AVIF to BMP Converter — Convert AVIF to Bitmap Online
Got an AVIF that some older program refuses to open? Drop it below and pick BMP as the output format for an uncompressed bitmap it can read. Free, private, and entirely in your browser with no upload required.
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Supports HEIC, WEBP, AVIF, BMP, TIFF, SVG, GIF, ICO, PDF, JPG, PNG
100% Private — Your files never leave your device
All conversion happens directly in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded to any server. Your images stay on your computer the entire time.
BMP File Size Warning
Read this before you convert a folder of holiday photos. BMP stores every pixel uncompressed, so its size depends on the image's dimensions and nothing else — not the subject, not the detail, not the quality the AVIF was saved at. The bitmaps this tool writes are 24-bit, which is three bytes per pixel plus a 54-byte header and a few bytes of row padding:
| Dimensions | Typical source | BMP size |
|---|---|---|
| 800 × 600 | Small web image | 1.4 MB |
| 1280 × 720 | 720p | 2.6 MB |
| 1920 × 1080 | 1080p | 5.9 MB |
| 2560 × 1440 | 1440p | 10.5 MB |
| 3840 × 2160 | 4K | 23.7 MB |
| 4032 × 3024 | 12 MP phone photo | 34.9 MB |
Those figures are the arithmetic, not an estimate — a 1080p bitmap is 5.9 MB even if the picture is a plain white rectangle. The AVIF you started with was very likely a few hundred kilobytes, because AVIF is one of the most efficient still-image codecs there is. Growing by a factor of ten or a hundred is therefore the expected outcome, and it is the entire price of an uncompressed format.
If it turns out you wanted a widely-supported format rather than specifically a bitmap, AVIF to PNG is lossless like BMP but compressed, and AVIF to JPG is smaller still. Both open in far more software than BMP does.
Why Convert AVIF to BMP?
There is only one good reason, and it is compatibility. AVIF arrived in 2019 and is built on the AV1 video codec; BMP dates to 1990 and is little more than a header followed by raw pixels. Software that predates AVIF — or was never updated for it — can still read a bitmap without a decoder, a library, or a licence. The conversion makes sense when:
- A program rejects your AVIF outright, or opens it as a blank or broken image
- The receiving software has a fixed, documented list of formats and BMP is on it
- You need raw, byte-predictable pixel data with no decompression step
- You are feeding an embedded device or microcontroller that has no room for a codec
- An old build of Microsoft Paint, or a similar Windows-era tool, is what you have to work with
If nothing on that list applies to you, BMP is probably the wrong destination. Our image format by use case guide walks through web, print, email, and archive and names a better target for each.
Best Use Cases: Legacy Windows Apps and Print Workflows
Legacy Windows applications
This is where BMP genuinely earns its place. The format is native to Windows, so decades of utilities, in-house line-of-business tools, scientific and medical instrument software, and machine vision systems accept it and only it. Anything that reads pixels through the old Win32 imaging calls, or that was compiled long before AVIF existed, will take a 24-bit BMP without complaint. Embedded systems like it for the same reason: there is nothing to decompress, so a microcontroller can stream the file straight to a display.
Print workflows
Print is a more qualified recommendation, and it is worth being precise about why. Getting off AVIF for print is unambiguously right — print drivers, RIPs, and pre-press tools broadly do not accept it. But BMP should be your second choice, not your first. A bitmap is 8-bit RGB: no CMYK, no 16-bit channels, no embedded colour profile. The files written here also record 72 DPI in their header, so a layout program or print shop will need to be told the resolution you actually want on paper.
Convert AVIF to BMP for print when a specific RIP, signage controller, or older layout program demands a bitmap and will not be argued with. Otherwise TIFF handles CMYK, 16-bit colour, and ICC profiles, which is exactly why print shops ask for it — reach it via PNG to TIFF after converting your AVIF to PNG.
Where BMP is the wrong answer
- Anything on the web. Browsers will render a BMP, but you would be shipping megabytes where kilobytes would do.
- Images with transparency. 24-bit BMP has no alpha channel; use AVIF to PNG instead.
- Email attachments. Bitmaps blow past size limits immediately.
- Long-term archives. Lossless AVIF or TIFF store the same pixels in a fraction of the space.
How to Convert AVIF to BMP
- Drag your AVIF file into the drop zone, or click to browse and select it.
- Choose BMP from the Output Format menu.
- Download the bitmap — it's saved straight to your device.
There is no quality slider for BMP, because there is no compression to tune. You can drop several AVIF files at once and take them away together as a ZIP, though bear in mind what the table above implies for a batch: ten 12-megapixel photos come to roughly 350 MB as bitmaps.
Two things to know about how this works. Your browser's own AVIF decoder reads the file, so it needs to be a browser that supports AVIF — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari 16.4 or later. And the decoded pixels land in an 8-bit sRGB buffer, so a 10-bit or HDR AVIF gives up that extra headroom on the way to a 24-bit bitmap. Neither step involves a server: nothing you drop here leaves your machine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why convert AVIF to BMP?
Because something downstream will only take a bitmap. AVIF is a 2019 format built on the AV1 video codec, and plenty of software written before then — legacy Windows utilities, industrial and scientific tools, embedded firmware, print RIPs — never learned to read it. BMP is the opposite: an uncompressed raster dump that almost anything can parse in a few lines of code. You are not converting for quality or size here, you are converting for compatibility.
Why is the BMP so much bigger than the AVIF?
Because BMP does not compress. AVIF spends a great deal of effort predicting pixels from their neighbours; BMP writes all of them out, three bytes each, and adds a 54-byte header. That makes the BMP's size a function of the image's dimensions alone — a 1920×1080 image is 5.9 MB whether it is a photograph or a solid white rectangle. A tenfold or hundredfold increase over the AVIF is normal and is not a sign that anything went wrong.
Does converting AVIF to BMP lose quality?
The conversion adds no new loss. BMP is lossless, so it stores exactly the pixels the browser decoded from your AVIF. What it cannot do is undo compression that already happened: if the AVIF was saved lossily, those artifacts are baked into the pixels and they come across into the BMP. The bitmap is a faithful, very large copy of a lossy image — bigger, not better.
What happens to transparency?
It is flattened onto a white background. The BMP written here is 24-bit, which has three channels and no alpha channel at all, so a semi-transparent pixel is composited against white and a fully transparent one becomes solid white. If your AVIF has transparency you need to keep, convert it to PNG instead — PNG is lossless too, and it carries a full alpha channel.
Is BMP the right format for print?
Only when a specific tool insists on it. BMP is 8-bit RGB with no CMYK, no 16-bit channels, and no embedded colour profile, and the files written here carry 72 DPI in their header — so a print shop's software will need to be told the real output resolution. TIFF is the professional standard for print because it handles all three of those things. Reach for BMP when an older RIP or layout program refuses TIFF, not as a first choice.
Will an animated AVIF stay animated?
No, and no bitmap format could manage it. AVIF can hold an animation, but BMP stores exactly one still image. Converting an animated AVIF gives you its first frame. That is a limitation of the target format rather than of this converter.
Do I need a browser that supports AVIF?
Yes. The decoding is done by your browser's own AVIF decoder, so the file has to be one it can open — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari 16.4 and later all qualify. On an older browser the converter will report that it could not load the image. Everything after decoding, including writing the bitmap itself, happens in JavaScript on your machine.
Can I convert AVIF to BMP for free?
Yes. This converter is completely free with no sign-up, watermarks, or file limits. Conversion runs entirely in your browser, so your images are never uploaded to a server and there are no usage caps.