MapLibre PMTiles Patterns
PMTiles is a single-file format for vector or raster map tiles. You host one (or a few) files on any static host; MapLibre requests byte ranges over HTTP. No tile server, no dynamic backend. This skill covers when to use PMTiles, how to generate and host them, and how to connect them to MapLibre GL JS.
When to Use This Skill
Hosting map tiles without running a tile server (S3, Cloudflare R2, GitHub Pages, etc.)
Building a fully static or serverless map stack
Serving large tile sets from a CDN with range requests
Generating PMTiles from OSM or other sources (Planetiler, tippecanoe)
Using Overture Maps or other single-file tile datasets with MapLibre
What PMTiles Is and Why It Matters
Vector and raster
— PMTiles supports both. A file can contain vector layers (e.g. water, roads, POIs), raster imagery (PNG/JPEG), or raster-dem (elevation, e.g. Terrarium format for terrain). In the style you use
type: 'vector'
,
type: 'raster'
, or
type: 'raster-dem'
accordingly.
Single file per map
— One
.pmtiles
file typically contains the full tile pyramid (all zoom levels) and all layers (vector or raster) in one archive. The format stores tiles in a compact layout (e.g. Hilbert curve) so the client can request only the byte ranges it needs. For very large coverage you may split by region into multiple files.
HTTP range requests
— The client requests only the byte ranges it needs (e.g. one tile), so the server does not need to understand x/y/z. Any host that supports
Range
headers works.
Serving
— You can serve directly from static storage (S3, R2, GitHub Pages, Netlify): the client uses range requests, so no tile server is required. Alternatively,
tileserver-gl
or
Martin
can serve PMTiles (from local paths, HTTP URLs, or S3), useful if you want one server that also provides styles, glyphs, or other sources.
Creating
— You can get PMTiles by converting from MBTiles (PMTiles CLI) or by generating from source data (Planetiler, tippecanoe, GDAL, etc.). Alternatively,
Protomaps
is a provider where you can download pre-built PMTiles (e.g. global or regional basemaps) and serve them yourself, or create custom extracts via the PMTiles CLI—no need to generate from OSM yourself. See
The PMTiles CLI
and
Generating PMTiles
below.
Good for CDNs
— Range requests cache well; put the file behind a CDN for fast global access.
When to prefer PMTiles over a traditional tile server:
You want zero server logic (static hosting only).
You have a bounded dataset (country, region, theme) that fits in one or a few files.
You want simple deployment and low ops (upload file, set cache headers, done).
When to prefer a tile server (e.g. tileserver-gl, martin):
You need dynamic tiles from a database (PostGIS) or frequently updated data.
You have a very large global dataset and want to generate tiles on demand or by region only.
MapLibre Integration: The PMTiles Protocol
MapLibre does not speak PMTiles natively. You use the
PMTiles
library to add a protocol handler so that a
pmtiles://
(or
https://
to a .pmtiles file) source works.
Install:
npm
install
pmtiles
Register the protocol and use in a style:
import
*
as
pmtiles
from
'pmtiles'
;
import
maplibregl
from
'maplibre-gl'
;
import
'maplibre-gl/dist/maplibre-gl.css'
;
// Add PMTiles protocol so sources can reference .pmtiles URLs
const
protocol
=
new
pmtiles
.
Protocol
(
)
;
maplibregl
.
addProtocol
(
'pmtiles'
,
protocol
.
tile
)
;
const
map
=
new
maplibregl
.
Map
(
{
container
:
'map'
,
style
:
{
version
:
8
,
sources
:
{
tiles
:
{
type
:
'vector'
,
url
:
'pmtiles://https://example.com/data.pmtiles'
}
}
,
layers
:
[
{
id
:
'background'
,
type
:
'background'
,
paint
:
{
'background-color'
:
'#f8f4f0'
}
}
,
{
id
:
'water'
,
type
:
'fill'
,
source
:
'tiles'
,
'source-layer'
:
'water'
,
paint
:
{
'fill-color'
:
'#a0c8f0'
}
}
// add more layers as needed — each uses the same source, different 'source-layer'
]
}
,
center
:
[
0
,
0
]
,
zoom
:
2
}
)
;
// Optional: remove protocol on map teardown
// map.on('remove', () => maplibregl.removeProtocol('pmtiles'));
Referencing layers:
The style has one source (e.g.
sources.tiles
) pointing at the .pmtiles URL. Each layer in the
layers
array that draws from that file uses
source: 'tiles'
and
"source-layer": "layerName"
, where
layerName
is the name of a vector layer inside the file (from whatever schema the tiles use). Add multiple style layers with different
source-layer
values to show roads, labels, etc. from the same file.
Important:
The
url
can be
pmtiles://https://...
(protocol + HTTPS URL to the .pmtiles file). The library will fetch the file via range requests. Your style must still define glyphs and sprite if you use labels or icons (see
maplibre-tile-sources
).
