If you open a drawing containing an image format that is not supported, AutoCAD Raster Design toolset does not load the image. If you attempt to insert an image that uses an unsupported format, you are warned that the format is not supported.
Similarly, if you select several files and select the Treat As Multispectral option, AutoCAD Raster Design toolset checks whether the files share the same coordinate system, projection, color depth, extents, and units. If these criteria are not met, the files cannot be used as a multispectral dataset. However, they may be displayable individually, and you may be able to edit them to resolve the differences.
If you insert a read-only image into your drawing, you can configure a color map for it and save it in a drawing. You can use the Capture command on the Insert & Write panel of the Raster Tools tab to save a displayable image for use in other applications. If you want to edit the image, you can use the Save As command on the Insert & Write panel of the Raster Tools tab to save the image to a read-write format before or after you edit it.
AutoCAD Raster Design toolset can read and write world files for any image type. World files contain correlation information for images, such as scale, rotation, and insertion point.
| Format | File extension | Description | Read (bits per pixel) | Write (bits per pixel) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMP | BMP, RLE, DIB | Windows Bitmap | 1, 8, 24, 32 | 1, 8, 32 |
| CALS | CAL, GP4, RST, MIL, CG4 | Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistics Support | 1 | 1 |
| DEM | DEM | Digital Elevation Model | 32 | 32 |
| DOQ | DOQ, NWS, NES, SES, SWS | Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle | 8, 24 | read only |
| DTED | DT0, DT1, DT2 | Digital Terrain Elevation Data | 16, 32 | read only |
| ECW | ECW | Enhanced Compressed Wavelet | 8, 24, 32 | read only |
| ESRI ASCII Grid | ASC | ESRI interchange format | 16 | read only |
| ESRI Binary Grid | ADF | ESRI internal format | 16 | read only |
| FLIC | FLC, FLI | Animator FLIC | 8 | read only |
| GeoSPOT | BIL | SPOT Image Corporation’s raster format with georeferencing format | 8, 24 | read only |
| GeoTIFF | TIF, TIFF | Geo-referenced TIFF | 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 | 1, 8, 16, 32 |
| GIF | GIF | Compuserve® Graphics Interchange Format | 8 | read only |
| IG4 | IG4 | Image Systems Group 4 | 1 | read only |
| JFIF- JPEG | JPG | Joint Photographics Expert Group, best suited for 24-bit images | 8, 24, 32 | 8, 24 |
| JPG2000 | JP2, J2K | JPEG 2000 | 8, 24 | 8, 24 |
| Landsat FAST-L7A | FST | Multispectral format used by Landsat 7, primarily for multiframe image sets. | 8 | read only |
| MrSID | SID | Multiresolution Seamless Image Database | 8, 24, 32 | read only |
| NITF | NTF | National Imaging Transmission Format; can be multiframe multispectral | 1, 8, 24, 32 | read only |
| PCX | PCX | A simple run-length encoded format | 1, 4, 8, 24 | 1, 8 |
| PICT | PCT, PICT | Apple® Computer format | 8, 24, 32 | read only |
| PNG | PNG | Portable Network Graphics | 1, 4, 8, 24, 32 | 1, 8, 24, 32 |
| PSD | PSD | Adobe Photoshop | 8, 24, 32 | read only |
| QuickBird TIFF | TIF, TIFF | Images from DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite; typically multiframe, multispectral, but can also be single-frame panchromatic | 8, 16 | read only |
| RLC1 | RLC | Run-Length Coding with no header | 1 | read only |
| RLC2 | RLC | RLC with IST headers | 1 | read only |
| TARGA | TGA | Format developed by Truevision Inc. Usually 24-bit true color; can be 8-bit grayscale or simple run length encoded | 8, 16, 24, 32 | 8, 32 |
| TIFF | TIF, TIFF | Tagged Image File Format, developed by Aldus Corporation | 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 | 1, 8, 16, 32 |