BMP vs SGI
A detailed comparison of BMP Image and SGI Image — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.
BMP Image
Raster & Vector ImagesBMP 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 filesSGI Image
Raster & Vector ImagesSGI (Silicon Graphics Image) is a raster image format developed by Silicon Graphics for use on their IRIX workstations. It supports both uncompressed and RLE-compressed storage with up to 4 channels including alpha.
About SGI filesStrengths 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.
SGI Strengths
- Historic VFX pipeline format.
- 16-bit channel support.
- RLE compression.
- ImageMagick compatibility.
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.
SGI Limitations
- Legacy — SGI Inc. is gone.
- Superseded by OpenEXR/DPX in film.
- Niche tooling.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | BMP | SGI |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | image/bmp | image/x-sgi |
| Extensions | .bmp, .dib | .sgi, .rgb, .rgba |
| Compression | None (typical); RLE 4/8 bit (rare) | None or RLE |
| Color depths | 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 bits per pixel | — |
| Byte order | Little-endian | — |
| Bit depth | — | 8 or 16 bits per channel |
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
SGI
- 1080p 8-bit SGI frame 4-8 MB
- 4K 16-bit SGI 50-100 MB
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Convert between BMP and SGI online, free, and without installing anything. Encrypted upload, automatic deletion after 2 hours.
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.
SGI (SGI Image) is an image format used to store raster graphics — a two-dimensional grid of pixels describing a picture. It is part of the raster & vector images family and designed around a specific trade-off between file size, visual fidelity, and feature support (transparency, colour depth, compression type). Photographers, web designers, and content creators choose SGI when its particular strengths match the publishing target.
BMP files open in Windows Paint, Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, and virtually any image viewer. All Windows applications support BMP natively.
Most desktop photo viewers (Windows Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, Affinity Photo) open SGI natively. On mobile, iOS Photos and Google Photos display SGI in the gallery when supported by the OS. If the format is rare or new, convert to JPG or PNG first — both are universally readable — using our SGI to JPG or SGI to PNG converter.
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.
Upload the SGI to KaijuConverter and pick a target format (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, BMP, SVG, PDF). The conversion runs in the browser via ImageMagick and returns a download in seconds. No account or installation required; both input and output delete automatically within two hours.