GDAL Raster Formats

Long Format Name Code Creation Georeferencing Maximum file size1 Compiled by
default
Arc/Info ASCII Grid AAIGrid Yes Yes 2GB Yes
ADRG/ARC Digitilized Raster Graphics (.gen/.thf) ADRG Yes Yes -- Yes
Arc/Info Binary Grid (.adf) AIG No Yes -- Yes
AIRSAR Polarimetric AIRSAR No No -- Yes
Magellan BLX Topo (.blx, .xlb) BLX Yes Yes -- Yes
Bathymetry Attributed Grid (.bag) BAG No Yes 2GiB No, needs libhdf5
Microsoft Windows Device Independent Bitmap (.bmp) BMP Yes Yes 4GiB Yes
BSB Nautical Chart Format (.kap) BSB No Yes -- Yes, can be disabled
VTP Binary Terrain Format (.bt) BT Yes Yes -- Yes
CEOS (Spot for instance) CEOS No No -- Yes
DRDC COASP SAR Processor Raster COASP No No -- Yes
TerraSAR-X Complex SAR Data Product COSAR No No -- Yes
Convair PolGASP data CPG No Yes -- Yes
Spot DIMAP (metadata.dim) DIMAP No Yes -- Yes
ELAS DIPEx DIPEx No Yes -- Yes
DODS / OPeNDAP DODS No Yes -- No, needs libdap
First Generation USGS DOQ (.doq) DOQ1 No Yes -- Yes
New Labelled USGS DOQ (.doq) DOQ2 No Yes -- Yes
Military Elevation Data (.dt0, .dt1, .dt2) DTED Yes Yes -- Yes
ERMapper Compressed Wavelets (.ecw) ECW Yes Yes   No, needs ECW SDK
ESRI .hdr Labelled EHdr Yes Yes No limits Yes
Erdas Imagine Raw EIR No Yes -- Yes
NASA ELAS ELAS Yes Yes -- Yes
ENVI .hdr Labelled Raster ENVI Yes Yes No limits Yes
Epsilon - Wavelet compressed images EPSILON Yes No -- No, needs EPSILON library
ERMapper (.ers) ERS Yes Yes Yes
Envisat Image Product (.n1) ESAT No No -- Yes
EOSAT FAST Format FAST No Yes -- Yes
FIT FIT Yes No -- Yes
FITS (.fits) FITS Yes No -- No, needs libcfitsio
Fuji BAS Scanner Image FujiBAS No No -- Yes
Generic Binary (.hdr Labelled) GENBIN No No -- Yes
Oracle Spatial GeoRaster GEORASTER Yes Yes -- No, needs Oracle client libraries
GSat File Format GFF No No -- Yes
Graphics Interchange Format (.gif) GIF Yes No 2GB Yes (internal GIF library provided)
WMO GRIB1/GRIB2 (.grb) GRIB No Yes 2GB Yes, can be disabled
GMT Compatible netCDF GMT Yes Yes 2GB No, needs libnetcdf
GRASS Rasters GRASS No Yes -- No, needs libgrass
Golden Software ASCII Grid GSAG Yes No -- Yes
Golden Software Binary Grid GSBG Yes No 4GiB (32767x32767 of 4 bytes each + 56 byte header) Yes
Golden Software Surfer 7 Binary Grid GS7BG No No 4GiB Yes
GSC Geogrid GSC Yes No -- Yes
TIFF / BigTIFF / GeoTIFF (.tif) GTiff Yes Yes 4GiB for classical TIFF / No limits for BigTIFF Yes (internal libtiff and libgeotiff provided)
GXF - Grid eXchange File GXF No Yes 4GiB Yes
Hierarchical Data Format Release 4 (HDF4) HDF4 Yes Yes 2GiB No, needs libdf
Hierarchical Data Format Release 5 (HDF5) HDF5 No Yes 2GiB No, needs libhdf5
Erdas Imagine (.img) HFA Yes Yes No limits2 Yes
Image Display and Analysis (WinDisp) IDA Yes Yes 2GB Yes
ILWIS Raster Map (.mpr,.mpl) ILWIS Yes Yes -- Yes
Intergraph Raster INGR Yes Yes 2GiB Yes
USGS Astrogeology ISIS cube (Version 2) ISIS2 No Yes -- Yes
USGS Astrogeology ISIS cube (Version 3) ISIS3 No Yes -- Yes
JAXA PALSAR Product Reader (Level 1.1/1.5) JAXAPALSAR No No -- Yes
