If you want to make scientific data accessible to others in a form that's portable, self-describing, supported by freely available software libraries in multiple languages, and for which widely used conventions are being maintained, netCDF may be a good choice.

Other alternatives that you might consider include

• Relational database management systems such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL are useful when the data conform to the relational model, such as structured data that can be organized in tables.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are useful for storing and manipulating spatial data, especially two-dimensional data that can be associated with earth locations.
• HDF5 (Hierarchical Data Format 5) from The HDF Group (a spin-off from the NCSA group that developed HDF4 and HDF5) is oriented towards high performance computing. It is somewhat more complex than netCDF, but also more powerful.
• GRIB (GRIdded Binary) is a WMO standard format for 2D gridded information that is especially good for compression and international exchange.
• XMDF (eXtensible Model Data Format) is tailored for representing model data on complex meshes and geometries, for example river cross-sections.

2008 Unidata NetCDF Workshop for Developers and Data Providers > Overview of netCDF