PCX to BMP Converter

PiCture eXchange (PCX) is one of the oldest raster image formats for personal computers, created for the ZSoft PC Paintbrush program on DOS. PCX stores images using simple run-length encoding, a lossless scheme that works well on flat-coloured graphics but poorly on photographs. It was widely used by early scanners and fax software before TIFF and PNG replaced it.

How to open a PCX file?

Modern operating systems no longer open PCX by default. Viewers that still read it include IrfanView on Windows and XnView MP.

For editing, GIMP and Adobe Photoshop both import PCX images. Since PCX is a legacy format that many programs have dropped, the safest long-term move is to convert your files — use our PCX to JPG converter.

Developed by: ZSoft Corporation

Initial Release: 1985

Bitmap (BMP) is a pixel-based file format that stores two-dimensional images, generally without any compression. BMP utilizes a dot matrix data structure called raster graphics, which establishes the color depth of the image. BMP is mostly used for digital publishing of photographs. However, due to the lack of compression, BMP files are usually large.

How to open a BMP file?

BMP can be device-dependent or independent. BMP opens readily in the Microsoft Paint application and is often associated with Microsoft operating systems. Despite the association with Microsoft, a device-independent BMP, or DIB, can open on almost any device, operating system, or application. 

In addition to opening BMP files, many applications can be used to create them, such as Adobe Illustrator. Should you need to convert the BMP into a vector-based image, then consider using CorelDRAW. Other applications that can open BMP files include Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, Apple Photos, and ColorStrokes.

Developed by: Microsoft Corporation

Initial Release: 20 November 1985

Useful links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMP_file_format

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/gdi/bitmaps