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The DIB (Device Independent Bitmap) is a raster image format that was introduced by Microsoft on the Windows 2.0 platform. The bitmap created for Windows 1.0 was very simple. It had a fixed color palette. This format was a Device Dependent Bitmap (DDB) and in contrast with DIB. So, as Windows 2.0 was being developed, support for a programmable color palette was added to Windows, and BMP, formed the DIB format.
A DIB file with its simplest and the most widely used structure holds 3 bytes of data; 8 bits for each red, green and blue channels. Other data representations like alpha channel and indexed color are also supported, but not commonly used and implemented. Although there are several compression methods and algorithms available, the most common form of DIB format is uncompressed, resulting in large file sizes. This makes DIB image a bad choice for web photographs. It's a good idea to choose WebP for its compression with a fallback to JPEG for its better compatibility. The DIB format is very similar to the BMP format; the former has different and extra header information.
| Name | Device Independent Bitmap | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File Extension(s) | .dib | ||||||||||||||||||
| Category | Raster Images | ||||||||||||||||||
| Use For | Windows computers and general software graphic platforms, 2D applications. However, it is not widely used and recommended nowadays, because of better alternatives. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Developer | Microsoft Corporation | ||||||||||||||||||
| MIME Type(s) | image/dib | ||||||||||||||||||
| License | Covered by the Microsoft Open Specification Promise; while Microsoft holds patents against DIB, they have published a promise not to assert its patent rights as long as specific conditions are met. This is not the same as a license, however. DIB is included under the Windows Metafile Format (.wmf). | ||||||||||||||||||
| File Sample(s) | N/A | ||||||||||||||||||
| Compression | None, RLE (Run-Length Encoding), JPEG and PNG. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Max Dimensions | Either 32,767×32,767 or 2,147,483,647×2,147,483,647 pixels, depending on the format version | ||||||||||||||||||
| Color Modes |
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| Animation | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Transparency | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Interlacing | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Metadata | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Layers | No | ||||||||||||||||||
| Multipage | No |