IMAGING GLOSSARY
Bitmap (imaging)An image is a bitmap if it contains a value for each of
its pixels.
A bitmap is a representation or map, consisting of rows and columns of
dots, of an image in computer memory.
The value of each dot (whether it is filled in or not) is stored in one
or more bits of data. For black and white images, one bit is sufficient to
represent each dot (a one for a dot, a zero for no dot), but for colors and
shades of gray, each dot requires more than one bit of data. The more bits
used to represent a dot, the more colors and shades of gray that can be
represented.
The sharpness of the image is determined by the density of the dots,
known as the resolution, and this
is often expressed in dots per inch (dpi
) or simply by the number of rows and columns, such as 1024 x 768.
Bit-mapped images are often referred to as raster images, and are the
opposite of vector images where a small set of values generate an object.
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