BGRA

BGRA is a color pixel format in which each pixel is represented by four 8-bit channels arranged in the order blue, green, red, alpha. This differs from the more common RGBA ordering, which places red first in memory.

The layout means that when a pixel is stored in memory as a 32-bit value, the first byte is blue, followed by green, red, and finally alpha. This order is used in several graphics APIs and image containers, particularly on Windows and in DirectX pipelines, where the 32-bit B8G8R8A8 format is common. In practice, BGRA data may be consumed directly by compatible hardware or software without channel swapping.

Common uses include textures in Direct3D, certain OpenGL and Vulkan pipelines that accept BGRA data, and image buffers or UI elements where transparency is needed. BGRA is often favored when interfacing with Windows bitmap formats and some video or image processing workflows that provide or require an alpha channel.

Variants exist for different bit depths and packing schemes, such as BGRA8 (8 bits per channel), BGRA16, and packed forms like BGRA4444 or BGRA5551. These can be used with either straight (unpremultiplied) alpha or premultiplied alpha, depending on the API or pipeline requirements.

Interoperability and conversions are common, since many APIs and image formats prefer RGBA or different channel orders. When working with BGRA data, conversion to or from other formats (RGBA, ARGB, or BGR variants) may be necessary for rendering, compositing, or file I/O.