bittikartan

Bittikartan is the Finnish term commonly used to refer to a bitmap, a raster image represented as a grid of pixels. In digital imaging, a bitmap stores image data by mapping each pixel to a value that encodes color or intensity. Bitmaps are inherently resolution-dependent; enlarging a bitmap typically reveals pixel-level detail and can cause blurring or blockiness. The concept originates from the English term “bitmap,” with “bittikartta” being the standard Finnish word and “bittikartan” the genitive form used in phrases such as “bittikartan koko” (the size of the bitmap).

Bitmaps can use different bit depths: 1-bit monochrome, 8-bit grayscale (256 levels), 24-bit true color (8 bits per RGB channel), and 32-bit true color with alpha transparency. The data are typically stored in row-major order, sometimes with padding to align scanlines to a fixed byte boundary. Formats that store bitmap data include BMP, a native Windows bitmap format, and container formats such as PNG, GIF, and TIFF that encode raster data as bitmaps but may employ compression.

Uses include digital photography, icons and user interface elements, and bitmap fonts, where characters are rendered as pixel patterns. Advantages of bitmaps include straightforward rendering and precise control at the pixel level; disadvantages include large file sizes for high-resolution images and a lack of scalability compared with vector graphics.

See also: Bitmap (graphics), Raster graphics, Bitmap font, BMP file format.