Editing Raster image processor (section)

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[[File:RIP Data Flow.svg|thumb|300px|Generating the raster image data]]

A '''raster image processor''' ('''RIP''') is a component used in a [[printing]] system which produces a [[raster graphics|raster]] image also known as a [[bitmap]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Raster Image Processor - PrintWiki |url=http://printwiki.org/Raster_Image_Processor |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=printwiki.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Patent US6469805 - Post raster-image processing controls for digital color image printing |url=http://www.google.nl/patents/US6469805 |access-date=30 November 2014 |publisher=Google.nl}}</ref> Such a bitmap is used by a later stage of the printing system to produce the printed output. The input may be a page description in a high-level [[page description language]] such as [[PostScript]], [[PDF]], or [[Open XML Paper Specification|XPS]]. The input can also be or include bitmaps of higher or lower resolution than the output device, which the RIP resizes using an [[image scaling]] algorithm.

Originally a RIP was a [[19-inch rack|rack]] of electronic hardware which received the page description via some interface (e.g. [[RS-232]]) and generated a "hardware bitmap output" which was used to enable or disable each [[pixel]] on a real-time output device such as a [[Laser printing|laser printer]], an optical [[film recorder]], [[computer to film]], or [[computer to plate]].

A RIP can be implemented as a software module on a general-purpose computer, or as a firmware program executed on a [[microprocessor]] inside a printer. For high-end typesetting, standalone hardware RIPs are sometimes used. [[Ghostscript]], GhostPCL, and ColorBurst's Overdrive (for [[macOS]]) are examples of software RIPs. Every PostScript printer contains a RIP in its [[firmware]]. The RIP [[microprocessor|chip]] in a [[laser printing|laser printer]] sends its [[raster image]] output to the [[laser]].

Earlier RIPs retained backward compatibility with [[phototypesetting|phototypesetters]]/photosetters, so they supported the older languages. So, for example, Linotype RIPs supported CORA (RIP30).