Provided by: gdal-bin_3.10.3+dfsg-1build1_amd64 
NAME
gdalbuildvrt - Builds a VRT from a list of datasets.
SYNOPSIS
gdalbuildvrt [--help] [--help-general]
[-tileindex <field_name>]
[-resolution {highest|lowest|average|user}]
[-te <xmin> <ymin> <xmax> <ymax>] [-tr <xres> <yres>] [-tap]
[-separate] [-b <band>]... [-sd <n>]
[-allow_projection_difference] [-q]
[-addalpha] [-hidenodata]
[-srcnodata "<value>[ <value>]..."] [-vrtnodata "<value>[ <value>]..."
[-ignore_srcmaskband]
[-nodata_max_mask_threshold <threshold>]
[-a_srs <srs_def>]
[-r {nearest|bilinear|cubic|cubicspline|lanczos|average|mode}]
[-oo <NAME>=<VALUE>]...
[-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]...
[-input_file_list <filename>] [-overwrite]
[-strict | -non_strict]
<output_filename.vrt> <input_raster> [<input_raster>]...
DESCRIPTION
This program builds a VRT (Virtual Dataset) that is a mosaic of the list of input GDAL datasets. The list
of input GDAL datasets can be specified at the end of the command line, or put in a text file (one
filename per line) for very long lists, or it can be a MapServer tileindex (see gdaltindex utility). In
the later case, all entries in the tile index will be added to the VRT.
NOTE:
Starting with GDAL 3.9, for virtual mosaic with a very large number of source rasters (typically
hundreds of thousands of source rasters, or more), it is advised to use the gdaltindex utility to
generate a tile index compatible of the GTI driver.
With -separate, each files goes into a separate band in the VRT dataset. Otherwise, the files are
considered as source rasters of a larger mosaic and the VRT file has as many bands as one of the input
files.
If one GDAL dataset is made of several subdatasets and has 0 raster bands, all the subdatasets will be
added to the VRT rather than the dataset itself.
gdalbuildvrt does some amount of checks to assure that all files that will be put in the resulting VRT
have similar characteristics : number of bands, projection, color interpretation... If not, files that do
not match the common characteristics will be skipped. (This is only true in the default mode, and not
when using the -separate option)
If there is some amount of spatial overlapping between files, the order of files appearing in the list of
source matter: files that are listed at the end are the ones from which the content will be fetched. Note
that nodata will be taken into account to potentially fetch data from less priority datasets, but
currently, alpha channel is not taken into account to do alpha compositing (so a source with alpha=0
appearing on top of another source will override is content). This might be changed in later versions.
--help Show this help message and exit
--help-general
Gives a brief usage message for the generic GDAL commandline options and exit.
-tileindex <field_name>
Use the specified value as the tile index field, instead of the default value which is 'location'.
-resolution {highest|lowest|average|user}
In case the resolution of all input files is not the same, the -resolution flag enables the user
to control the way the output resolution is computed.
highest will pick the smallest values of pixel dimensions within the set of source rasters.
lowest will pick the largest values of pixel dimensions within the set of source rasters.
average is the default and will compute an average of pixel dimensions within the set of source
rasters.
user must be used in combination with the -tr option to specify the target resolution.
-tr <xres> <yres>
Set target resolution. The values must be expressed in georeferenced units. Both must be positive
values. Specifying those values is of course incompatible with highest|lowest|average values for
-resolution option.
-tap (target aligned pixels) align the coordinates of the extent of the output file to the values of
the -tr, such that the aligned extent includes the minimum extent. Alignment means that xmin /
resx, ymin / resy, xmax / resx and ymax / resy are integer values.
-te <xmin> <ymin> <xmax> <ymax>
Set georeferenced extents of VRT file. The values must be expressed in georeferenced units. If
not specified, the extent of the VRT is the minimum bounding box of the set of source rasters.
Pixels within the extent of the VRT but not covered by a source raster will be read as valid
pixels with a value of zero unless a NODATA value is specified using -vrtnodata or an alpha mask
band is added with -addalpha.
-addalpha
Adds an alpha mask band to the VRT when the source raster have none. Mainly useful for RGB sources
(or grey-level sources). The alpha band is filled on-the-fly with the value 0 in areas without
any source raster, and with value 255 in areas with source raster. The effect is that a RGBA
viewer will render the areas without source rasters as transparent and areas with source rasters
as opaque. This option is not compatible with -separate.
