Technical specifications for raster dataset formats
Rasters come in many different formats and support different components. The following table lists all the supported formats and their supported components.
Learn more about pixel (bit) depth
|
Format |
Supported data types |
Supports multiband |
Supports compression |
Supports color map |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ADRG |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (always three bands) |
No |
No |
|
ADRG Legend |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (always three bands) |
No |
No |
|
ADRG Overview |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (always three bands) |
No |
No |
|
ArcSDE Raster |
1- and 4-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
Yes |
|
8-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed, JPEG, JP2, or None |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed, JP2, or None |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
64-bit double precision |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
ASCII Grid |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
32-bit floating point |
No |
No |
No |
|
Bathymetric Attributed Grid (BAG) | 32-bit floating point | No | No | No |
|
Binary Terrain (BT) |
16-, and 32-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
32-bit floating point |
No |
Unknown |
No |
|
|
Bitmap (BMP) |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (limited to one or three bands) |
No |
Yes |
|
BSB |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
CADRG |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Vector quantization |
Yes |
|
CIB |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Vector quantization |
Yes |
|
DIGEST ASRP/USRP |
1-, 4-, and 8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Run length encoding |
Yes |
|
Digital Image Map (DIMAP) |
8-, and 16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
TIFF |
TIFF |
|
16-bit signed integer |
Yes |
TIFF |
TIFF |
|
|
DTED Level 0, 1, and 2 |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
ECRG | 8-bit unsigned integer | Yes (always three bands) | JPEG 2000 | No |
|
ENVI Header |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
16- and 32-bit unsigned/signed integer, and 32-, and 64-bit floating point |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
|
EOSAT FAST |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
ER Mapper ERS |
8-, 16-, and 32-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
|
ER Mapper ECW |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Wavelet |
No |
|
ERDAS 7.5 GIS |
1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-bit unsigned integer |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
ERDAS 7.5 LAN |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
|
ERDAS 7.5 RAW |
1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-bit unsigned integer |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
ERDAS IMAGINE |
1-, 2-, and 4-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
Yes |
|
8-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
32-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
|
64-bit double precision |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
|
ESRI BIL/BIP/BSQ |
1-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
4-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
|
8-bit signed and unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit signed and unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit signed and unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
|
ESRI Grid |
32-bit signed integer |
No |
Adaptive run length compressed |
No |
|
32-bit floating point |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
ESRI Grid stack |
32-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed |
No |
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
|
ESRI Grid stack file |
32-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed |
No |
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
|
File geodatabase |
1- and 4-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
Yes |
|
8-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed, JPEG, JP2, or None |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed, JP2, or None |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
64-bit double precision |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
Floating point file |
32-bit floating point |
No |
No |
No |
|
GIF |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
LZW |
Yes |
|
GDAL Virtual Format (VRT) |
8-, 16-, and 32-bit unsigned integer and 64-bit complex integer |
Yes |
Unknown |
Unknown |
|
Golden Software Grid (.grd) |
32-bit floating point and 64-bit double precision |
No |
Unknown |
No |
|
GRIB |
64-bit double precision |
Yes |
Unknown |
Unknown |
|
HDF4 |
8- and 16-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
8- and 16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit floating point, signed integer, and unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
HDF 5 | 8- and 16-bit signed integer | Yes | Yes | No |
8- and 16-bit unsigned integer | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
32-bit floating point, signed integer, and unsigned integer | Yes | Yes | No | |
|
HGT |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
Unknown |
No |
|
IDRISI |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
16-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
Intergraph CIT |
1-bit |
No |
CCITT Group 4 |
No |
|
Intergraph COT |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Run length encoding |
No |
|
ISIS |
8-bit unsigned integer and 32-bit floating point |
