MapLibre introduces MapLibre Tile (MLT), a new modern and efficient vector tile format

MapLibre has launched MapLibre Tile (MLT), a new open-source vector tile format for web and mobile mapping applications. MLT is positioned as the successor to Mapbox Vector Tile (MVT) and has been reengineered to address the rapidly increasing volume and complexity of geospatial data, while leveraging the latest graphics APIs and hardware capabilities.

Building on these foundations, MLT is tailored for modern and next-generation graphics APIs, supporting high-performance rendering and processing of planet-scale 2D and 2.5D basemaps. The initial implementation matches the feature set of MVT1, allowing for immediate integration into existing workflows.

Compression and performance are highlighted improvements: MLT achieves up to a sixfold compression ratio improvement on large tiles by employing a column-oriented layout and custom, lightweight encodings. This design reduces latency, storage, and egress costs and improves cache efficiency. Decoding performance has also been enhanced through fast encodings that are compatible with Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) and other vectorization instructions.

Looking forward, MLT introduces architectural provisions for future enhancements, including native support for 3D coordinates, optimized processing for both CPUs and GPUs, linear referencing, and complex data structures. These changes align MLT with emerging mapping technologies and industry standards such as Overture Maps and GeoParquet. Developers can begin experimenting with MLT immediately as both MapLibre GL JS and MapLibre Native already support the new format.