┌─ FILE ANALYSIS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┐
│ DEVELOPER : Microsoft
│ CATEGORY : Image
│ MIME TYPE : image/bmp
│ MAGIC BYTES : 424D
└ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┘
What is a BMP file?
BMP (Bitmap) is an uncompressed raster image format developed by Microsoft for Windows. First introduced with Windows 1.0 in 1985, it stores image data pixel by pixel without compression, resulting in large file sizes but perfect quality preservation.
How to open BMP files
- Windows Photos / Paint (Windows) — Built-in
- Preview (macOS) — Built-in
- Any web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari)
- GIMP (Windows, macOS, Linux) — Free, open-source
- IrfanView (Windows) — Free viewer
Technical specifications
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Compression | Uncompressed (RLE optional) |
| Color Depth | 1-bit to 32-bit |
| Color Spaces | RGB, RGBA |
| Transparency | Supported (32-bit) |
| Animation | Not supported |
| Header | DIB header (various versions) |
Common use cases
- Windows applications: Legacy system graphics
- Embedded systems: Simple image storage
- Image processing: Raw pixel data for analysis
- Temporary format: Intermediate step in image pipelines