diff --git a/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/variant/VCFview.java b/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/variant/VCFview.java
index 00f94267f3b5a382242640ff1e47887709cdcacc..2b5b0c135e64a2e49c1ebf58646f1f11070a2875 100644
--- a/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/variant/VCFview.java
+++ b/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/variant/VCFview.java
@@ -516,7 +516,11 @@ public class VCFview extends JPanel
       if(IOUtils.isBCF(fileName))
       {
         vcfReaders[index] = new BCFReader(new File(vcfFiles.get(index)));
-        return ((BCFReader)vcfReaders[index]).headerToString();
+  
+        String hdr = ((BCFReader)vcfReaders[index]).headerToString();
+        if(hdr.indexOf("VCFv4") > -1)
+          vcf_v4 = true;
+        return hdr;
       }
 
       BlockCompressedInputStream is =