A method of processing a viewport within large format imagery is described. In one embodiment, the method includes dividing the image into a matrix of a plurality of tiles, each tile in the plurality of tiles having a plurality of pixels; defining a viewport within the image, the viewport including one or more tiles in the plurality of tiles, the viewport having an origin point and a width and a height; and reading a strip of pixel data in each column of the matrix of tiles within the viewport starting at a column in the matrix of tiles containing the origin point. The strip of pixel data starts at a first line of the viewport and ends at the height of the viewport from the first line.