# Narrowed reflectivity from uint16\_t to uint8\_t in v0.14.0

**URL:** <https://community.ouster.com/t/narrowed-reflectivity-from-uint16-t-to-uint8-t-in-v0-14-0/486>\
**Category:** Software\
**Created:** [April 30, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://community.ouster.com/t/narrowed-reflectivity-from-uint16-t-to-uint8-t-in-v0-14-0/486 "2026-04-30T10:02:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![evehu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f475e1/32.png) [@evehu](https://community.ouster.com/u/evehu)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://community.ouster.com/t/narrowed-reflectivity-from-uint16-t-to-uint8-t-in-v0-14-0/486/1 "2026-04-30T10:02:21Z")

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Hello,

I am using Ouster sensors in a set of projects and I am currently updating my Ouster driver to v0.14.0. I saw in the changelog that [Point\_RNG19\_RFL8\_SIG16\_NIR16 has narrowed reflectivity from uint16\_t to uint8\_t](https://github.com/ouster-lidar/ouster-ros/releases/tag/ros2-v0.14.0#:~:text=%5BBREAKING%5D%3A%20Several%20sensor%20point%20types,near_ir%20from%20uint16_t%20to%20uint8_t.) and have a question regarding a custom point type that I have since before, it is defined as follows:

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/uploads/ouster/original/1X/9fd668cb17a7e16555077f967c020499666d2fe2.png)

When updating to the new driver, do I need to change my reflectivity field from uint16\_t to uint8\_t? Or could I keep it as uint16\_t? I guess this depends if the range of the type I am using is somehow important for the calibration value?

Any directions on how to update my custom point to support v0.14.0 would be greatly appreciated.

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**Author:** ![Samahu](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/community.ouster.com/samahu/32/39_2.png) [@Samahu](https://community.ouster.com/u/Samahu)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2026, 10:46pm UTC](https://community.ouster.com/t/narrowed-reflectivity-from-uint16-t-to-uint8-t-in-v0-14-0/486/2 "2026-04-30T22:46:10Z")

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The range of values shouldn’t change for you .. we were using uint16\_t to represent REFLECTIVITY needlessly .. so the answer is yes, you better change since it would help you reduce the final pointcloud memory footprint and when you transport it you save on bandwidth.

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**Author:** ![evehu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f475e1/32.png) [@evehu](https://community.ouster.com/u/evehu)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://community.ouster.com/t/narrowed-reflectivity-from-uint16-t-to-uint8-t-in-v0-14-0/486/3 "2026-05-04T14:13:24Z")

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Ok thanks for the clarification! Then I will update my custom points to use uint8\_t for reflectivity when I’m updating the Ouster driver version 👍