Japanese DEM (.mem) JDEM No Yes -- Yes
JPEG JFIF (.jpg) JPEG Yes Yes 4GiB (max dimentions 65500x65500) Yes (internal libjpeg provided)
JPEG2000 (.jp2, .j2k) JPEG2000 Yes Yes 2GiB No, needs libjasper
JPEG2000 (.jp2, .j2k) JP2KAK Yes Yes No limits No, needs Kakadu library
JPEG2000 (.jp2, .j2k) JP2ECW Yes Yes 500MB No, needs ECW SDK
JPEG2000 (.jp2, .j2k) JP2MrSID Yes Yes No, needs MrSID SDK
NOAA Polar Orbiter Level 1b Data Set (AVHRR) L1B No Yes -- Yes
Erdas 7.x .LAN and .GIS LAN No Yes 2GB Yes
FARSITE v.4 LCP Format LCP No Yes No limits Yes
Daylon Leveller Heightfield Leveller No Yes 2GB Yes
In Memory Raster MEM Yes Yes Yes
Vexcel MFF MFF Yes Yes No limits Yes
Vexcel MFF2 MFF2 (HKV) Yes Yes No limits Yes
Multi-resolution Seamless Image Database MrSID No Yes -- No, needs MrSID SDK
Meteosat Second Generation MSG No Yes No, needs msg library
EUMETSAT Archive native (.nat) MSGN No Yes Yes
NLAPS Data Format NDF No Yes No limits Yes
NITF NITF Yes Yes 10GB Yes
NetCDF netCDF Yes Yes 2GB No, needs libnetcdf
Northwood/VerticalMapper Classified Grid Format .grc/.tab NWT_GRC No Yes -- Yes
Northwood/VerticalMapper Numeric Grid Format .grd/.tab NWT_GRD No Yes -- Yes
OGDI Bridge OGDI No Yes -- No, needs OGDI library
PCI .aux Labelled PAux Yes No No limits Yes
PCI Geomatics Database File PCIDSK Yes Yes No limits Yes
PCRaster PCRaster Yes Yes   Yes (internal libcsf provided)
NASA Planetary Data System PDS No Yes -- Yes
Portable Network Graphics (.png) PNG Yes No   Yes (internal libpng provided)
Netpbm (.ppm,.pgm) PNM Yes No No limits Yes
R Object Data Store R Yes No -- Yes
Rasterlite - Rasters in SQLite DB Rasterlite Yes Yes -- No (needs OGR SQLite driver)
Swedish Grid RIK (.rik) RIK No Yes 4GB Yes (internal zlib is used if necessary)
Raster Matrix Format (*.rsw, .mtw) RMF Yes Yes 4GB Yes
Raster Product Format/RPF (a.toc) RPFTOC No Yes -- Yes
RadarSat2 XML (product.xml) RS2 No Yes 4GB Yes
Idrisi Raster RST Yes Yes No limits Yes
SAGA GIS Binary format SAGA Yes Yes -- Yes
SAR CEOS SAR_CEOS No Yes -- Yes
ArcSDE Raster SDE No Yes -- No, needs ESRI SDE
USGS SDTS DEM (*CATD.DDF) SDTS No Yes -- Yes
SGI Image Format SGI Yes Yes -- Yes
Standard Raster Product (ASRP/USRP) SRP No Yes 2GB Yes
SRTM HGT Format SRTMHGT Yes Yes -- Yes
Terragen Heightfield (.ter) TERRAGEN Yes No -- Yes
Terralib Terralib No Yes -- No, needs Terralib
EarthWatch/DigitalGlobe .TIL TIL No No -- Yes
TerraSAR-X Product TSX Yes No -- Yes
USGS ASCII DEM (.dem) USGSDEM Yes Yes -- Yes
GDAL Virtual (.vrt) VRT Yes Yes -- Yes
OGC Web Coverage Server WCS No Yes -- No, needs libcurl
WKTRaster WKTRaster No Yes -- No, needs PostgreSQL library
OGC Web Map Server WMS No Yes -- No, needs libcurl
X11 Pixmap (.xpm) XPM Yes No   Yes

1Maximum file size does not only determined by the file format itself, but operating system/file system capabilities as well. Look here for details.

2ERDAS Imagine has different file format for large files, where 32-bit pointers cannot be used. Look for details here.

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