DIB to GIF Converter

What is a DIB (Device-Independent Bitmap) file?

Device-Independent Bitmap (DIB) is a type of bitmap (BMP) that displays properly on any device. DIB accomplishes this through the use of a color table that translates pixels to RGB colors. There are two types of DIB, bottom-up and top-down. The main difference between the two is that bottom-up DIB cannot be compressed, while top-down can. For additional information, Microsoft published an excellent article that describes the more technical aspects of DIB.

How to open a DIB file?

As a device-independent file type, DIB opens in most image viewers across platforms. For example, on Microsoft Windows, it opens in Paint. On macOS, it opens in Apple Preview, Apple Photos, and ColorStrokes. DIB opens readily in all Adobe image-viewing and editing applications. Furthermore, on Linux/Unix, as well as all platforms, you can use XnView MP and the free program GIMP to open DIB files.

DIB files convert easily to many other common file formats, such as PNG, PDF, JPG, and TIF. To accomplish this, there are lots of free image converter programs to choose from, such as XNConvert. FreeConvert's free tool can also be used to convert DIB files: DIB to JPG, DIB to PNG, DIB to TIF. One cool fact about DIB is that you can open it with a free text editor, which might reveal text that offers useful information about the image. 

Developed by: Microsoft Corporation

Initial Release: 20 November 1985