-hidenodata
Even if any band contains nodata value, giving this option makes the VRT band not report the
NoData. Useful when you want to control the background color of the dataset. By using along with
the -addalpha option, you can prepare a dataset which doesn't report nodata value but is
transparent in areas with no data.
-srcnodata "<value>[ <value>]..."
Set nodata values for input bands (different values can be supplied for each band). If more than
one value is supplied all values should be quoted to keep them together as a single operating
system argument. If the option is not specified, the intrinsic nodata settings on the source
datasets will be used (if they exist). The value set by this option is written in the NODATA
element of each ComplexSource element. Use a value of None to ignore intrinsic nodata settings on
the source datasets.
-ignore_srcmaskband
New in version 3.3.
Starting with GDAL 3.3, if a source has a mask band (internal/external mask band, or alpha band),
a <ComplexSource> element is created by default with a <UseMaskBand>true</UseMaskBand> child
element, to instruct the VRT driver to use the mask band of the source to mask pixels being
composited. This is a generalization of the NODATA element. When specifying the
-ignore_srcmaskband option, the mask band of sources will not be taken into account, and in case
of overlapping between sources, the last one will override previous ones in areas of overlap.
-nodata_max_mask_threshold <threshold>
New in version 3.9.
Insert a <NoDataFromMaskSource> source, which replaces the value of the source with the value of
-vrtnodata (or 0 if not specified) when the value of the mask band of the source is less or equal
to the threshold. This is typically used to transform a R,G,B,A image into a R,G,B one with a
NoData value.
-b <band>
Select an input <band> to be processed. Bands are numbered from 1. If input bands not set all
bands will be added to vrt. Multiple -b switches may be used to select a set of input bands.
-sd <n>
If the input dataset contains several subdatasets, use a subdataset with the specified number
(starting from 1). This is an alternative of giving the full subdataset name as an input to the
utility.
-vrtnodata "<value>[ <value>]..."
Set nodata values at the VRT band level (different values can be supplied for each band). If more
than one value is supplied all values should be quoted to keep them together as a single operating
system argument. If the option is not specified, intrinsic nodata settings on the first dataset
will be used (if they exist). The value set by this option is written in the NoDataValue element
of each VRTRasterBand element. Use a value of None to ignore intrinsic nodata settings on the
source datasets.
-separate
Place each input file into a separate band. Contrary to the default mode, it is not required that
all bands have the same datatype.
Starting with GDAL 3.8, all bands of each input file are added as separate VRT bands, unless -b is
specified to select a subset of them. Before GDAL 3.8, only the first band of each input file was
placed into a new VRT band, and -b was ignored.
-allow_projection_difference
When this option is specified, the utility will accept to make a VRT even if the input datasets
have not the same projection. Note: this does not mean that they will be reprojected. Their
projection will just be ignored.
-a_srs <srs_def>
Override the projection for the output file. The <srs_def> may be any of the usual GDAL/OGR
forms, complete WKT, PROJ.4, EPSG:n or a file containing the WKT. No reprojection is done.
-r {nearest|bilinear|cubic|cubicspline|lanczos|average|mode}
Select a resampling algorithm. Nearest is the default
-oo <NAME>=<VALUE>
Dataset open option (format specific)
New in version 2.2.
-co <NAME>=<VALUE>
Specify a VRT driver creation option.
New in version 3.10.
-input_file_list <filename>
To specify a text file with an input filename on each line
-q To disable the progress bar on the console
-overwrite
Overwrite the VRT if it already exists.
-strict
Turn warnings as failures. This is mutually exclusive with -non_strict, the latter which is the
default.
New in version 3.4.2.
-non_strict
Skip source datasets that have issues with warnings, and continue processing. This is the default.
New in version 3.4.2.
EXAMPLES
• Make a virtual mosaic from all TIFF files contained in a directory :
gdalbuildvrt doq_index.vrt doq/*.tif
• Make a virtual mosaic from files whose name is specified in a text file :
gdalbuildvrt -input_file_list my_list.txt doq_index.vrt
• Make a RGB virtual mosaic from 3 single-band input files :
gdalbuildvrt -separate rgb.vrt red.tif green.tif blue.tif
• Make a virtual mosaic with blue background colour (RGB: 0 0 255) :
gdalbuildvrt -hidenodata -vrtnodata "0 0 255" doq_index.vrt doq/*.tif
C API
This utility is also callable from C with GDALBuildVRT().
AUTHOR
Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com>
COPYRIGHT
1998-2025
Apr 01, 2025 GDALBUILDVRT(1)