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The BMP (Bitmap image) is a raster image format that was introduced by Microsoft on the Windows platform. The BMP file is also known as a Device Independent Bitmap (DIB) file, meaning it is independent of display devices and the image file can be viewed without a graphics adapter.
A BMP file with its simplest and the most widely used structure holds 3 bytes of data; 8 bits for each red, green and blue channels. Other data representations like alpha channel and indexed color are also supported, but not commonly used and implemented. Although there are several compression methods and algorithms available, the most common form of BMP format is uncompressed, resulting in large file sizes. This makes BMP image a bad choice for web photographs. It's a good idea to choose WebP for its compression with a fallback to JPEG for its better compatibility.
| Name | Bitmap Image | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File Extension(s) | .bmp | ||||||||||||||||||
| Category | Raster Images | ||||||||||||||||||
| Use For | Windows computers and general software graphic platforms, 2D applications. However, it is not widely used and recommended nowadays, because of better alternatives. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | ||||||||||||||||||
| MIME Type(s) | image/bmp | ||||||||||||||||||
| License | Covered by the Microsoft Open Specification Promise; while Microsoft holds patents against BMP, they have published a promise not to assert its patent rights as long as specific conditions are met. This is not the same as a license, however. BMP is included under the Windows Metafile Format (.wmf). | ||||||||||||||||||
| File Sample(s) | N/A | ||||||||||||||||||
| Compression | None, RLE (Run-Length Encoding), JPEG and PNG. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Max Dimensions | Either 32,767×32,767 or 2,147,483,647×2,147,483,647 pixels, depending on the format version | ||||||||||||||||||
| Color Modes |
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| Animation | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Transparency | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Interlacing | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Metadata | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Layers | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Multipage | No |
Interlacing is a method of encoding a bitmap image such that a person who has partially received it sees a degraded copy of the entire image. When communicating over a slow communications link, this is often preferable to seeing a perfectly clear copy of one part of the image, as it helps the viewer decide more quickly whether to abort or continue the transmission.Learn More