ASPRS LiDAR Data Exchange Format (LAS) Quick Facts

Format Type Identifier	LAS
Reader/Writer	Both
Licensing Level	Professional and above
Dependencies	ArcGIS 3D Analyst Extension in ArcGIS Pro For reading and writing .lasd files, the bit version (32-bit or 64-bit) must be the same for FME and ArcGIS.
Dataset Type	Reader: File Writer: Folder
Feature Type	LAS or <source_las_filename>
Typical File Extensions	.las .laz .zlas .lasd – see note in Dependencies, above
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

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.