ASPRS LiDAR Data Exchange Format (LAS) Quick Facts

About Quick Facts Tables

Format Type Identifier

LAS

Reader/Writer

Both

Licensing Level

Professional and above

Dependencies

ArcGIS 3D Analyst Extension in ArcGIS Pro

Dataset Type

Reader: File

Writer: Folder

Feature Type

LAS or

<source_las_filename>

Typical File Extensions

.las, .laz, .zlas, .lasd

Automated Translation Support

Yes

User-Defined Attributes

No

Coordinate System Support

Yes

Generic Color Support

No

Spatial Index

Never

Schema Required

Not Applicable

Transaction Support

No

Geometry Type Attribute

las_type

Encoding Support No

LAS Geometry Support

Geometry

Supported?

aggregate no

circles

no

circular arc

no

donut polygon

no

elliptical arc

no

ellipses

no

line

no

none

no

point

no

point cloud

yes

polygon

no

raster

no

solid

no

surface

no

text

no

z values

yes

LAS Point Cloud Components

Point Cloud Component Data Type Notes
x Int32  
y Int32  
z Int32  
intensity UInt16  
returns UInt8  
number_of_returns UInt8  
scan_direction UInt8  
flight_line_edge UInt8  
classification UInt8  
angle Int8  
file_marker UInt8 Allows for LAS flight-line based files to be combined into single files with more than one flight-line. Only supported in version 1.0.
user_data UInt8 (version 1.0) or UInt16 (version 1.1+)  
point_source_id UInt16 Only supported in version 1.1+
gps_time Real64 Only supported in version 1.1+
color_red UInt8 Only supported in version 1.1+
color_green UInt8 Only supported in version 1.1+
color_blue UInt8 Only supported in version 1.1+
classification_flags UInt8

Indicates special characteristics associated with each point. This is a bit flag with the following values:

  • 0 - synthetic (created by a technique other than LIDAR collection)
  • 1 - key-point (should not be removed by thinning)
  • 2 - withheld (should not be included in processing)
  • 3 - overlap (this point is in the overlap region of two or more swaths)

Only supported in version 1.4.

scanner_channel UInt8 Indicates the channel (scanner head) of a multi-channel system. Only supported in version 1.4.
nir UInt16 The NIR (near infrared) value. Only supported in version 1.4.