BMP vs H265 — Differences, File Size & When to Use Each

BMP vs H265

A detailed comparison of BMP Image and H.265/HEVC Raw Stream — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.

Convert H265 → BMP

BMP

BMP Image

Raster & Vector Images

BMP is an uncompressed raster image format native to Windows. Files are large but preserve exact pixel data with no compression artifacts. Rarely used on the web due to file size.

About BMP files

H265

H.265/HEVC Raw Stream

Video Files

H.265 (HEVC) raw stream contains video data encoded with the High Efficiency Video Coding standard without a container. HEVC achieves roughly double the compression efficiency of H.264, enabling 4K and 8K video at practical bitrates.

About H265 files

Strengths Comparison

BMP Strengths

Dead-simple format — trivially easy to read and write.
Lossless and uncompressed — perfect bit-exact pixel storage.
Universally supported in Windows applications since 1985.
Supports 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32-bit color depths.

H265 Strengths

~50% smaller files than H.264 at equivalent quality.
HDR (HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision) first-class support.
Up to 8K resolution and beyond in the spec.
Hardware decode on every iPhone, most smart TVs, and most 2018+ GPUs.
Main 10 profile (10-bit) standard for streaming 4K HDR.

Limitations

BMP Limitations

Enormous file sizes — no meaningful compression in typical use.
Not a web format — browsers support it but nobody serves BMPs over HTTP.
No metadata support (no EXIF, no ICC profile in practice).
Multiple header versions mean "a BMP" is ambiguous — parsers must handle several variants.

H265 Limitations

Patent licensing is a fragmented mess — three pools with incompatible terms.
Encoding is 5-10× slower than H.264.
Apple-ecosystem heavy — web browsers outside Safari have been reluctant.
AV1 is gradually replacing HEVC for royalty-free streaming.

Technical Specifications

Specification	BMP	H265
MIME type	image/bmp	video/hevc
Extensions	.bmp, .dib	.h265, .265, .hevc (raw bytestream)
Compression	None (typical); RLE 4/8 bit (rare)	—
Color depths	1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 bits per pixel	—
Byte order	Little-endian	—
Standard	—	ITU-T Rec. H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2 (HEVC)
Typical containers	—	MP4, MKV, MOV, TS, HEIF (still images)
Profiles	—	Main, Main 10, Main 4:2:2, Main 4:4:4, Monochrome, High Throughput

Typical File Sizes

BMP

Small icon (32×32) 4 KB
Screenshot (1920×1080) ~6 MB
4K image (3840×2160) ~25 MB
Scanned A4 at 300 dpi ~25 MB

H265

1080p @ 3 Mbps (1 min) ~22 MB
4K HDR @ 15 Mbps (1 min) ~112 MB
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (2 hours) 50-100 GB

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Frequently Asked Questions

BMP (Bitmap) is a raster image format developed by Microsoft for Windows. It stores images with no compression by default, resulting in large file sizes but pixel-perfect quality. It has been part of Windows since version 1.0.

BMP (Bitmap) is a raster image formato developed by Microsoft para Windows. It stores images com no compressão by default, resulting in large tamanho do arquivos mas pixel-perfect quality. It has been part of Windows since version 1.0.

BMP files open in Windows Paint, Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, and virtually any image viewer. All Windows applications support BMP natively.

BMP arquivos abrir in Windows Paint, Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, e virtually any image viewer. All Windows aplicativos support BMP natively.

PNG is better than BMP in almost every scenario since it provides lossless compression (smaller files), transparency support, and wider cross-platform use. BMP is mainly relevant for legacy Windows applications.

PNG is melhor que BMP in almost every scenario since it fornece sem perdas compressão (smaller files), transparência support, e wider cross-platform use. BMP is mainly relevant para legacy Windows aplicativos.