How do BMP and ICOcompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
Bitmap Image File
BMP is an uncompressed raster image format native to Windows. While it produces very large files, BMP preserves every pixel with zero quality loss, making it useful for raw image data and legacy applications.
Icon File Format
ICO is the icon file format used by Windows for application icons and website favicons. It can contain multiple image sizes and color depths in a single file.
| Specification | BMP | ICO |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bitmap Image File | Icon File Format |
| Extension | .bmp | .ico |
| MIME type | image/bmp | image/x-icon |
| Category | Image | Image |
| Developer | Microsoft | Microsoft |
| Year introduced | 1986 | 1985 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
Both BMP and ICO have their strengths. BMP excels at legacy windows applications, while ICO is better for website favicons.
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