Bitmap metadata

When we look at a bitmap image, we see a grid of pixels. But how does the computer know the size of the image, and what colours to display, etc?

Some of those details are stored in the metadata of the image.

Metadata is information about an image which is not part of the image data itself.

What’s stored in metadata?

• The image’s resolution
• The colour depth of the image (i.e. how many different colours it can display)
• Some image formats also store information about the image’s creator, copyright information, the image location, and more!