Request Closed: October 6, 2025 12:00 am — November 5, 2025 12:00 am (AoE)
October 06, 2025: The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) seeks public comment on the candidate LAZ 1.4 Community Standard. The comment period is open for 30 days and will close on November 05, 2025.
LAZ is a lossless compression format for LAS files. The LAZ 1.4 format is based on LAS 1.4, as specified in the LAS Specification 1.4 — R15 by The American Society for Photogrammetry Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Compression and decompression of LAS data to LAZ can be performed on-the-fly in a streaming manner.
LAZ maintains the general structure of LAS while compressing only the point data block. Other LAS 1.4 sections, such as the header format, remain unchanged except for slight adjustments to some header fields. The specific meaning of all (uncompressed) LAS point data fields remains unchanged.
Point data in LAZ is stored in chunks that can be decompressed independently, enabling random access at the chunk level. LAZ 1.4 further introduces support for LAS 1.4 point formats 6 – 10. For these formats, LAZ subdivides chunks into layers, containing subsets of fields, allowing random access to specific fields without decompressing the others.
The default file extension for a LAZ file is “laz” compared to “las” for a LAS file.
To Comment
The candidate LAZ 1.4 Community Standard is available for review and comment on the OGC Portal, for a period of 30 days, with comments due by November 05, 2025. Comments can be submitted to a dedicated email reflector for a period ending on the “Close request date” listed above. Comments received will be consolidated and reviewed by OGC members for incorporation into the document. Please submit your comments via this email address, using this Comments Template for the message body.
About OGC
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a membership organization dedicated to using the power of geography and technology to solve problems faced by people and the planet. OGC unlocks value and opportunity for its members through Standards, Innovation, and Collaboration. Our membership represents a diverse and active global community drawn from government, industry, academia, international development agencies, research & scientific organizations, civil society, and advocates.
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