Raster and raster-dem:
The same protocol works for raster PMTiles. Use a
type: 'raster'
source for imagery. For terrain/elevation, use a
type: 'raster-dem'
source with
"encoding": "terrarium"
(or
"mapbox"
) so MapLibre can apply hillshade or 3D terrain; then reference it in the style’s
terrain
property. Example source:
"elevation"
:
{
"type"
:
"raster-dem"
,
"url"
:
"pmtiles://https://example.com/elevation.pmtiles"
,
"encoding"
:
"terrarium"
}
Using PMTiles with React:
Register the protocol once at application startup, not inside each component, so MapLibre has the handler before any map mounts. For example, call
maplibregl.addProtocol('pmtiles', protocol.tile)
in a root-level effect or when your map provider initializes. On unmount of the last map (or when the app tears down), call
maplibregl.removeProtocol('pmtiles')
to avoid leaks. See
PMTiles for MapLibre GL
(Protomaps) for a React-oriented setup.
Hosting PMTiles
Any host that serves the file and supports
HTTP Range requests
is suitable.
AWS S3
— Enable public read (or signed URLs); S3 supports Range. Set
Cache-Control
and optionally use CloudFront.
Cloudflare R2
— S3-compatible; enable public access or use signed URLs. Put behind Cloudflare for caching.
GitHub Pages
— MapLibre GL JS can load tiles from a .pmtiles file in the same repo as long as the file size is under 100 MB.
Netlify / Vercel
— Upload the .pmtiles file; static hosting typically supports Range. Check each provider’s file size limits.
Any static host
— Ensure the server returns
Accept-Ranges: bytes
and responds correctly to
Range
headers.
CORS:
Browsers will send cross-origin requests to the PMTiles URL. The host must send
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
(or your domain) and
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Range
(or allow all). Otherwise MapLibre will fail to load tiles.
Cache headers:
For better performance, set long cache for the .pmtiles file (e.g.
Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000
if the file is immutable). CDNs will cache range responses.
The PMTiles CLI
The
pmtiles CLI
is the official command-line tool for working with PMTiles (and MBTiles for conversion). It’s a single binary with no runtime dependencies—you download it and run it.
Why install and use it:
Convert MBTiles to PMTiles
— Many tools (tippecanoe, GDAL, martin-cp) output MBTiles. One command turns any .mbtiles file into a .pmtiles file:
pmtiles convert in.mbtiles out.pmtiles
. This is often the simplest way to get PMTiles when your pipeline already produces MBTiles.
Inspect and verify archives
—
pmtiles show
Example: build a PMTiles file for a region (e.g. from a .osm.pbf download)
java -jar planetiler.jar --area = monaco --output = monaco.pmtiles See Planetiler docs for area names, custom sources, and schema options. Output is a single .pmtiles file you can upload to S3/R2/static host. tippecanoe tippecanoe generates vector tiles from source formats: GeoJSON, FlatGeobuf, CSV. From v2.17 onward it can output PMTiles directly ( -o output.pmtiles ). You can also output MBTiles and convert with pmtiles convert .
Direct PMTiles output (v2.17+)
tippecanoe -zg -o output.pmtiles input.geojson
Or MBTiles then convert: tippecanoe -o output.mbtiles -z 14 input.geojson && pmtiles convert output.mbtiles output.pmtiles
ogr2ogr (GDAL) GDAL’s ogr2ogr generates tiles from many geospatial formats (Shapefile, PostGIS, GeoJSON, etc.) and can write MBTiles or PMTiles (GDAL 3.8+). Best for smaller datasets; tippecanoe is more efficient for large vector tile sets. Raster and raster-dem PMTiles PMTiles supports raster tiles (PNG/JPEG, e.g. satellite or pre-rendered imagery) and raster-dem (elevation/terrain, e.g. Terrarium or Mapbox encoding). Use tools that produce raster or raster-dem PMTiles; the same protocol and hosting apply. In the style use type: 'raster' for imagery or type: 'raster-dem' with "encoding": "terrarium" (or "mapbox" ) for terrain—see MapLibre Integration above for an example. Overture Maps Overture Maps publishes global open map data. Some providers distribute Overture-derived data as PMTiles (e.g. for buildings, places, transportation). You can also build PMTiles from Overture data with Planetiler or other pipelines. Use the PMTiles URL in your MapLibre style as above. Performance Tips CDN — Serve the .pmtiles file from a CDN (CloudFront, Cloudflare) so range requests are fast globally. Compression — PMTiles stores tiles compressed; the library handles decompression. Ensure the server does not double-compress (e.g. gzip) the whole file in a way that breaks range requests. Multiple files — For very large coverage, split by region into several .pmtiles files and switch the source URL or use multiple sources by bounds. Caching — Set strong cache headers on the file; the browser and CDN will cache range responses.