Editing BMP file format (section)

== Device-independent bitmaps and the BMP file format ==
{{Plain image with caption|BMPfileFormat.svg|align=right|width=320px|caption=[[#File structure|Diagram 1]] – The structure of the bitmap image file}}
Microsoft has defined a particular representation of color bitmaps of different color depths, as an aid to exchanging bitmaps between devices and applications with a variety of internal representations.  They called these device-independent bitmaps or DIBs, and the file format for them is called DIB file format or BMP image file format.

According to Microsoft support:<ref name=DIBhelp>{{cite web | url = https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms969901.aspx | title = DIBs and Their Uses | work = Microsoft Help and Support | access-date = 2015-05-14}}</ref> <blockquote>A device-independent bitmap (DIB) is a format used to define device-independent bitmaps in various color resolutions. The main purpose of DIBs is to allow bitmaps to be moved from one device to another (hence, the device-independent part of the name). A DIB is an external format, in contrast to a device-dependent bitmap, which appears in the system as a bitmap object (created by an application...). A DIB is normally transported in metafiles (usually using the StretchDIBits() function), BMP files, and the Clipboard ({{mono|CF_DIB}} data format).</blockquote>

The following sections discuss the data stored in the BMP file or DIB in detail. This is the standard BMP file format.<ref name=DIBhelp /> Some applications create bitmap image files which are not compliant with the Microsoft documentation. Also, not all fields are used; a value of 0 will be found in these unused fields.