[Gdal-dev] Format limitations in 64-bit architecture

[Mateusz Loskot]

Simon Perkins wrote:
> Ozy Sjahputera wrote:
>> From the list of file formats currently supported by GDAL, GeoTIFF is
>> listed to have a 4 GB size limit.  Is this limitation due to the
>> assumed 32-bit machine?  Or, will the size limit be bigger if we use a
>> 64-bit machine and OS?
> 
> AFAIK, that's a fundamental limitation of the GeoTIFF file format. Does
> anyone know if there are any plans to fix this in the future?

I think it's related to BigTIFF support:

http://remotesensing.org/libtiff/BigTIFFProposal.html

>> What about other formats such as NITF and MEM?  Because the data type
>> size_t in a 32-bit system is defined as a 4-byte type, whereas in a
>> 64-bit system it is defined as an 8-byte.   Does this mean the MEM
>> format is not limited to 2 GB anymore once we  work in the 64-bit system?
> 
> That would seem like a reasonable assumption though I don't know for
> sure. I would think that NITF should be able to handle larger than 4GB
> files even on 32-bit OSes, on any modern filesystem.

Yes, I think it's correct too.

Cheers
-- 
Mateusz Loskot
http://mateusz.loskot.net