MapBox-compatible file formats and limitations

In general, the file formats used for representing geospatial data have similar advantages and we should focus on their limitations relative to our current dataset:

File Format	Advantages	Limitations
MBTile	Compact, can store large amounts of data in a single file, suitable for offline mapping	Limited to raster data, does not support vector data
KML	Can contain a variety of data types, easy to share, can be opened in a variety of mapping applications	Large file size, may not be suitable for large datasets
GPX	Can store GPS data for activities such as hiking, biking, and running, easy to share, can be opened in a variety of mapping applications	Limited to GPS data, does not support other types of geospatial data
GeoJSON	Can store vector data, compact and easy to share, can be opened in a variety of mapping applications	Can be larger than other formats, may not be suitable for large datasets
Shapefile	Widely supported, can store geospatial vector data, can be used for mapping and analysis	Complex, requires specialized software to create and edit
CSV	Simple, widely supported, can be used for geospatial data by including latitude and longitude coordinates in the table	Does not support complex geospatial data types, may not be suitable for advanced mapping and analysis

Anyway, MapBox Studio convert any input file format into their own proprietary tileset file format. This case we have new limitations for each of the file formats:

File type	Datasets	Tilesets	Transfer limits
CSV	✔	✔	5 MB for datasets 1 GB for tilesets
GeoJSON	✔	✔	5 MB for datasets 1 GB for tilesets
GeoTIFF		✔	10 GB
GPX		✔	260 MB
KML		✔	260 MB with 15 layers or fewer
MBTiles		✔	25 GB
Shapefile		✔	260 MB (combined uncompressed size of .shp and .dbf files). You must upload shapefiles as a compressed (.zip) file.

If you run into the 300 MB file limit when uploading via Studio, see the tileset upload errors section for suggested solutions.