ppmtobmp

Convert a PPM image to a BMP file

$ ppmtobmp [path/to/file.ppm] > [path/to/file.bmp]

$ ppmtobmp -[windows|os2] [path/to/file.ppm] > [path/to/file.bmp]

$ ppmtobmp [[-b|-bbp]] [1|4|8|24] [path/to/file.ppm] > [path/to/file.bmp]

ppmtobmp [ppmfile]

ppmfile
    The input PPM file. If not specified, input is read from standard input.

The ppmtobmp command converts a Portable Pixmap (PPM) image file into a Windows BMP (Bitmap) image file. PPM is a simple, uncompressed image format commonly used as an intermediary in image processing pipelines. BMP is a widely supported bitmap format, particularly on Windows systems. This command is useful for displaying or further processing PPM images using BMP-compatible software. The conversion process involves translating the PPM color data into the BMP color representation, handling any necessary header information, and potentially downsampling or remapping colors as required by the target BMP format.

ppmtobmp is a part of the Netpbm suite, a collection of bitmap manipulation utilities for Unix-like operating systems. It allows users to integrate image conversion seamlessly into shell scripts and other automated tasks.

The generated BMP file might not be optimally compressed and can be larger than alternative BMP encoding schemes. Color depth and palette mapping might be simplified, resulting in a loss of color fidelity in some cases.

The ppmtobmp command exits with status 0 if the conversion was successful. It exits with a non-zero status if an error occurred (e.g., invalid PPM file, insufficient memory).

The ppmtobmp command, like many Netpbm utilities, has been around for a long time, dating back to the early days of Unix and the development of portable image formats. Its original purpose was to facilitate the exchange of images between different platforms and applications. It was created as part of the Netpbm package, a collection of tools designed for converting and manipulating image files.

bmptoppm(1), ppm(5), pnm(5)