The BMP file format, also known as bitmap image file, device independent bitmap (DIB) file format and bitmap, is a
raster graphics
upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
image file format used to store
bitmap digital image
A digital image is an image composed of picture elements, also known as ''pixels'', each with ''finite'', '' discrete quantities'' of numeric representation for its intensity or gray level that is an output from its two-dimensional functions ...
s, independently of the
display device
A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signal the ...
(such as a
graphics adapter), especially on
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
OS/2 operating systems.
The BMP file format is capable of storing
two-dimensional digital images both
monochrome and color, in various
color depth
Color depth or colour depth (see spelling differences), also known as bit depth, is either the number of bits used to indicate the color of a single pixel, or the number of bits used for each color component of a single pixel. When referring to ...
s, and optionally with
data compression,
alpha channels, and
color profiles. The
Windows Metafile (WMF) specification covers the BMP file format.
Device-independent bitmaps and the BMP file format
Microsoft has defined a particular representation of color bitmaps of different color depths, as an aid to exchanging bitmaps between devices and applications with a variety of internal representations. They called these device-indep