Editing Windows Metafile (section)

{{Short description|File format for images}}
'''Windows Metafile''' ('''WMF''') is an [[image file format]] originally designed for [[Microsoft Windows]] in the 1990s. The original Windows Metafile format was not device-independent (though could be made more so with placement headers) and may contain both [[vector graphics]] and [[bitmap]] components. It acts in a similar manner to [[Scalable Vector Graphics|SVG]] files. WMF files were later superseded by '''Enhanced Metafiles''' (EMF files) which did provide for device-independence. EMF files were then themselves enhanced via '''EMF+''' files.

Essentially, a metafile stores a list of records consisting of drawing commands, property definitions and graphics objects to display an image on screen.<ref name="wmfspecdef">{{citation|url= https://winprotocoldoc.blob.core.windows.net/productionwindowsarchives/MS-WMF/%5bMS-WMF%5d.pdf|title=Windows Metafile Format|publisher=Microsoft|page=16}}</ref> The drawing commands used are closely related to the commands of the [[Graphics Device Interface]] (GDI) [[Application programming interface|API]] used for drawing in Microsoft Windows.

There are three major types of metafiles – a WMF is a [[16-bit]] format introduced in [[Windows 3.0]]. It is the native [[vector graphics|vector format]] for [[Microsoft Office]] applications such as [[Microsoft Word|Word]], [[Microsoft PowerPoint|PowerPoint]], and [[Microsoft Publisher|Publisher]]. {{As of|2024|April}}, revision 18 of the Windows Metafile Format specification is available.<ref name="v15">{{cite web |date=2021-04-26 |title=<nowiki>[MS-WMF]:</nowiki> Windows Metafile Format |url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc250370.aspx |access-date=2023-09-13 |publisher=[[MSDN]]}}</ref> EMF files, which replaced WMF files, work on the same principle only it is a 32-bit file format that also allows for the embedding of private data within "comment" records.<ref name="emfspecdef">{{citation|url= https://winprotocoldoc.blob.core.windows.net/productionwindowsarchives/MS-EMF/%5bMS-EMF%5d.pdf|title=<nowiki>[MS-EMF]:</nowiki> Enhanced Metafile Format|publisher=Microsoft|page=17}}</ref> EMF+ is an extension to EMF files and embedded in these comment records, allowing for images and text using commands, objects and properties that are similar to Windows [[GDI+]].<ref name="emfplusspecdef">{{citation|url=https://winprotocoldoc.blob.core.windows.net/productionwindowsarchives/MS-EMFPLUS/%5bMS-EMFPLUS%5d.pdf|title=<nowiki>[MS-EMFPLUS]:</nowiki> Enhanced Metafile Format Plus Extensions|publisher=Microsoft|page=19}}</ref>