BMP

BMP is a device independent, two dimensional raster graphics file format introduced with OS/2 v1.0 and later incorporated into Microsoft Windows where it replaced the now forgotten DDP format. The name is simply a shortening of "Bitmap" and not an acronym.

Two specialised versions of the format exist in the form of the Pointer and ICO raster graphic array files.

OS/2 Bitmap Format

OS/2 1.x

• Windows 3.0 DIB (Device Independent Bitmap)

OS/2 2.x

• Compression
• Multiple units of length
• Half-toming
• Multiple colour code schemes
• User-defined space
• Structure
  • Bitmap Information Structure
  • Colour table (required for 24-bit)
  • Bitmap Pel Data

Links

• Description of the BMP related formats - From Presentation Manager Programming Reference, Volume III.
• BMP description on WikiPedia - Note that it focuses on the OS/2 1.x format and does not include descriptions of any of the improvements included with the OS/2 v2 version of the format.
• Info from "The Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats" - Again, OS/2 2.x variations missing.