[Gdal-dev] GDAL-created TIFF Files and Windows

[Simon Perkins]

Hi,

I've created some 3-band byte format TIFF files using GDAL, but I'm
having trouble viewing them using various common Windows programs, e.g.
Microsoft Office Picture Manager, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, etc.
The preview in Windows Explorer also doesn't work. In all these cases,
the image fails to draw - sometimes with an unhelpful error message,
sometimes without.

I can load the images using GDAL and read them just fine. I can also
read the images successfully using Adobe Photoshop. The output of
gdalinfo applied to one of these files looks like:

C:\Images\QUICKBIRD>gdalinfo original.tif
Driver: GTiff/GeoTIFF
Size is 129, 129
Coordinate System is `'
Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left  (    0.0,    0.0)
Lower Left  (    0.0,  129.0)
Upper Right (  129.0,    0.0)
Lower Right (  129.0,  129.0)
Center      (   64.5,   64.5)
Band 1 Block=129x63 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Red
Band 2 Block=129x63 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Green
Band 3 Block=129x63 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Blue

If I create single band TIFF images, the programs display these just
fine as grayscale images.

Do these windows programs require the organization of the TIFF file to
be different from what GDAL produces? e.g. packed pixels?

I have a small example image I can send to anyone who wants.

Cheers,

Simon