BMP Converter

How to Convert BMP to Any Format

1. Upload Your BMP File: Drag and drop your bitmap or click "Add Files". Batch is supported — drop in several BMPs and each one converts in parallel, then download them together as a ZIP.
2. Pick an Output Format and Quality Preset: Open the Image File Extension dropdown and choose your target — JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, TIFF, ICO, AVIF, PDF, EPS, and more. The default Quality Preset is "Very High (Recommended)"; switch to Specific file size to cap the output at an exact KB or MB target, which is the usual reason for leaving BMP in the first place.
3. Resize or Set Lossless (Optional): Under Image resolution, keep the original pixels, pick a Preset Resolution (1080p, 720p, 480p…), scale by Resolution Percentage, or type a custom Width × Height with aspect ratio locked. For PNG, TIFF, and WebP you can set Lossless to "Yes" to keep every pixel exact, or "No" for a smaller file.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Popular BMP Conversions

• BMP to JPG — the standard fix for an oversized bitmap; cuts file size 10-20x for photos
• BMP to PNG — lossless compression that shrinks the file without touching a single pixel
• BMP to WebP — smallest modern web format, lossy or lossless, for fast-loading pages
• BMP to PDF — wrap one or many bitmaps into a single printable, shareable document
• BMP to GIF — a tiny 256-color file for simple logos, icons, and flat graphics
• BMP to TIFF — lossless archival format for print and scanning workflows
• BMP to ICO — build a Windows application or favicon icon from a bitmap
• BMP to SVG — embed the raster inside a scalable vector wrapper

Why Convert a BMP File?

BMP (Windows Bitmap, also called a device-independent bitmap or DIB) is Microsoft's native raster image format, introduced alongside Windows 2.0 in the late 1980s and also adopted as the native bitmap format of OS/2. It stores an image as a literal grid of pixels, and in its common form it stores them uncompressed — every pixel's color is written out byte-for-byte. That makes BMP dead simple and perfectly lossless, which is exactly why Microsoft Paint, old scanners, and many Windows applications still produce it. It's also why a BMP is enormous: a 4000 × 3000 photo at 24 bits per pixel is roughly 36 MB as a BMP, versus a couple of megabytes as a JPEG of the same dimensions.

Because the format itself is rarely the problem and the size almost always is, nearly every BMP conversion is about getting the same picture into a smaller, more shareable, or more web-friendly file. The most common reasons people convert away from BMP:

• Shrink it for sharing or the web (JPG / WebP) — BMP has no native web-browser display role and balloons file sizes, so the default move is JPG for photographs (lossy, 10-20x smaller) or WebP for the modern web (lossy or lossless, smaller still). Converting BMP to JPG is the single most common bitmap conversion for exactly this reason.
• Lossless compression with no quality change (PNG) — when you can't afford any quality loss — line art, screenshots, diagrams, anything with sharp edges or text — PNG applies lossless DEFLATE compression and typically shrinks a BMP several-fold while keeping every pixel identical. PNG also adds a real alpha channel for transparency, which BMP technically supports (since the BITMAPV4HEADER in Windows 95) but which almost no software writes or reads.
• Documents and printing (PDF / TIFF) — to hand a bitmap to someone who just needs to view or print it, BMP to PDF wraps one or several images into a single page-based file. For print shops, scanning archives, and GIS workflows that demand lossless quality, TIFF is the long-standing professional target.
• Icons and favicons (ICO) — Windows application icons and website favicons use the ICO container, which is historically built on the same bitmap structure as BMP, so converting BMP to ICO is a natural fit when you've drawn an icon in Paint.

BMP vs. Its Common Conversion Targets

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are BMP files so much larger than JPG or PNG?

Because a standard BMP stores pixels uncompressed — each pixel's color is written out in full. A 24-bit BMP needs 3 bytes per pixel with no compression at all, so a 12-megapixel photo lands around 36 MB. JPG applies lossy compression that discards detail the eye barely notices, and PNG applies lossless compression that packs the data more efficiently, so both routinely produce files a fraction of the BMP's size. BMP does support an optional run-length encoding (RLE) mode for 4-bit and 8-bit indexed images, but most BMP files in the wild are saved fully uncompressed, which is the entire reason people convert them.

Will I lose quality converting BMP to PNG?

No. PNG uses lossless DEFLATE compression, so a BMP-to-PNG conversion keeps every pixel exactly as it was — the file just takes up far less space. This is the right choice for screenshots, diagrams, logos, and anything with sharp edges or text, where JPG's lossy compression would introduce visible "ringing" artifacts around the edges. In our testing, a 24-bit uncompressed BMP screenshot dropped from roughly 6 MB to well under 1 MB as a PNG with no visible change at all. If you instead pick JPG, you do trade some quality for an even smaller file.

Does converting BMP to JPG reduce quality?

Yes, slightly — JPG is a lossy format, so it discards some image data to achieve its dramatic size reduction. For photographs that loss is essentially invisible at the default "Very High" quality, which is why JPG is the standard target for shrinking a photographic BMP. For line art, screenshots, or anything with hard edges and flat color, JPG is a poor fit — it smears edges and adds blocky artifacts — and you should convert to PNG or WebP instead, both of which can stay lossless.

What opens a BMP file?

BMP is natively supported almost everywhere on Windows: Microsoft Paint, the Photos app, and the file preview all read it directly. On macOS, Preview opens BMP files, and on every platform image editors like Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET handle them. Most modern web browsers can also display a BMP if you open the file directly, though BMP is essentially never used as an embedded web image because of its size — which is exactly why converting to JPG, PNG, or WebP is the common step before putting a bitmap online.

Does BMP support transparency or animation?

Transparency: technically yes, but practically no. An alpha channel was added to the format with the BITMAPV4HEADER in Windows 95, but very few applications write or read transparent BMPs, so you should treat BMP as an opaque format. If you need real transparency, convert to PNG or WebP, which support it reliably. Animation: no — BMP holds a single still image only. For a simple animated graphic, GIF or WebP is the right target.

Which format should I convert BMP to for the smallest file?

For photographs, WebP at lossy quality usually produces the smallest file while looking nearly identical to the original, with JPG a close and more universally compatible second. For graphics, screenshots, and line art where you want zero quality loss, lossless WebP or PNG gives you the smallest lossless result. If you only care about absolute minimum size and the image is a simple flat graphic with few colors, GIF (capped at 256 colors) can be tiny. Pick Specific file size in the options if you need to hit an exact KB or MB target.

Are my files private when I convert a BMP here?

Yes. Your BMP is uploaded over an encrypted (TLS) connection, converted on our servers, and the original and the output are deleted automatically a few hours later. There's no sign-up, no watermark on the output, and files are never shared or made public. The only real limit on a very large bitmap is upload time over your connection — multi-hundred-megabyte BMPs convert fine, they just take longer to upload than a compressed format would.