GDAL-RASTER-UNSCALE(1)

💖 GDAL-RASTER-UNSCALE(1) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to gdal-raster-unscale — that's the GDAL one, section 1, and she's here to take your scaled values and un-scale them. iconic behavior honestly. ✨

Added in version 3.11. (baby of the family but already slaying)

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

Usage: gdal raster unscale [OPTIONS] <INPUT> <OUTPUT>

Convert scaled values of a raster dataset into unscaled values.

Positional arguments:
  -i, --input <INPUT>                                      Input raster datasets [required] [not available in pipelines]
  -o, --output <OUTPUT>                                    Output raster dataset [required] [not available in pipelines]

Common Options:
  -h, --help                                               Display help message and exit
  --json-usage                                             Display usage as JSON document and exit
  --config <KEY>=<VALUE>                                   Configuration option [may be repeated]
  -q, --quiet                                              Quiet mode (no progress bar or warning message) [not available in pipelines]

Options:
  -f, --of, --format, --output-format <OUTPUT-FORMAT>      Output format ("GDALG" allowed) [not available in pipelines]
  --co, --creation-option <KEY>=<VALUE>                    Creation option [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]
  --overwrite                                              Whether overwriting existing output dataset is allowed [not available in pipelines]
                                                           Mutually exclusive with --append
  --append                                                 Append as a subdataset to existing output [not available in pipelines]
                                                           Mutually exclusive with --overwrite
  --ot, --datatype, --output-data-type <OUTPUT-DATA-TYPE>  Output data type. OUTPUT-DATA-TYPE=UInt8|Int8|UInt16|Int16|UInt32|Int32|UInt64|Int64|CInt16|CInt32|Float16|Float32|Float64|CFloat32|CFloat64

Advanced Options:
  --if, --input-format <INPUT-FORMAT>                      Input formats [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]
  --oo, --open-option <KEY>=<VALUE>                        Open options [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

gdal raster unscale takes the scale/offset metadata hanging out on your bands and uses it to flip scaled values into unscaled values. it's giving "undo button but make it raster". 🦋

Now the data type tea, because this part matters:

• input band data type is Byte, Int8, UInt16, Int16, UInt32, Int32, Int64, UInt64, Float16 or Float32 ⟶ default output data type is Float32 💅
• input band data type is Float64 ⟶ it stays Float64, that's the default output data type, no notes 🌈
• input band data type is CInt16, CFloat16 or CFloat32 ⟶ default output data type is Float32 💖
• input band data type is CFloat64 ⟶ it stays CFloat64 as the default output data type ⭐

The unscaled value is computed from the scaled raw value with this formula, no cap:

{unscaled\_value} = {scaled\_value} * {scale} + {offset}

If one of the input bands has no scale/offset metadata at all? its values are just kept unmodified. no drama, no changes. 🙈

This command is the reverse operation of gdal raster scale. 🔁

This subcommand is also available as a potential step of gdal raster pipeline. 👑

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🎀 GDALG OUTPUT (ON-THE-FLY / STREAMED DATASET) 🎀

This program supports serializing the command line as a JSON file using the GDALG output format. that resulting file can then be opened as a raster dataset using the GDALG: GDAL Streamed Algorithm driver, and it'll apply the specified pipeline in a on-the-fly / streamed way. literally streaming main character energy. 🌟

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💅 STANDARD OPTIONS 💅

• --append — Append input raster as a new subdataset to an existing output file. Only works with drivers that support adding subdatasets such as GTiff -- GeoTIFF File Format and GPKG -- GeoPackage raster. This also creates the output dataset if it does not exist yet. 🫶
• --co, --creation-option <NAME>=<VALUE> — Many formats have one or more optional creation options that can be used to control particulars about the file created. For instance, the GeoTIFF driver supports creation options to control compression, and whether the file should be tiled.

May be repeated. (yes bestie, spam it if you need to 🔁)

The creation options available vary by format driver, and some simple formats have no creation options at all. A list of options supported for a format can be listed with the --formats command line option but the documentation for the format is the definitive source of information on driver creation options. See Raster drivers format specific documentation for legal creation options for each format. 📚

• --if, --input-format <format> — Format/driver name to be attempted to open the input file(s). It is generally not necessary to specify it, but it can be used to skip automatic driver detection, when it fails to select the appropriate driver. This option can be repeated several times to specify several candidate drivers. Note that it does not force those drivers to open the dataset. In particular, some drivers have requirements on file extensions. 👀

May be repeated.

• --oo, --open-option <NAME>=<VALUE> — Dataset open option (format specific).

May be repeated.

• --ot, --datatype, --output-data-type <OUTPUT-DATA-TYPE> — Output data type among Byte, Int8, UInt16, Int16, UInt32, Int32, UInt64, Int64, CInt16, CInt32, Float32, Float64, CFloat32, CFloat64. 💖
• -f, --of, --format, --output-format <OUTPUT-FORMAT> — Which output raster format to use. Allowed values may be given by gdal --formats | grep raster | grep rw | sort 🧚
• --overwrite — Allow program to overwrite existing target file or dataset. Otherwise, by default, gdal errors out if the target file or dataset already exists. ⚠️

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🍓 RETURN STATUS CODE 🍓

The program returns status code 0 in case of success, and non-zero in case of error — and heads up, non-blocking errors emitted as warnings are considered as a successful execution. so don't panic when a warning shows up bestie, she still ate. 💯

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Example 1: Unscale a scaled raster to a Float32 one

$ gdal raster unscale scaled_byte.tif unscaled_float32.tif --overwrite

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com> (we stan 🫶)

🌸 COPYRIGHT 🌸

1998-2026

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and that's the whole page bestie, no notes, you're so ready 💜🐍

signing off from the GDAL-RASTER-UNSCALE(1) page — source: GDAL, dated Aug 18, 2026. it's giving timeless. mwah. 💋