A method of creating a container file for large format imagery and organizing data within the container file are described. In one embodiment, the method of creating the container file includes validating user input parameters for the file container, and determining whether the container file already exists, the container file having file container metadata. If the file container does not exist, creating the container by creating one or more empty records in a storage device, the one or more empty records having an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image and a record metadata section having at least a mark indicating that the image file section is empty. A size of the image file section, a size of the image metadata section and a size of the record metadata section are determined using the user input parameters.