How to read BMP images in Java

In this article I will show you how to read BMP images in Java. We also have a related article covering how to write BMP files in Java.

BMP files are supported by both ImageIO and Apache Commons Imaging. We felt there was room for better support on the Java platform (especially in performance and support for the format. So we added BMP support to JDeli.

How to read a BMP image in Java with ImageIO

1. Create a File handle, InputStream or URL pointing to the raw BMP image.
2. ImageIO will now be able to read a BMP file into a BufferedImage. This syntax is like so:

   BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(bmpFileOrInputStreamOrURL)

How to read a BMP image in Java with JDeli

1. Add JDeli to your class or module path. (download the trial jar).
2. Create a File, InputStream pointing to the raw BMP image. You can also use a byte[] containing the image data.
3. Read the BMP image into a BufferedImage

   BufferedImage image = JDeli.read(bmpFile);

Why do developers choose JDeli over free alternatives?

1. Works with newer image formats such as AVIF, HEIC, JPEG XL, WEBP (AVIF next release) that are not supported in Java.
2. Better support than alternatives for JPEG, PNG, TIFF.
3. Process images up to 3x faster than ImageIO and other Java image libraries.
4. Prevent JVM crashes caused by native code in other image libraries such as ImageIO.
5. Image security as JDeli processes images on your servers with no calls to any external system or third party library.

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(dicomImageFile);

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(heicImageFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "heic", outputStreamOrFile);

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(jpegImageFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "jpeg", outputStreamOrFile);

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(jpeg2000ImageFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "jpx", outputStreamOrFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "pdf", outputStreamOrFile);

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(pngImageFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "png", outputStreamOrFile);

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(tiffImageFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "tiff", outputStreamOrFile);

// Read an image
BufferedImage bufferedImage = JDeli.read(webpImageFile);

// Write an image
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "webp", outputStreamOrFile);