---
title: "Raster and WMS style controls"
description: "What the Style tab shows for raster and WMS layers: an opacity slider, the Visibility zoom range, and Save Style. Also why these layers cannot be restyled."
sidebar:
  label: "Raster/WMS style controls"
---

MangoMap does not restyle raster or WMS layers. Their `Style` tab shows an opacity slider and a `Save Style` button. This page documents what the tab does show and explains why these layer types behave differently from vector layers.

## What the Style tab shows

Select a raster or WMS layer in the layer panel and open the `Style` tab. It has only an opacity slider, the `Visibility` zoom range, and `Save Style`. No message explains the limit.

<img src="/_assets/styling-layers/adjust-raster-opacity--style.png" alt="Style section of the Land Cover raster layer with the Visibility zoom range, Opacity set to 70%, and Save Style, beside the map where land cover colours lie over aerial imagery and road lines" width="1600" height="960" />

## Why raster layers can't be styled

A raster is a grid of pixels with fixed colour values, so it can't be recoloured in MangoMap.

If you need different colours, the change has to happen before upload. Common pre-import options:

- **QGIS**: open the raster, apply a render style, then `Right-click → Export → Save As → Rendered image`.
- **gdaldem**: produce a coloured GeoTIFF from a single-band source. For example, this command applies a colour ramp to elevation data:

  ```console
  $ gdaldem color-relief input.tif palette.txt output.tif
  ```
- **Pre-process to RGB**: ensure the GeoTIFF you upload is already in the colour scheme you want.

After re-importing the recoloured raster, the new layer carries the new colours.

## Why WMS layers can't be styled

A WMS layer is drawn by the source server. The colours, line widths, and symbology decisions all live on the source server — MangoMap has no style controls for those source-rendered layers.

If you need different styling for a WMS layer, the change has to happen on the WMS provider's server.

## What you can adjust

A few layer-level controls live outside the `Style` tab and apply to raster and WMS layers:

- **Layer name and description** — `Details` tab.
- **Layer visibility** — the eye icon in the layer list, not in the `Style` tab.

Per-feature interaction (popups, attribute filtering) is also unavailable for these layer types. Raster and WMS layers have no feature attributes.

## Related

- [How importing data works in MangoMap](/docs/importing-data/concepts-importing-data)
- [How to import a GeoTIFF](/docs/importing-data/import-geotiff)
- [How to connect a WMS service](/docs/importing-data/connect-a-wms-service)
- [How layer styling works in MangoMap](/docs/styling-layers/concepts-layer-styling)