No |
Unknown |
No |
|
JFIF (JPEG) |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (limited to 1 or 3 bands) |
JPEG (lossy) |
No |
|
JAXA PALSAR |
16-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Unknown |
No |
|
JPEG 2000 |
8- and 16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Wavelet (lossy) |
No |
|
Magellan MapSend BLX/XLB |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
Yes (proprietary) |
No |
|
MAP |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Single band |
No |
No |
|
32-bit signed integer |
Single band |
No |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Single band |
No |
No |
|
|
MrSID |
8- and 16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (limited to 1 or 3 bands) |
Wavelet (lossy) |
No |
|
NDF |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Unknown |
No |
|
NITF 2.0 |
1-, 8-, and 16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
NITF 2.1/NSIF 1.0 |
1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-bit signed integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
|
PCIDSK |
8- and 16-bit unsigned |
Yes |
Not supported |
Not supported |
|
16-bit signed integer |
Yes |
Not supported |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
Not supported |
No |
|
|
Planetary Data System (PDS) |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
Unknown |
No |
|
Personal geodatabase |
1-, 2-, and 4-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
Yes |
|
8-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed, JPEG, JP2, or None |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed, JP2, or None |
Yes |
|
|
32-bit unsigned/signed integer |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
Yes |
Adaptive run length compressed or None |
No |
|
|
PNG |
1-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Deflate/Inflate |
Yes |
|
2-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Deflate/Inflate |
Yes |
|
|
4-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Deflate/Inflate |
Yes |
|
|
8-bit unsigned integer |
*Yes (limited to one or three bands only, no alpha channel) |
Deflate/Inflate |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit unsigned integer |
*Yes (limited to one or three bands only, no alpha channel) |
Deflate/Inflate |
No |
|
|
RADARSAT-2 |
16-bit unsigned integer and 32-bit complex integer |
Yes |
Unknown |
No |
|
RPF |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
RPF (CIB) |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Vector quantization |
No |
|
RPF (CADRG) |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Vector quantization |
Yes |
|
RPF (ADRG) |
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes (always three bands) |
No |
No |
|
RPF (ADRG) |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
Sandia National Laboratories Synthetic Aperture Radar (GFF) |
16-bit and 32-bit complex integer |
Unknown |
Unknown |
No |
|
Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) digital elevation model (DEM) |
16-bit signed integer or 32-bit floating point |
No |
No |
No |
|
Terragen terrain |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
Unknown |
No |
|
TIFF |
No |
CCITT (1D), CCITT Group 3, CCITT Group 4, Packbits, LZW, or None |
Yes |
|
|
4-bit unsigned integer |
No |
Packbits, LZW, or None |
Yes |
|
|
8-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
Packbits, LZW, JPEG (lossy), or None |
Yes |
|
|
8-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
16-bit unsigned integer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
|
16-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
32-bit unsigned integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
32-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
32-bit floating point |
No |
No |
No |
|
|
USGS DEM |
16-bit signed integer |
No |
No |
No |
|
XPM |
8-bit unsigned integer |
No |
No |
Yes |
Note:ArcGIS is able to read an alpha band from an existing PNG; however, it will only write one- or three-band PNG files.
Bit depth capacity for supported export formats
= is supported
NA = not applicable
|
IMG |
TIFF |
GRID |
JPEG |
JP2 |
BMP |
GIF |
PNG | BIL/BIP/BSQ | DAT |
Note | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 bit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NA | NA |
Converts to 8 bit for JPEG, JP2, BMP, GIF, PNG, BIL, BIP, BSQ, and DAT. |
||||||||||
|
2 bit |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
NA | NA | |||||||||||
|
4 bit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NA | NA |
Converts to 8 bit for JPEG, JP2, BMP, GIF, PNG, BIL, BIP, BSQ, and DAT. |
||||||||||
|
4-bit color map |
|
|
|
NA |
NA |
|
|
|
NA | NA |
Converts to 8 bit for BMP, GIF, PNG, BIL, BIP, and BSQ. |
||||||||||
|
8-bit unsigned |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||
|
8-bit signed |
|
|
|
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| NA | |||||||||||
|
8-bit color map |
|
|
|
NA |
NA |
|
|
|
| NA | |||||||||||
|
8-bit 3 band |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NA |
NA |
|
| |||||||||||
|
8-bit > 3 band |
|
|
|
NA |
|
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
| |||||||||||
|
16-bit unsigned |
|
|
|
NA |
|
NA |
NA |
|
|
| |||||||||||
|
16-bit signed |
|
|
|
NA |
|
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
| |||||||||||
|
32-bit unsigned |
|
|
|
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
| |||||||||||
|
32-bit signed |
|
|
|
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
| |||||||||||
|
32-bit floating point |
|
|
|
NA |
|
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
|
Note:Single-band BMP and GIF files are always stored with a color map.