LAS LAZ cheatsheet LAS / LAZ file structure

File header
VLRs include LAZ VLR
LAZ Field Chunk table start position
LAS LAZ File Header Range Offset WKT instead GeoTIFF compressed Chunks Chunk 1 1st record
returns are synthetic data compressed
File Sign. "LASF" 4C 41 53 46 c[4] 0 WDP external (*.wdp) or Chunk 2 1st record
WDP internal LAS
File Source ID U16 4 GPS 0=week/1=std compressed
point data Chunk [n] ...
15..5 4 3 2 1 0 bit
Global Encoding → see right U16 6 10 8 4 2 1 hex value
all zero
Chunk table
EVLRs
Project ID GUID [8]-[4]-[4]-[4]-[12] U8[16] 8 Field chunk table start position

Version Major 1 U8 24 Point Data Records V

1.0/ V V
V
Version Minor 0..4 U8 25 LAS/LAZ Format 1.1 1.2+ 1.3+1.4+
System Identifier c[32] 26 Point data record format 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Range
X I32
Generating Software c[32] 58 Y I32
File Creation Day of Year U16 90 Z I32 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
File Creation Year U16 92 80 40 20 10 8 4 2 1 Intensity normalized to FFFFhex U16 80 40 20 10 8 4 2 1
Return Number 0..7 0..15 0..7/15
Header Size max 375 U16 94 0..7/15
Number of Returns 0..7 0..15
Offset to Point Data U32 96 Synthetic Flag 0..1
Number of VLRs U32 100 Key-Point Flag 0..1
Point Data Record Format U8 104 Withheld Flag 0..1
Point Data Record Length U16 105 Overlap Flag x x x x x 0..1
Scanner Channel x x x x x 0..3
Legacy # of Points <~4.29 billion U32 107 Scan Direction Flag 0..1
Legacy # of Point [Return] U32[5] 111 Edge of Flight Line Flag 0..1
X Scale Factor F64 131 Classification 0..31 0..255 0..31/U8
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Y Scale Factor F64 139 80 40 20 10 8 4 2 1 User Data optional U8 80 40 20 10 8 4 2 1
Scan Angle - 90..+90 °
-90..90 -180..180 I8/I16
Z Scale Factor F64 147 0.006° (+/- 180°)
Point Source ID U16
X Offset F64 155 GPS Time x xxx x x x x F64
X=Xpoint*Xscale+Xoffset
Y Offset F64 163 Red xx x x x x U16
Z Offset F64 171 Green xx x x x x U16
Max X F64 179 Blue xx x x x x U16
NIR x x U16
Min X F64 187
WDP desc.idx n+99 x x x x U8
Max Y F64 195 WDP offset x x x x U64
Min Y F64 203 WDP paket size x x x x U32
Max Z F64 211 WDP return point locate x x x x F32
Min Z F64 219 Parametric dx X=X0+t*dx x x x x F32
Parametric dy x x x x F32
Start WDP Waveform Data Packet U64 227
Parametric dz x x x x F32
Start First EVLR U64 235 Total bytes per point 20 28 26 34 57 63 30 36 38 59 67
Number of EVLRs U32 243 Point data record format 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Number of Point Records U64 247
VLR / EVLR
Number of Points by Return U64[15] 255
header 54 bytes Range Offset
Total: 375 Reserved U16 0 always 0
User ID c[16] 2 creating user
Classification Record ID U16 18
0 Never classified
Record Length U16 20 size of the VLR data (excl. header)
1 Unassigned
Description c[32] 22 optional
2 Ground
3 Low Vegetation (0.5 < h <=2m)
4 Medium Vegetation (2 < h <5m) VLRs Record
5 High Vegetation (>5m) User ID ID Name
6 Building LASF_Projection 2111 OGC Math Transform WKT Record
7 Low Point LASF_Projection 2112 OGC Coordinate System WKT Record
Range LASF_Projection 34735 GeoTIFF Georeferencing: GeoKeyDirectoryTag
8 o Reserved (o:Model Key-Point) U8 0 .. 255 LASF_Projection 34736 GeoTIFF Georeferencing: GeoDoubleParamsTag
9 Water LASF_Projection 34737 GeoTIFF Georeferencing: GeoAsciiParamsTag
U16 0 .. 65,535
10 o Rail LASF_Spec 0 Classification Lookup 256 records * (U8(class)+char[15](desc))
11 o Road Surface U32 0 .. 4,294,967,295
LASF_Spec 3 Text Area Description
12 o Reserved (o:Overlap) U64 0 .. 264-1 LASF_Spec 4 Extra Bytes n descriptors * 192 bytes
13 x Wire - Guard (Shield) I8 -128 .. 127 LASF_Spec 7 Superseded
14 x Wire - Conductor (Phase) I16 −32,768 .. 32,767 LASF_Spec 100..354 Waveform Data Packet Descriptor WDP desc.idx + 99
laszip encoded 1240 rapidlasso LAZ compression
15 x Transmission Tower I32 −2,147,483,648 ..
laszip encoded 22204 rapidlasso LAZ compression + reserved = 43707 (AABBhex) or 0
16 x Wire-Structure Connector (Insulator) 2,147,483,647 LAStools 1284 rapidlasso LAStools
17 x Bridge Deck c[n] char array BayesMap 3001++ BayesMap strip alignment
18 x High Noise [n] array of len n copc 1000 copc EPT hierarchy
19 x Overhead Structure F32 single float copc 1306 copc index
20 x Ignored ground qgis 0 calculated statistics
F64 double float LAZ standard Gray: not part of LAS standard
21 x Snow
22 x Temporal Exclusion (e.g. landslide) Abbrevations
23..63 x Reserved VLR Variable length record
64..255 x User EVLR Extended VLR
o=differ ≤ V1.2 | x=not ≤ V1.2
WDP Waveform data packet
WKT Well known text
EVLRs Record GUID Globally Unique Identifier
User ID ID Name OGC Open Geospatial Consortium
LASF_Spec 65535 Waveform Data Packets GPS Global Positioning System
V1.0
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