SHP File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
Format Name ESRI Shapefile
Primary File Extension .shp
Developed By ESRI
Type GIS, Vector Data
Main Content Geometric Location and Shape of Geographic Features
Coordinate System Supports Multiple Coordinate Systems
Supports 3D Yes
Supports Measures (M) Yes
File Components .shp (shape format), .shx (shape index format), .dbf (attribute format)
MIME Type application/x-qgis
Open Format Yes
Storage Type Vector
Usability Widely used in GIS applications
Maximum File Size 2 GB per File
Supports Indexing Yes
Library Support GDAL, Shapefile C Library, PyShp, etc.
Supports Metadata Yes
Typical Usage Mapping, Spatial Analysis, Data Visualization
Editable Yes, with Suitable Software
Compression No Native Support, but can be compressed with ZIP