You are here: Appendix A: File Formats > Supported input file formats

Supported input file formats

This table describes the file formats of the images that you can add to the Job List.

File Format File Extension Supported Data Types Supports Multispectral? Notes
BIPF .bpf   N/A Binary Point File, commonly used for Geiger Mode LiDAR images.
CADRG .toc is the most common 8-bit unsigned No  
DTED .dt0, .dt1, .dt2 16-bit signed, 32-bit floating point No (limited to one band)  
ECW .ecw 8-bit unsigned Yes Earth Resoure Mapping’s Enhanced Compression Wavelet format.
ERDAS IMAGINE .img 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned, 32-bit floating point Yes GeoExpress supports color lookup tables (CLUTs) with 8-bit per sample RGB color values.
ERDAS LAN .lan 8-bit unsigned Yes In 4-band LAN images, bands 2, 3, and 4 are interpreted as Red, Green, and Blue, respectively.
JPEG .jpg, .jpeg 8-bit unsigned No, limited to 3 bands Requires a world file for georeferencing.
JPEG 2000 .jp2, .jpc 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned Yes Multiple bands supported or all color spaces.
LAS .las   N/A This is a binary, uncompressed LiDAR point cloud format. GeoExpress supports LAS versions 1.0–1.3, with experimental support for LAS 1.4.
LAZ .laz   N/A This is a binary, compressed LiDAR point cloud format.
MrSID Generation 2 (MG2) .sid 8-bit and 16-bit unsigned, 32-bit floating point No

4 bands are supported for CMYK input only.

MrSID Gen 3 (MG3) .sid 8-bit and 16-bit unsigned No 4 bands are supported for CMYK input only.
MrSID Gen 4 (MG4) LiDAR .sid   N/A This is a binary, uncompressed LiDAR point cloud format.
MrSID Gen 4 (MG4) Raster .sid 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned, 32-bit floating point Yes, up to 255 bands Multiple bands supported for all color spaces.
NITF 2.0, 2.1. .ntf 8- and 16-bit signed and unsigned Yes Only supports uncompressed, JPEG compressed, and JP2 compressed data.
PCIDSK .pix 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned, 32-bit floating point Yes Does not support mixed data type, RPC segments, GCP segments, or Color Lookup Tables.
PNG .png 8-bit and 16-bit unsigned No Requires a world file for georeferencing.
Raw (uncompressed) BBB files (BIL, BIP, and BSQ) .bil, .bip, .bsq 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned, 32-bit floating point Yes  
Sun Raster .ras, .rast 8-bit unsigned No  
Text .txt is the most common   N/A Also known as ASCII files. These are plain-text files with delimiters for point clouds.
TIFF/GeoTIFF .tif, .tiff, .tfw 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned, 32-bit floating point Yes For more information on supported TIFF compression formats, see Supported TIFF compression types.
USGS DOQ .nes, .ses, .nws, .sws, .doq 8-bit unsigned No Both the old and new USGS DOQ formats are supported and can be combined in mosaics.
Windows BMP .bmp 8-bit unsigned No Requires a world file for georeferencing. Only supported on Windows.