Convert BMP to JPG
Turn bulky bitmap files into photos you can actually send.
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How it works
Add your images
Drag and drop, paste, or pick files. They upload over an encrypted connection.
Pick a quality or a target size
Use the quality slider, or tell it exactly how many KB or MB you need.
Download
Save each file, or grab them all at once as a ZIP.
BMP is one of the oldest image formats still in circulation. It usually stores pixels with no compression at all, so even a modest picture runs to several megabytes. Scanners, older Windows programs and some industrial or medical equipment still produce it, and the files are awkward to email or upload.
Converting to JPEG typically reduces a BMP photo or scan to a small fraction of its size with no difference you would notice at normal viewing. The page starts at a high quality setting that suits scans of documents as well as photographs; lower it in the editor if the smallest possible file matters more.
Uncompressed bitmaps with 1, 4, 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits per pixel are supported, which covers nearly every BMP in everyday use; the rare run-length-compressed variants are rejected with a message rather than converted wrongly. For line drawings, text and screenshots, PNG keeps edges crisper than JPEG, and you can switch the output format in the editor. Bitmaps are sent over an encrypted connection, converted on our own servers in the EU and removed within the hour.
The arithmetic of an uncompressed bitmap
A standard BMP spends three bytes on every pixel and compresses nothing, so you can work out its size on the back of an envelope: width times height times three. A Full HD screenshot, 1920 by 1080, comes to 6.2 MB. A twelve-megapixel photo comes to 36 MB. The content makes no difference; a blank white page costs as much as a crowded street.
As a JPEG at this page's starting quality of 90, that same photo is around 3 to 4 MB, and at 75 it is nearer 1.5 MB. Savings of ninety percent and more are normal for this conversion.
Where BMP files still turn up
Hardly anyone picks BMP on purpose now, but plenty of equipment still writes it. Flatbed scanners offer it as the bitmap option. Laboratory instruments, microscopes, industrial cameras and older medical devices export it because the format is trivial to produce and never changes. Legacy Windows software, from accounting packages to machine controllers, saves reports and screenshots in it. If a colleague sends a 40 MB attachment that turns out to be one photograph, this is usually the story behind it.
JPG for photos, PNG for everything else
JPEG is the right target when the bitmap is a photograph or a colour scan of one. When it is a line drawing, a chart from an instrument, a screenshot or a page of text, choose PNG in the Format menu instead. PNG is lossless, so every pixel of the BMP is kept, and flat areas pack so well that the file is often smaller than a JPEG would be, with none of the smudging around letters.
Two limits apply to BMP uploads. Because a bitmap has to be read into memory whole, the largest one accepted is 16 megapixels. And since the files are so heavy, a big one may exceed the 20 MB allowed without an account; Pro accepts files up to 200 MB.
Frequently asked questions
Why are BMP files so large?
Most BMP files store every pixel uncompressed, so the size grows directly with the pixel count.
Will I see a quality difference?
At the default high quality, not at normal viewing sizes. JPEG is lossy, so extreme zoom can reveal small differences.
Which BMP files are supported?
Uncompressed bitmaps from 1 to 32 bits per pixel. Run-length-compressed BMP files are not supported.
Can I convert BMP to PNG instead?
Yes. Switch the output format to PNG in the editor, which suits screenshots, text and drawings.
My BMP has a transparent background. What happens to it?
Some 32-bit bitmaps carry transparency. JPEG cannot, so those areas are filled with white or with the colour you choose in the editor. Pick PNG as the output to keep them transparent.
Can I convert a JPG back to BMP if a program needs it?
Yes. BMP is in the Format menu as an output, written as a standard uncompressed 24-bit bitmap that old software reads without trouble.