array into a low-precision type should be an explicit .astype():

a * np.float64(2)  # UFuncTypeError
a * np.array([2.0])  # UFuncTypeError

Array creation works through the usual entry points:

np.arange(8, dtype=ud.posit16)
np.zeros(4, dtype=ud.posit16)  # zeros / ones / full / empty
np.linspace(0, 1, 8).astype(ud.posit16)  # linspace has no dtype= for these

arange computes start + i*delta per element and rounds once (NumPy's own rule for floats) rather than accumulating, and it saturates on the bounded formats — see docs/dtypes.md.

Worked, runnable problems — one per number-system family, plus cross-family application studies in math, ML, control, and DSP — live in examples/ (see its README). Each one asserts its result, so they double as regression tests.

Casting between dtypes

astype works between any two universal dtypes, not just to and from the builtin NumPy types:

a = np.array([1.5, 2.25], dtype=ud.posit16)
a.astype(ud.posit32)  # posit -> posit
a.astype(ud.bfloat16)  # across number systems
a.astype(ud.dd_cascade)  # into a high-precision cascade
a.astype(np.float32)  # and float16 / float32 / float64

Of the builtin NumPy types, only float16/float32/float64 cast in both directions. Integer and boolean arrays go through float64:

a.astype(np.float64).astype(np.int32)  # posit16 -> int
np.array([1, 2], dtype=np.int32).astype(np.float64).astype(ud.posit16)

Casts convert in the value domain (the represented real number), not by reinterpreting bits, and go through a compensated multi-term expansion built from each type's own arithmetic — so they preserve the source's full precision even when it exceeds float64's 53 bits (posit64, and the cascades). All such casts are classified unsafe (a different number system may round), so astype performs them but implicit promotion does not.

Reductions and the accumulation contract

Reductions accumulate in the type itself, in array order — there is no hidden wider accumulator. This is deliberate: the accumulation precision is the caller's choice. Consequently np.sum(a, dtype=np.float64) and np.mean(a) raise; cast first to pick your precision.

a.astype(np.float64).sum()  # wider accumulation
a.astype(np.float64).mean()  # the supported mean

The full contract — empty-reduction identities, full-precision min/max, and the double-then-round rule for math ufuncs — is pinned in docs/dtypes.md.

Arrays round-trip through pickle, np.save/np.load (with allow_pickle=True), and raw bytes, but the dtypes are native-endian only — see the persistence and byte-order contract.

pandas integration (optional)

An opt-in module gives every universal dtype a pandas ExtensionDtype/ExtensionArray pair. The core package never imports pandas.

import pandas as pd
import universal_dtypes.pandas_ext  # registers the pandas dtypes

s = pd.Series([1.5, 2.25, 3.0], dtype="posit16")
s.max()
s.astype("posit32")
pd.DataFrame({"x": pd.array([1.0, 2.0], dtype="bfloat16")})

Number-format background

Posits — posit8, posit16, posit32, posit64, …

A posit posit<nbits, es> encodes a real number with a sign bit, a run-length regime field, up to es exponent bits, and the remaining bits as fraction. Precision is tapered: highest for magnitudes near ±1, decreasing toward 0 and the extremes. Posits have no subnormals and no separate infinities or NaNs — a single exceptional value NaR ("Not a Real") represents overflow, division by zero, and other undefined results; overflow saturates to maxpos/maxneg. np.isnan maps onto NaR.

Configurable floats — fp16, fp8e5m2

Universal's cfloat is a parameterized IEEE-754-style float (sign / exponent / fraction). Both shipped configs are IEEE-style with ±inf, NaN, and subnormals, chosen to round exactly like a reference implementation. The parity covers every finite encoding, but Universal places ±inf at a different bit pattern than IEEE (4 patterns out of the whole space), so a raw buffer containing infinities cannot be reinterpreted across the two — #57. astype is correct either way. (e4m3 is not shipped yet; see docs/dtypes.md.)

Fixed-point — fixpnt8/16, q7, q15, q31, iq24, q5_23

Fixed-point fixpnt<nbits, rbits> is a two's-complement integer interpreted as a value scaled by 2^-rbits — a fixed absolute resolution across the whole range, and exact addition within range, which is why it is a DSP staple. All shipped configs saturate on overflow rather than wrapping; there are no non-finite values. q7/q15/q31 are the fractional formats shared by TI, ADI, and ARM CMSIS-DSP; iq24 is TI C2000 IQmath and q5_23 is ADI SigmaDSP audio.

Logarithmic number system — lns16, lns32

LNS stores a sign and the base-2 logarithm of the magnitude. Multiplication and division become addition and subtraction of the stored logarithms — cheap, and exact for powers of two — at the cost of harder addition and subtraction, which use Universal's Gaussian-log routines. LNS has encodings for zero and NaN but no infinity.

Cascades — dd_cascade, td_cascade, qd_cascade

Floating-point expansions: a value is an unevaluated sum of 2, 3, or 4 IEEE doubles, giving ~106 / ~159 / ~212 significand bits without arbitrary-precision overhead. Arithmetic uses error-free transformations (two-sum / two-prod); comparisons and sort run at full precision.

Quirks of low-precision arithmetic

Because there is no wider accumulator, naive accumulation loses information — summing in posit16 rounds after every partial sum, and small addends are swamped by a large running total:

import numpy as np
import universal_dtypes as ud

x = np.array([100.0] + [0.01] * 50, dtype=ud.posit16)
np.sum(x)  # 100.0  — every 0.01 vanishes against the total
np.sum(x.astype(np.float64))  # ≈100.5 — accumulate wider by casting first

The standard fix is to accumulate in higher precision (cast first, as above). Universal's posits also provide the quire — a fixed-point accumulator wide enough to hold an exact sum of products, rounding only once at the end. The quire is an algorithm concern (how you accumulate), so it lives in the linear-algebra layer, not in the dtype: it is exposed by mtl5-python through accumulator= on dot, norm, and the other reduction-bearing operations. universal_dtypes deliberately gives ordinary NumPy semantics; when you need an exact reduction, reach for MTL5:

import mtl5

# exact posit16 sum-of-products via the quire (single final rounding)
mtl5.dot(x, np.ones_like(x), accumulator="quire")

The two answers will differ on ill-conditioned data — by design.

Relationship to MTL5

universal_dtypes is the element type and its scalar / element-wise arithmetic. mtl5-python is what you do with arrays of them: dense/sparse linear algebra, and the quire / accumulator mixed-precision policy. mtl5-python depends on universal_dtypes for the dtypes; universal_dtypes does not depend on MTL5. See docs/design.md for the full rationale and the package boundary.

Documentation

• docs/dtypes.md — the complete dtype reference: per-family tables, casts, the reduction contract, persistence, pandas, discoverability.
• docs/design.md — architecture, the package boundary, and the design decisions behind the API.
• docs/RELEASING.md — release process and versioning policy.
• CHANGELOG.md — per-release history.
• examples/ — runnable worked problems and application studies.

License

universal_dtypes is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE. Copyright © 2026 Stillwater Supercomputing, Inc.

It builds on Universal (MIT), whose header-only number-system implementations provide the arithmetic behind each dtype.