Are .bmp files really that bad?

[Dick Margulis]

Combs, Richard wrote:
> Dick Margulis wrote: 
>  
>> However, .bmp is limited to a 16-color palette. This may or 
>> may not be problematic, depending on whether color is 
>> involved in the first place and depending on what colors are 
>> used in the interface.
> 
> Dick is usually such a reliable source of information, I'll write that
> one off to not enough coffee. :-) 
> 
> A 16-color palette is 4-bit color depth. The term "palette" is
> appropriate only for 4- or 8-bit (AKA indexed color) images, which use a
> table, or palette, to define the 16 or 256 colors (24-bit colors) that
> they contain, and pointers to the table entries to specify the pixel
> colors. 
> 
> I have lots of 24-bit BMPs (16 *million* colors). I don't know if the
> BMP format supports 30-bit or 36-bit color -- probably not, but who
> cares? ;-) 
> 

I sit corrected. It has been a long time since I've used BMPs, and that 
was only through the MS Paint application, which supported only 16 
colors at one time (maybe Windows 3.1? As I said, it has been a long time).