What is a .VRT file?
VRT is a GDAL virtual file that stitches other raster files into one dataset.
- Did you know
- A VRT is just an XML recipe pointing at other files, so it costs almost no disk space.
- A VRT is read by any GDAL-based tool, letting one virtual dataset wrap files in dozens of different underlying raster formats.
- The XML can apply repositioning, band selection and metadata changes on the fly, with no new pixel data written to disk.
- What Analyser reads
- Inspect geospatial and GIS files without a map: TopoJSON, OpenStreetMap XML, Esri Shapefile siblings (SHP/SHX/DBF/PRJ/CPG), world files, GML, NMEA GPS logs, IGC flight logs, MapInfo TAB/MIF, GDAL VRT, PMTiles, DTED terrain, Esri ASCII grids and SRTM .hgt - surfacing CRS/EPSG, feature/record counts, bounding boxes and elevation ranges. GRIB/NetCDF/GeoPackage/MBTiles/MrSID/ECW identified.
- Depth of analysis
- .VRT is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .VRT file
- Drag a .VRT file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.