A way of displaying images on a computer screen in which each picture is represented as an array of little squares called pixels. Each pixel is stored in a specific location in memory, and corresponds to one or more bits. The number of bits per pixel determines the number of colours or shades of grey that can be displayed. Bitmap graphics can be created and edited in paint programmes or photo editing programs, and can be stored in a number of file formats. Depending on file format, bitmap graphics can sometimes be imported into word processing, page layout, or spreadsheet programs, or incorporated in World Wide Web pages. Bitmapped graphics are not compressed for storage, and are the same as raster format. The bitmap graphics format was developed by Microsoft. See vector graphics, graphics, illustration.