Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections

• ADRG
• ADRG, Arc Digitized Raster Graphic (ADRG)
• ArcInfo_Coverage
• ArcInfo_Coverage, ESRI ArcInfo Coverage
• BigTIFF
• BigTIFF
• BIL
• BIL_enc, Band Interleaved by Line (BIL) Encoding
• BIL_file, Band Interleaved by Line (BIL) Image File
• BIP
• BIP_enc, Band Interleaved by Pixel (BIP) Encoding
• BIP_file, Band Interleaved by Pixel (BIP) Image File
• BSQ
• BSQ_enc, Band Sequential (BSQ) Encoding
• BSQ_file, Band SeQuential (BSQ) Image File
• DEM
• DEM, Digital Elevation Model
• DOQ
• DOQ, Digital Orthophotos (DOQ & DOQQ)
• DRG
• DRG_as_TIFF, Digital Raster Graphic as TIFF
• E00
• E00, ESRI ArcInfo interchange file (E00)
• ERDAS IMAGINE (IMG)
• ERDAS_IMG, ERDAS IMAGINE (IMG) Format
• ESRI
• ArcInfo_Coverage, ESRI ArcInfo Coverage
• E00, ESRI ArcInfo interchange file (E00)
• ESRI_grid, ESRI ArcInfo Grid (binary)
• ESRI_ASCII_grid, ESRI ArcInfo ASCII Grid
• ESRI_GridFloat, ESRI GridFloat Output File
• ESRI_shape, ESRI Shapefile
• ESRI_world, ESRI World File
• GeoDB_family, ESRI Arc Geodatabase Format Family
• GeoDB_file, ESRI Geodatabase (File-based)
• GeoDB_SDE, ESRI Geodatabase ArcSDE
• GeoDB_XML, ESRI Geodatabase XML
• Shape_DBF, dBase Table for ESRI Shapefile (DBF)
• GeoDB
• GeoDB_family, ESRI Arc Geodatabase Format Family
• GeoDB_file, ESRI Geodatabase (File-based)
• GeoDB_SDE, ESRI Geodatabase ArcSDE
• GeoDB_XML, ESRI Geodatabase XML
• GeoJSON
• GeoJSON_1_0, GeoJSON, Version 1.0
• GeoPackage
• GeoPackage_family, GeoPackage Encoding Standard (OGC) Format Family
• GeoPackage_1_0, GeoPackage Encoding Standard (OGC), Version 1.0
• GeoPDF
• GeoPDF_file, GeoPDF File Format (TerraGo)
• GeoPDF_OGC, GeoPDF Georegistration Encoding (TerraGo 2.2), OGC Best Practice
• Another PDF variant with embedded geospatial encoding is PDF_1_7_geospatial, PDF, Version 1.7, ExtensionLevel 3, Geospatial Encoding (Adobe)
• GeoTIFF
• GeoTIFF, GeoTIFF Revision 1.0
• GML
• GML, Geography Markup Language
• GMLJP2, GML in JPEG 2000 for Geographic Imagery
• GridFloat
• ESRI_GridFloat, ESRI GridFloat Output File
• HDF, Hierarchical Data Format
• HDF4, Hierarchical Data Format, Version 4 and earlier
• HDF4map, HDF4 File Content Map
• HDF5, Hierarchical Data Format, Version 5
• HDF-EOS
• HDF-EOS, Hierarchical Data Format-Earth Observing System (based on HDF4)
• I3S
• See SLPK, SLPK Scene Layer Package (for I3S layers)
• IMG (ERDAS IMAGINE)
• ERDAS_IMG, ERDAS IMAGINE (IMG) Format
• ISO_8211
• ISO_8211, ISO/IEC 8211 Data Descriptive File (DDF)
• KML
• KML_2_2, Version 2.2
• KMZ, KML Zipped
• LAS
• LAS_1_4, LAS (LASer) File Format, Version 1.4
• Lyrx
• Lyrx, ArcGIS Layer File
• MapInfo
• MapInfo, MapInfo Dataset Format
• MapInfo_DAT, MapInfo Data File
• MrSID
• MrSID_MG2, MrSID Image Format, Generation 2
• MrSID_MG3, MrSID Image Format, Generation 3
• NetCDF
• NetCDF-3, Network Common Data Form, Version 3
• NetCDF-4, Network Common Data Form, Version 4
• NetCDF-4C, Network Common Data Form, Version 4, Classic Model
• NLAPS
• NLAPS, NLAPS Data Format (NDF)
• PDF (with embedded geospatial referencing)
• PDF_1_7_geospatial, PDF, Version 1.7, ExtensionLevel 3, Geospatial Encoding (Adobe)
• GeoPDF_2_2, GeoPDF (TerraGo) Encoding, Version 2.2
• RPF
• RPF, Raster Product Format
• SDTS
• SDTS, Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS)
• SDTS_TVP, Spatial Data Transfer Standard - Topological Vector Profile
• Shapefile
• ESRI_shape, ESRI Shapefile
• SLPK
• SLPK, SLPK Scene Layer Package (for I3S layers)
• 3D Tiles
• 3D_Tiles_1.0, 3D Tiles Archive File Format, Version 1.0
• TIFF
• BigTIFF, BigTIFF
• DRG_as_TIFF, Digital Raster Graphic as TIFF
• GeoTIFF, GeoTIFF Revision 1.0
• VPF
• VPF, Vector Product Format
• WKB
• WKB, Well-known Binary
• WKT
• WKT, Well-known Text
• X3D
• X3D_family, Extensible 3D (X3D) File Format Family

The descriptions listed on this page provide information about file formats.

Inclusion of a format does not imply that it is preferred or acceptable for Library of Congress collections. Conversely, omission of a format from the list does not imply that it is not preferred or acceptable. See the Recommended Formats Statement for more information.

Descriptions will be drafted, added and updated over time. Persons with specialized knowledge are encouraged to review and comment on the descriptions using this contact form.