The convert tool is used to convert an input raster dataset into a Multi-Resolution Raster (MRR) and other raster formats. You may want to convert raster data into another type of raster data to optimize storage. For example, while converting a raster into an MRR, you can apply various compression methods and levels supported by MapInfo Pro Advanced. The MRR format uses predictive encoding that saves disk space while maintaining performance. You may also convert a raster to make it consumable by other software products.
You can also use this operation in batch processing mode.
You can convert your input raster into the following formats:
| Raster File Format | Extension |
|---|---|
| Multi-Resolution Raster (MRR) | .mrr |
| Encom Float Grid | .grd |
| Vertical Mapper Grid | .grd |
| Vertical Mapper Classified Grid | .grc |
| Surfer Binary Grid | .grd |
| GeoTIFF Image | .tif, .tiff |
| ERMapper ERS Grid | .ers |
| ESRI Float Grid | .flt |
| Band Interleaved Image (by line) | .bil |
| Band Interleaved Image (by pixel) | .bip |
| Band Interleaved Image (sequential) | .bsq |
| ESRI ASCII Grid | .asc |
| Surfer ASCII Grid | .grd |
| ESRI Grid | .adf |
Convert Metadata
On the Convert dialog box, click the 
icon to open the Convert Metadata
panel to set advanced properties for the output raster.
Raster Compression
For MRR output format, you can specify a compression type and change the compression level. The benefit of compressing data is to reduce the size of the file to save disk space. Compression can be either lossy or lossless. If the output raster field type is imagery, then all compression methods will be applicable. If the output raster field type is continuous, classified or image palette, then only LZ4, Zip, and LZMA compression methods will be applicable.
MapInfo Pro Advanced supports the following compression methods:
- LZ4 Compression - It is a lossless compression method that can be applied to any kind of field. The user does not need to specify a compression level. Its primary advantage over other lossless compression methods is the very high speed of encoding and decoding and the low memory and computing requirements. However, it will typically achieve lower compression ratios than other lossless methods. Because of its superior efficiency, LZ4 is widely used by operating systems and file systems.
- ZIP Compression - It is a lossless compression method that can be applied to any kind of field. By specifying a compression level of 1 to 9 the user can tune the method to provide higher performance (and lower compression ratios), or lower performance (and higher compression ratios). It achieves higher compression ratios than LZ4 but this is always at the expense of encoding and decoding speed and memory consumption. This industry standard method is widely used in file compression tools.
- LZMA Compression - It is a lossless compression method that can be applied to any kind of field. By specifying a compression level of 1 to 9 the user can tune the method to provide higher performance (and lower compression ratios), or lower performance (and higher compression ratios). This method can produce higher compression ratios than LZ4 and Zip, but at considerable expense. For compression levels of 1 to 4, the method is generally fast and cheap but may not provide significantly better compression than Zip. At compression levels 5 to 9 the method significantly improves compression ratios but the cost is large in terms of time, memory consumption and computing requirements. This industry standard method is widely used in file compression tools.
- PNG Compression - It is a lossless compression method that can be applied to ‘Image’ fields only. The user does not need to specify a compression level. It will achieve higher compression ratios than the general lossless compression methods (LZ4, Zip, LZMA), but the encoding performance is relatively poor. It is an industry standard image compression method commonly used for internet imagery and image editing software.
- JPEG Compression - It is a lossy compression method that can be applied to ‘Image’ fields only. By specifying a compression level of 0 to 9 the user can control the quality of the image from highest quality (largest size) to lowest quality (smallest size). In general, it will achieve higher compression ratios than any of the lossless compression methods and the encoding and decoding performance is very good. It can only be used for single component or three component color (R, G, B, RGB or BGR). If an alpha channel is present this will be written separately using a lossless encoder. It is an industry standard image compression method commonly used for internet imagery and image editing software.
Compression Methods
The following compression methods are supported for the MRR format.
- ZIP
- LZMA
- LZ4
- JPEG
- PNG
The following compression methods are supported for the TIF/TIFF format.
- TIFF_NONE
- TIFF_LZW
- TIFF_DEFLATE
- TIFF_ADOBE_DEFLATE
- TIFF_PACKBITS
- TIFF_THUNDERSCAN
- TIFF_NEXT
- TIFF_JPEG
- TIFF_CCITTRLE
- TIFF_CCITTRLEW
- TIFF_CCITTFAX3
- TIFF_CCITTFAX4
- TIFF_SGILOG
- TIFF_SGILOG24
You cannot change the compression level for TIFF_PACKBITS compression method.
Compression Settings - MapInfo Pro Advanced comes with custom compression settings which enable you to achieve a balance between output data space and the speed of operation.
The following compression settings are supported for classified, continuous and image palette field types.
- DataBalanced
- DataSpace
- DataSpeed