Learn about common GIS vector data formats, including their features, advantages, limitations, and use cases.
Vector data represents geographic features using points, lines, and polygons. It is the most commonly used data type in GIS.
ESRI Shapefile is the most widely used vector data format in GIS, developed by ESRI, consisting of shp, dbf, shx and other associated files.
GeoJSON is a JSON-based geospatial data interchange format defined by RFC 7946, widely used in web mapping and mobile applications.
TopoJSON is a topological encoding extension of GeoJSON that eliminates redundancy through shared arcs, significantly reducing file size.
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is a geographic markup language defined by Google, based on XML format, widely used in Google Earth and Google Maps.
KMZ is the compressed format of KML, packaging KML files and associated resources into a ZIP archive for easy distribution.
GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is a standard XML format for GPS data exchange, widely used for storing and sharing tracks, routes, and waypoints.
ODS (OpenDocument Spreadsheet) is an OASIS standard open spreadsheet format that can store coordinate data for GIS conversion.
FlatGeobuf is an efficient geospatial data format supporting streaming reads and spatial filtering, optimized for fast data access.
GMT ASCII Vectors is a vector data format for Generic Mapping Tools, used for geospatial data representation in scientific visualization.
GML (Geography Markup Language) is an OGC-defined XML geographic markup language for geospatial data modeling, storage, and exchange.
DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) is Autodesk's CAD data exchange format, widely used in engineering drafting and GIS data conversion.
MapInfo MIF/MID is the MapInfo exchange format where MIF stores geometry and MID stores attributes for cross-platform data exchange.
CSV (Comma Separated Values) is a plain text table format that stores coordinate information in columns, the most basic tabular geographic data format in GIS.
Excel (XLSX/XLS) is Microsoft's spreadsheet format that stores geographic data in coordinate columns, similar to CSV for GIS conversion.
GeoPackage is an OGC standard SQLite-based geospatial data container format supporting vectors, rasters, attribute tables, and tiles.
SQLite/SpatiaLite is a SQLite database-based geospatial data storage solution supporting SQL queries and spatial indexing.
Geospatial PDF is a PDF file containing georeference information, allowing distance measurement and coordinate display in PDF readers.
DGN is Bentley Microstation's native design file format, widely used in infrastructure engineering and architectural design.
ESRI File Geodatabase is ESRI's high-performance geodatabase format supporting massive data storage and complex GIS data modeling.
Arc/Info E00 is the ESRI Arc/Info Workstation data exchange format, used for importing and exporting traditional ESRI data.
UK NTF (National Transfer Format) is a geographic data exchange format defined by the UK Ordnance Survey.
S-57 ENC is an electronic navigational chart data standard defined by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) for maritime navigation.
US Census TIGER/Line is a geographic data format published by the US Census Bureau, containing roads, administrative boundaries, and census areas.
MapInfo TAB is the native vector data format of MapInfo Professional, consisting of tab, dat, map and other associated files.
DWG is Autodesk AutoCAD's native design file format, one of the most widely used formats in engineering design and drafting.
Raster data represents geospatial information as a grid of pixels, commonly used for satellite imagery, elevation, land cover and other continuous spatial data.
GeoTIFF is a TIFF raster format with embedded georeferencing — coordinate system, projection and metadata. The standard interchange format for GIS raster data.
ASCII Grid (AAIGrid) is an ESRI text raster format storing cell values in plain text — easy to inspect and teach with.
JPEG is a lossy image format with small file sizes, suitable for preview or transfer of raster data.
MBTiles is a Mapbox tile database format using SQLite to store a complete tile pyramid for offline deployment.
PNG is a lossless image format that, paired with .pgw/.prj sidecar files, can carry georeferencing for raster data needing transparency.
WebP is a modern image format by Google offering high compression with good quality, ideal for web raster data transfer.