Esri .hdr RAW Raster Reader/Writer

FME Format Type Identifier	ESRIHDR
Reader/Writer	Both
Typical File Extensions	.bil, .bip, .bsq, .raw, .bsw, .blw, .bpw, .*

An Esri .hdr file is a header file that stores the georeferencing information of an associated raw raster file. The georeferencing information is read from or written to an Esri world file but is also stored in the .hdr file with the keywords listed in the table below.

Header File Keywords

Keyword	Description/Values
nrows	The number of rows in the image. Rows are parallel to the x-axis of the map coordinate system. There is no default.
ncols	The number of columns in the image. Columns are parallel to the y-axis of the map coordinate system. There is no default.
nbands	The number of spectral bands in the image. The default is 1.
nbits	The number of bits per pixel per band. Acceptable values are 1, 4, 8, 16, and 32. The default value is 8 bits per pixel per band. For a true color image with 3 bands (R, G, B) stored using 8 bits for each pixel in each band, nbits equals 8 and nbands equals 3, for a total of 24 bits per pixel. For an image with nbits equal to 1, nbands must also equal 1.
pixeltype	If this keyword is present and its value is signedint, then the data is assumed to be a signed integer type. Otherwise, the data is assumed to be an unsigned integer type.
byteorder	The byte order in which image pixel values are stored. The byte order is important for 16-bit images, with 2 bytes per pixel. Acceptable values are I, which is Intel byte order (Silicon Graphics, DEC Alpha, PC) or little-endian, and M, which is Motorola byte order (Sun, HP, etc.) or big-endian. The default byte order is the same as that of the host machine executing the software.
layout	The organization of the bands in the image file. Acceptable values are bil, which is band interleaved by line, bip, which is band interleaved by pixel, and bsq, which is band sequential. The default layout is bil.
skipbytes	The number of bytes of data in the image file to skip in order to reach the start of the image data. This keyword allows you to bypass any existing image header information in the file. The default value is 0 bytes.
ulxmap	The x-axis map coordinate of the center of the upper-left pixel. If this parameter is specified, ulymap must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.
ulymap	The y-axis map coordinate of the center of the upper-left pixel. If this parameter is specified, ulxmap must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.
xdim	The x-dimension of a pixel in map units. If this parameter is specified, ydim must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.
ydim	The y-dimension of a pixel in map units. If this parameter is specified, xdim must also be set; otherwise, a default value is used.

For each raster, there is only a single feature returned, since this feature will contain the entire raster.

Notice that the current version of Esri .hdr Raster reader/writer does not support the bandrowbytes, totalrowbytes, and bandgapbytes keywords. This format also supports an optional colormap ASCII file that allows for an RGB palette to be stored in a separate .clr file if present.

The raw data file for Esri .hdr datasets can have multiple extensions depending on the interleaving type of the file. The extension becomes one of the following allowable interleaving options: BIP, BSQ, BIL. Thus an Esri dataset with a band order by pixel interleaving would have a .hdr file and a .bip file.

Esri world files will be read if present and written alongside Esri .hdr datasets. World file extensions also match the interleaving type of the dataset.

BIP – .bpw
BSQ – .bqw
BIL – .blw

Esri .hdr RAW Raster Product and System Requirements

Format	Product			Operating System
Reader/Writer	FME Desktop License	FME Server	FME Cloud	Windows	Linux	Mac
Reader	Available in FME Professional Edition and higher	Yes	Yes	64-bit: Yes	Yes	Yes
Writer	Available in FME Professional Edition and higher	Yes	Yes	64-bit: Yes	Yes	Yes

More about FME Licenses and Subscriptions.
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Reader Overview

FME considers a single file to be a dataset.

Writer Overview

The Esri .hdr writer creates and writes data into a single folder specified in the Destination parameter in the Workbench Navigator.

The Esri .hdr writer distinguishes duplicate output files by appending numbers to the filenames.

FME Raster Features

FME raster features represent raster data and use several concepts that are unlike those used in the handling of vector data.

For comprehensive information about how FME processes raster data, see Rasters.

Esri .hdr supports rasters with an arbitrary number of bands, provided all bands are the same data type and no band has a palette. Esri .hdr also supports rasters with a single band that has a palette.