| Long name | Landsat data set |
| Short name | L8 |
| Sensor type | Optical |
| Platform | Landsat 8 |
| Key file name (use to open data set) | *_MTL.txt |
| Supported file extensions | .txt, .tif |
| Sections |
Data product name and description |
Data product name and description
| Sensor | Spectral bands: |
Spatial resolution (m)* |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS | 435 - 451 (Coastal Aerosol) |
30 | 185 km swath width |
* Resolution is always nadir position unless noted otherwise.
A Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data set is organized in a specific folder structure on disk. GDB uses this folder structure and the file names to identify the data product type.
In CATALYST Professional programs, such as Focus, you can open a Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data set in the File Selector window by selecting the *_MTL.txt file.
When opening a Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data set, the files read by GDB are as described in the following table.
| File name | Format | Required | Contents/details |
|---|---|---|---|
| *_MTL.txt | Text | Yes | Key file name. Use this file to open the data set. |
| *.TIF | GeoTIFF | Yes | TIFF image file. Contains imagery information. |
| *.ANG.txt | ASCII | No | Angle-coefficent file that provides model coefficients of the sensor-viewing angle, from which you can create angle bands and compute solar and sensor-viewing angles per pixel. |
Returned data for supported format
Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data can be opened directly in its raw vendor format or imported into a PCIDSK (*.pix) file using the key file name. For optimal processing, use the PCIDSK format. The data structure, after it is opened by GDB, is as described in the following table.
| Data product | Data returned | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Landsat 8 30m Surface Reflectance | 7 x [16S] raster channels |
7 x Surface Reflectance bands (Coastal Aerosol, Blue, Green, Red, NIR, SWIR1, SWIR2).
1 x Pixel Quality band. 1 x Radiometric Saturation band. 1 x Aerosol Level band. |
| Landsat 8 30m Azimuth/Zenith | 4 x [16S] raster channels |
Solar Azimuth, Solar Zenith, Sensor Azimuth, Sensor Zenith bands. |
| Landsat 8 30m Quality | 3 x [8U] raster channels |
Cloud Confidence, Cirrus Confidence, Aerosol Level bands. |
© PCI Geomatics Enterprises, Inc.®, 2026. All rights reserved.