GDALBUILDVRT(1)

NAME
gdalbuildvrt - Builds a VRT from a list of datasets.

SYNOPSIS

    gdalbuildvrt [--help] [--long-usage] [--help-general]
                 [--quiet]
                 [[-strict]|[-non_strict]]
                 [-tile_index <field_name>]
                 [-resolution user|average|common|highest|lowest|same]
                 [-tr <xres> <yres>] [-input_file_list <filename>]
                 [[-separate]|[-pixel-function <function>]]
                 [-pixel-function-arg <NAME>=<VALUE>]...
                 [-allow_projection_difference] [-sd <n>] [-tap]
                 [-te <xmin> <ymin> <xmax> <ymax>] [-addalpha] [-b <band>]...
                 [-hidenodata] [-overwrite]
                 [-srcnodata "<value>[ <value>]..."]
                 [-vrtnodata "<value>[ <value>]..."] [-a_srs <srs_def>]
                 [-r nearest|bilinear|cubic|cubicspline|lanczos|average|mode]
                 [-oo <NAME>=<VALUE>]... [-co <NAME>=<VALUE>]...
                 [-ignore_srcmaskband]
                 [-nodata_max_mask_threshold <threshold>]
                 <vrt_dataset_name> [<src_dataset_name>]...

DESCRIPTION

This program builds a raster VRT (Virtual Dataset) that is a mosaic of a list of input GDAL datasets. The list of input GDAL datasets can be specified at the end of the command line, put in a text file (one filename per line) for very long lists, or it can be a MapServer tileindex (see the gdaltindex utility). If using a tile index, all entries in the tile index will be added to the VRT.

NOTE: Starting with GDAL 3.9, for virtual mosaics with a very large number of source rasters (hundreds of thousands of source rasters, or more), it is advised to use the gdaltindex utility to generate a tile index compatible with the GTI driver.

TIP: Equivalent in new "gdal" command line interface:

See gdal raster mosaic and gdal raster stack.

With -separate, each input 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 the same number of bands as 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 checks to ensure that all files that will be put in the resulting VRT have similar characteristics: number of bands, projection, color interpretation, etc. If not, files that do not match the common characteristics will be skipped unless -strict is used. (This is only true in the default mode, and not when using the -separate option)

Starting with GDAL 3.12, a function (e.g., min, mean, median) can be specified (-pixel-function) to calculate pixel values from overlapping inputs. If no function is specified, or in earlier versions, the order of the input list is used to determine priority. 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 lower-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 its 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.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress progress messages and other non-error output.

-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|same}
    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.

    same (added in GDAL 3.11) checks that all source rasters have the same resolution and errors out when this is not the case.

    common (added in GDAL 3.11) determines the greatest common divisor of the source pixel dimensions, e.g. 0.2 for source pixel dimensions of 0.4 and 0.6.

-tr <xres> <yres>
    Set target resolution. The values must be expressed in georeferenced units. Both must be positive values. Specifying these 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
    Added 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>
    Added 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 the 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 to 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 (Example 4). 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. See Example 3. Contrary to the default mode, it is not required that all bands have the same datatype. This option is mutually exclusive with -pixel-function.

    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.

-pixel-function
    Specify a function name to calculate a value from overlapping inputs. For a list of available pixel functions, see Built-in Pixel Functions. If no function is specified, values will be taken from the last overlapping input. This option is mutually exclusive with with -separate.

    Added in version 3.12.

-pixel-function-arg
    Specify an argument to be provided to a pixel function, in the format <NAME>=<VALUE>. Multiple arguments may be specified by repeating this option.

    Added in version 3.12.

-allow_projection_difference
    When this option is specified, the utility will create a VRT even if the input datasets do not have 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)

-co <NAME>=<VALUE>
    Specify a VRT driver creation option.

    Added in version 3.10.

-input_file_list <filename>
    Specify a text file with an input filename on each line. See Example 2.

-q  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.

    Added in version 3.4.2.

-non_strict
    Skip source datasets that have issues with warnings, and continue processing. This is the default.

    Added in version 3.4.2.

-write_absolute_path
    Added in version 3.12.0.

    Enables writing the absolute path of the input datasets. By default, input filenames are written in a relative way with respect to the VRT filename (when possible).

EXAMPLES

  Example 1: Make a virtual mosaic from all TIFF files contained in a directory

    gdalbuildvrt doq_index.vrt doq/*.tif

  Example 2: Make a virtual mosaic from files whose name is specified in a text file

    gdalbuildvrt -input_file_list my_list.txt doq_index.vrt

  Example 3: Make a RGB virtual mosaic from 3 single-band input files

    gdalbuildvrt -separate rgb.vrt red.tif green.tif blue.tif

  Example 4: Make a virtual mosaic with blue background colour (RGB: 0 0 255)

    gdalbuildvrt -hidenodata -vrtnodata "0 0 255" doq_index.vrt doq/*.tif

RETURN STATUS CODE

The program returns status code 0 in case of success, and non-zero in case of error (non-blocking errors emitted as warnings are considered as a successful execution).

C API

This utility is also callable from C with GDALBuildVRT().

AUTHOR
Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com>

COPYRIGHT
1998-2026