Many computer users (especially those who began their difficult journey in mastering it in the zero) have heard of such a thing as the BMP format. And not only heard, but also seen. The “Old Men” know this very well. But novice users do not even have a clue. Moreover, they do not even imagine what kind of program they can open such a thing. In this material, we will analyze this format in detail, explain why it exists, and talk about how to open it. Although this format is not very popular, it is still in use. Therefore, it makes sense to talk about him. Of course, an ordinary user will not be faced with this format. But various developers, web designers, and Photoshop masters deal with it almost every day. But most of them do not even realize how popular this format was in its time. However, we were distracted. It's time to get to the bottom of the issue.
What is BMP?
BMP is an uncompressed bitmap image format that was in full swing in the early 2000s. The BMP format was widely popular due to the fact that when saving the image in this format, no operations were performed to compress it, which positively affected the image quality. Over time, the format has lost its popularity. New things have appeared (like JPG or RAW) that provide even better picture quality with a much smaller file size.
The BMP raster format was also popular because it was possible to save an image with any color depth into it. That is why this format is still used in the "BIOS" of many manufacturers. The BIOS logo, which is visible when the computer starts, is made in this format. In some games, this format is also still used as the main one. That is, the BMP is still alive. And so it makes sense to disassemble it in more detail. Of course, we will not delve deeply into the theoretical jungle, but we will analyze the main structural features. This is absolutely necessary.
BMP file structure
The BMP image format has its own structure. So, each file consists of a bit (or raster) map, which is made in the form of a grid. This grid contains pixels. Each of the pixels corresponds to its color. And so in several layers. The BMP can contain a different number of pixels with different depths: from 1 bit for black and white images and up to 64 bits for color. With such a structure, it is very easy to use these files. That is why they are still popular among many software developers. With JPG, for example, things are much more complicated. There are various degrees of compression, often in one cell of the grid can be several pixels at once. JPG - complex images and using them as a simple program interface will fail.
How to convert image to BMP?
The answer to this question cannot be in one sentence. The most obvious option that comes to mind is to use Photoshop from Adobe. Of course it's funny. It’s the same as shooting a sparrow from a cannon, but Photoshop can just “correctly” transfer some image to BMP format. It should only be noted that the size of this picture itself will increase to unimaginable limits. Also, any program designed to view graphic files will cope with the task of translating an image into this interesting format. Faststone Viewer, ACDSee, and other applications of this kind do their job perfectly. Also, the standard "Paint" from "Microsoft" copes with this task. In general, there are no problems with the applications. Their whole carriage. You can choose what you like.
How to open BMP?
This format is quite exotic these days. Therefore, an unprepared user has a question about which program can open the BMP format. It should be noted right away that there are a lot of applications. Almost all modern viewers support images in this format. Utilities such as Faststone, ACDSee, Picasa and others of the same kind can easily cope with this task. Also, Photoshop from Adobe will do just fine with this matter. In general, BMP is a universal format. Images can be opened with almost anything. It would be a desire and time. To open the format, you first need to install the appropriate application. But this is optional. The standard Windows viewer also knows how to read BMP. But third-party programs are much more convenient and more functional. Better use them.
BMP Documents
Very rarely, but it happens that some comrades manage to save documents (official, instructions and so on) in this format. They also often convert one format to another. For example, there is such a thing as PDF in BMP format. Just the document was converted to image format. However, such a conversion is completely unjustified in terms of practicality. Say what you like, but opening "PDF" with specialized applications is much more convenient than looking for a picture in the heap of BMP files. However, some people like this quest. On the other hand, if you need a specific page, then it is easier to save it in the "BMP" than then search through the entire document. It is for these purposes that conversion can be applied. A document in this format will look as it should, since BMP supports several information layers.
BMP's popularity these days
This format has been around ten years since it went out of use in most industries. It is outdated. According to users, BMP has many shortcomings. And all of them in one way or another discredit the BMP file format in the eyes of ordinary users. PNG, for example, is much more functional and modern. A set of shortcomings "BMP" looks like this:
- huge size of the source file;
- No True Tone support
- outdated conversion algorithm;
- insufficient image quality (RAW is much better);
- BMP cannot be converted to another format without loss of quality;
- low compression ratio.
All the above disadvantages make it extremely uncomfortable in everyday use. Therefore, it is better to use images in formats such as RAW, JPG and PNG. They meet modern requirements and can provide the highest image quality with a fairly compact size.
Conclusion
So, we examined the BMP format. It was popular when computers only entered the mass segment. Many used it only because there were no alternatives. Although even then he did not suit everyone. BMP is hopelessly outdated. It can no longer compete with popular formats such as JPG or PNG. However, it is still used in some areas. And precisely because its structure is heterogeneous. For the needs of developers, sometimes an image format is required that can support several layers of information at once. An alternative is PSD (the standard Photoshop format), but it's too heavy. It opens for a long time in the usual "viewer". Now only professionals use BMP. And good. He no longer has space on a regular home computer. There are formats much more interesting.