OSM file formats

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Map-data

The most important formats are:

• OSM XML – xml-format provided by the API
• PBF Format – highly compressed, optimized binary format similar to the API
• o5m – for high-speed processing, uses PBF coding, has same structure as XML format
• OSM JSON – json variant of OSM XML
• Level0L - more human readable OSM XML without <> and lowered redundancy

Conversion between different osm map data formats

Software	OSM XML	PBF	o5m	Discussion/Comments
Osmosis	yes	yes	no
osmconvert	yes	yes	yes	own PBF implementation (doesn't use PBF library)
Osmium	yes	yes	read only	use the Osmium command line tool or see osmium_convert in examples folder
osm4j	yes	yes	no

ToDO: Add matrix which tool converts with format to which target format...

Splitting one big file into different geographical regions

• Osmium command line tool (using the "extract" command)
• Osmosis
• osmconvert
• osmsplit
• splitter
• Osmcut

Filter for specific tags

• Osmosis
• osmfilter
• Osmium with JavaScript filter functions

File formats for diffs

Format	Pros	Cons	Supported by
OsmChange	Streamable When sorted properly this file is a continuous stream of changes that can be played in order. In osmosis the option --sort-change will put the change into streamable order.	Doesn't indicate source of data	Osmosis Bulk_upload.py (read-only) [library] osmconvert osmupdate (as output format) osmchange (read-only) osmfilter
o5c	streamable can be processed very fast (uses PBF like encoding, similar to .o5m format) small file sizes even when not compressed	not human-readable cannot be modified directly with texteditors	osmconvert osmupdate (as output format)
Augmented Diffs id-sorted version	streamable real diff as before and after values are included		Overpass API osmconvert (read-only)
JOSM_file_format	Supports placeholders Indicates the source of the data	Not streamable	JOSM Vespucci

TODO: Insert content from XML#Flavours (pros + cons, etc)

Tools for applying diffs to map data files

• osmosis
• osmconvert
• osmupdate
• Osmium command line tool (use the "apply-changes" command)

Tools for creating diff files

• osmosis
• osmconvert
• Osmium command line tool (use the "derive-changes" command)

Other variants of osm map data

• JOSM file format – non-indexed xml-format similar to the API
• OSM Binary Format

Application specific formats which are not intended to carry complete OSM data

• OSMbin (file format) – indexed, mutable binary format
• OSM Mobile Binary Format – read-only binary-format without nodes

See also

• Converting map data between external formats