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BMP

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(Graphics) BMP

The bitmap format is an uncompressed (by default) image format that supports many bit depths. 8-Bit bitmap files can be compressed with an encoding called RLE, or Run Length Encoding, which encodes runs of the same color as a length value and a color value. For example, if there is a run of 128 black pixels, a savings of 126 bytes could be made since it can be represented as two bytes instead of 128. Run length encoding is generally used with computer generated 8-bit images, since photographic pictures (or 3d rendered images for that matter) do not generally have long runs of the same color. For the same reason, RLE is not usually used for 16-bit graphics. RLE is a lossless compression, and so BMP is a lossless graphics format.

Bitmap files contain a bitmap header followed by the actual bitmap data. They are usually stored bottom-up (which would look upside-down if you viewed the data in its raw form).

See Also: Graphics FAQ

Bitmap image operations

• Convert a bitmap to ASCII art (C++ VCL)

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