How to create Windows bitmaps from a multi-bitmap file

1. Open a command prompt (MSDOS box) at the location in which the multibitmap is stored.

2. Invoke the Bitmap Converter on the command line, specifying the /u switch, the name of the multibitmap to be converted, and the names of the output files. The command line options are given in the syntax reference, and there is an example below.

Bitmap Converter syntax bmconv.exe

The following command line shows how Windows bitmap files can be extracted from a multi-bitmap file using the /u switch. Continuing the example begun in How to construct a multibitmap:

bmconv /u bmexmpl.mbm smiley-out.bmp hangman-out.bmp abstract-out.bmp

This results in a screen output:

BMCONV version 103.
Decompiling...
Epoc file: bmexmpl.mbm

Bitmap file 1   : smiley-out.bmp
Bitmap file 2   : hangman-out.bmp
Bitmap file 3   : abstract-out.bmp
Success.

• An output name must be defined for each bitmap in the mbm. Any name can be used, however a .bmp extension should be declared so that Windows will associate the bitmap with a viewer.

• The output file resolution is 24 bits per pixel (colour).

• The output file may not be a precise duplicate of the original bitmap, due to loss of information during bitmap resolution changes.