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Supported Input Formats

The following 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
BPF .bpf   N/A Binary Point File commonly used for Geiger Mode LiDAR images.
CADRG Varies. Most common file extension is .toc. 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 Resource 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, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th bands are interpreted as red, green, and blue, respectively.
JPEG .jpg, .jpeg 8-bit unsigned No, limited to three bands Requires a world file for georeferencing.
JPEG 2000 .jp2, .jpc 8-bit and 16-bit signed and unsigned Yes Multiple bands supported for all color spaces.
LAS .las   N/A This is a binary, uncompressed LiDAR point cloud format. GeoExpress supports LAS versions 1.0 through 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 Generation 3 (MG3) .sid 8-bit and 16-bit unsigned No 4 bands are supported for CMYK input only.
MrSID Generation 4 (MG4) LiDAR .sid   N/A This is a binary, uncompressed LiDAR point cloud format.
MrSID Generation 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 Varies. Most common file extension is .txt.   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 for Windows platforms.