ISO/IEC 12087-5:2025

Information technology — Image processing and interchange (IPI) functional specification — Part 5: Basic image interchange format (BIIF)

Publication date:   Aug 15, 2025

Scope

This document establishes the specification of the Basic image interchange format (BIIF). This document provides a foundation for interoperability in the interchange of imagery and imagery-related data among applications. It also provides a detailed description of the overall structure of the format, as well as specification of the valid data and format for all fields defined with BIIF. Annex C contains a Model Profile of BIIF in tables to assist in profile development.
The scope and field of application of this document includes the capability to perpetuate a proven interchange capability in support of commercial and government imagery, Programmer’s Imaging Kernel System (PIKS) data, and other imagery technology domains in that priority order.
This document provides a data format container for image, symbol, and text, along with a mechanism for including image-related support data.
This document:
—     provides a means whereby diverse applications can share imagery and associated information;
—     allows an application to exchange comprehensive information to users with diverse needs or capabilities, allowing each user to select only those data items that correspond to their needs and capabilities;
—     minimizes preprocessing and postprocessing of data;
—     minimizes formatting overhead, particularly for those applications exchanging only a small amount of data and for bandwidth-limited systems;
—     provides a mechanism (Transportable File Structure, TFS) to interchange PIKS image and image-related objects;
—     provides extensibility to accommodate future data, including objects.