Full Name	MSP (MS Paint)
Format ID	ImGearFormats.MSP
File Extension(s)	*.msp
Data Type	Raster Image
Data Encoding	Binary
Multi-Page Support	No
Alpha Channel Support	No
Metadata Update Support	No
ImageGear Platforms Support	WIN32, WIN64, Unix, Unix64, .NET, .NET64, MAC

ImageGear Supported Versions

• Version 2.0
• Version 1.0

ImageGear Supported Features

• IGFilterFormatFlags.DETECTSUPPORT - autodetection
• IGFilterFormatFlags.PAGEREADSUPPORT - single page file reading

ImageGear Read Support

• ImGearCompressions.NONE: Indexed RGB: 1 bpp
• ImGearCompressions.RLE: Indexed RGB: 1 bpp

ImageGear Write Support

No

ImageGear Filter Control Parameters

None

Comments

This was a popular format for storing line drawing and clip art images created with Windows applications, but has recently begun to be replaced by the Windows bitmap format (also supported by ImageGear BMP).

For versions earlier than 2.0, the format begins with a 32-byte header and immediately proceeds with the bitmap data. The header information includes: the version of the file, the size and aspect ratio of the bitmap, and the width and height and aspect ratio (in pixels) of the output device used to render the bitmapped image. The bitmap data is uncompressed.

Files made with Version 2.0 and later always use RLE compression. In these files a "scan-line map" follows the header and precedes the data. It gives offsets to each scan line for instances when a particular scan line needs to be examined. All previous lines can remain compressed, while the needed line is located.

See RLE Compression for more information.

References Used

Murray, James D. and William vanRyper. Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1994.