ESRI Shapefile

.shp.zip

Supported

ESRI Shapefile is a vector data format developed by ESRI and one of the most widely used formats in GIS. A Shapefile actually consists of multiple files: .shp stores geometry, .shx stores spatial index, .dbf stores attributes, and .prj stores coordinate reference system information. Common practice is to package these files into a ZIP archive for distribution. Shapefile supports three basic geometry types: point, line, and polygon.

Specifications

Standard: ESRI

MIME: application/octet-stream

Key Features

Natively supported by virtually all GIS software with the best compatibility
Supports three basic geometry types: point, line, and polygon
Supports attribute tables (dBASE format) for storing feature properties

Advantages

Industry standard with the best compatibility for data exchange
Excellent read performance, suitable for large-scale datasets
Extensive third-party library and tool support

Limitations

Consists of multiple files, inconvenient to manage and distribute
Field names limited to 10 characters with limited attribute types
Single file size limited to 2GB

Common Use Cases

Geographic data publishing and sharing by government agencies and enterprises
Primary data storage and exchange in GIS projects
Standard data format for traditional desktop GIS software