Express Server

Express Server is LizardTech's image server software for organisations that need to share very large raster imagery and LiDAR collections. Satellite, aerial and drone imagery often runs to terabytes, which puts heavy demands on servers and client bandwidth and makes full downloads slow.

Express Server reads MrSID, JPEG 2000 and LAZ files directly in their compressed form, without pre-generated tile caches or pyramids, and also serves NITF, geospatial PDF and LAS files, streaming only the pixels needed for the user's current view and zoom level. It publishes image catalogues through OGC WMS, WCS and WMTS, so the imagery opens in ArcGIS, QGIS, ERDAS IMAGINE, AutoCAD and other OGC-compliant clients, and it offers a custom API optimised for MrSID with selective decompression and multi-resolution delivery. Multispectral MrSID imagery can be hosted with control over which spectral bands are delivered. Express Server does not include imagery: it serves the collections the organisation already holds.

Administrators install it on their own 64-bit server alongside IIS or Apache and manage catalogues, projections and licensing in the browser-based Express Server Manager. The bundled open-source ExpressZip web application (Leaflet, JavaScript, Tomcat) lets end users browse collections and export areas of interest, and catalogue metadata can be synchronised across several servers to spread load. LizardTech says the software is intended for defence agencies, commercial firms, environmental consultancies, utilities and public organisations; Québec's Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks uses it with GeoExpress to manage its imagery in one central location. It is the delivery companion to LizardTech's GeoExpress compression software. LizardTech has been part of GeoWGS84 since November 2025.