GeoPackage is an open, standards-based, platform-independent, and compact format for transferring geospatial information. It is defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and is implemented as a SQLite database container. Unlike older formats like Shapefiles, which consist of multiple sidecar files, a GeoPackage stores vector features, tile matrix sets of imagery, and raster maps within a single, self-contained file. This structure makes it highly portable and efficient for mobile and web applications. Because it is built on SQLite, it supports ACID-compliant transactions, allowing for robust data integrity and concurrent read/write access. It is widely considered the modern successor to the ESRI Shapefile format, as it overcomes limitations regarding file size, character encoding, and attribute field length, while providing superior performance for spatial queries and indexing.