GIF to BMP Converter
A program or device only reads bitmap files and your picture is a GIF. This converter takes the first frame of the GIF and writes a plain, uncompressed 24-bit BMP on your own device. Transparent areas become a background colour you choose, and the animation is not carried over.
How to convert GIF to BMP
- Add your GIF files by dropping them, clicking the drop zone or pasting.
- The output format is already set to BMP. Adjust quality or size if you need to.
- Press Convert and compare the original and new size for each file.
- Download each file or all of them as a ZIP.
When to convert, and when not to
- Old software, a device or a coursework tool insists on BMP input.
- You need raw, uncompressed pixels for your own processing.
- You want a still image from a GIF without any compression step.
- Do not use BMP for sharing online. The files are large, and PNG or JPG are much more practical.
What changes
- Only the first frame is converted.
- The BMP is 24-bit and uncompressed, so its size depends on the pixel dimensions.
- Transparent pixels are filled with the chosen background colour, because the BMP has no transparency.
- The result is usually much larger than the GIF.
- No metadata is copied.
GIF and BMP: two very old formats
Both formats date back to the early days of computer graphics, but they work in opposite ways. A GIF squeezes a small palette of colours into a compact file, while a BMP simply lists every pixel. Converting between them trades compactness for simplicity.
That simplicity is the reason BMP is still requested. A program can read the file without a decoder, which suits embedded devices and teaching examples.
Typical users of this page are students, hobbyists and people working with older hardware, such as a display controller or a scanner utility. They need a straightforward bitmap and have no use for modern compression. If that describes your case, you can ignore the format-comparison advice found elsewhere on this site and simply convert.
Expect a much bigger file
A GIF stores its picture in compressed form, and many GIFs are small. A BMP stores every pixel as three bytes with no compression, so the same picture can take far more space. The size is set by the width and height, not by the content.
If the BMP is too large for your purpose, lower the pixel dimensions with the Resize option. There is no quality slider for BMP because there is nothing to compress.
Before converting a large GIF, decide on the final dimensions. Setting a percentage or a maximum size in Resize is easier than shrinking a huge bitmap afterwards in another program. It also avoids producing an enormous file that your target device might be unable to load because of memory limits.
Choosing a background for transparent GIFs
Because this BMP has no transparency, any see-through pixels in the GIF are painted with a colour first. White is the default. Choose another colour if the picture will sit on a dark page or if the receiving program expects a specific key colour.
Change the colour before you press Convert. Files that are already converted are marked as out of date when you change options, so you can run them again with the new setting.
After converting, open the BMP in any basic image viewer to confirm it looks right, especially along the edges where transparency used to be. If a visible outline of the old background colour remains, run the conversion again with a colour closer to the surface the bitmap will appear on.
Privacy: your files stay on your device
- The tool decodes, resizes and encodes your pictures with your browser. The files are never sent to a server.
- To check it yourself: open the browser developer tools (F12), open the Network tab, convert a file, and look for any request that carries your image. You will see none.
Frequently asked questions
Which frame becomes the BMP?
The first frame of the GIF. Animation is not preserved.
Is the BMP compressed?
No. It is an uncompressed 24-bit bitmap.
Why is the BMP so large?
Every pixel is stored in full. Use Resize to reduce its dimensions.
What replaces transparent areas?
The background colour you pick before converting.
Does the converter upload my GIF?
No. It runs entirely in your browser.
Can I pick which frame of my GIF becomes the bitmap?
No. The converter always uses the first frame. If you need a different moment, save that frame as a still image with a screenshot or frame-grab tool, then convert the still here to get a bitmap of exactly the picture you want.