diff --git a/src/icartt/dataset.py b/src/icartt/dataset.py
index 0e035d11cd5f8cf2e6391f7e0c6c65e9ffe04251..7fb9ec5a61944e2d8cf9c07f4d88d46687aca585 100644
--- a/src/icartt/dataset.py
+++ b/src/icartt/dataset.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from enum import IntEnum
 import numpy as np
 
 
-DEFAULT_NUM_FORMAT = "%f"
+DEFAULT_NUM_FORMAT = "%g"
 DEFAULT_FIELD_DELIM = ", "