BMP
What is the opposite of BMP? Here is what we hold, with its meaning and related words.
Noun — An older image format, associated with Windows, that stores a picture as a straightforward grid of pixels, usually with little or no compression, giving large files.
How to use BMP
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
BMP file
save as BMP
convert BMP to PNG
24-bit BMP
Somewhat dated; mostly encountered with legacy Windows software. Written in capitals.
Etymology
A shortening of bitmap, the term for an image stored as a grid of individual pixels. It is a contraction rather than an initialism — the letters are not the initials of separate words.
Full origin of BMP →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between BMP and PNG?
Both keep every pixel of the image, but PNG compresses the data losslessly while BMP usually stores it raw. That makes a BMP considerably larger than the equivalent PNG for no gain in quality, which is why PNG replaced it for most purposes.
Is BMP still used?
Rarely for sharing or publishing, because the files are so large. It still turns up in older Windows software, in some scanning and imaging tools, and wherever a simple uncompressed pixel grid is easier to work with than a compressed format.
