Extract text from Compressed bitmap images (BM_)
To convert BM_ Bitmaps to another format, you need Microsoft Windows or other Compressed software.
To convert other file formats to the "Compressed Microsoft File" file type, you need software like Microsoft Windows or a similar tool.
A .bm_ file is most commonly a compressed BMP (Bitmap) image file used by legacy Microsoft Windows operating systems. Software installers and system administrators generated these files using Microsoft compression utilities (such as compress.exe or makecab.exe) to save disk space on floppy disks and CD-ROMs. In rarer contexts, .bm_ files function as legacy Atari ST bitmap images or as proprietary data archives for the video game Catherine developed by Atlus.
The primary disadvantage of the .bm_ format is that it is obsolete and cannot be directly viewed by modern web browsers, mobile devices, or basic image viewers. Because it is essentially a compressed cabinet file or raw game data package, you must decompress or extract it before use. Users routinely encounter corruption errors when trying to open these files directly in tools like Microsoft Paint because the raw pixel data is obfuscated by outdated MS-DOS era compression algorithms.
To make the image usable, you must extract or convert the .bm_ file back to a standard uncompressed BMP file. From there, converting to modern web-safe formats like PNG or JPG is highly recommended. Converting to PNG provides lossless compression and wide compatibility, whereas JPG is ideal for reducing the file size of photographic images.
Standard online image converters frequently fail with .bm_ files because they do not recognize the underscore extension convention or lack the specific decompression libraries to handle older Microsoft CAB algorithms. Furthermore, closed proprietary formats like Atlus game archives cannot be parsed by generic tools. Just drag and drop your file onto convert.guru to identify the format, view its underlying structure, and convert it if supported. Even if the file is a proprietary game archive, our analysis tools can often inspect the internal hex data to see what it is and convert it if supported.
Convert.Guru analyzes your BM_ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted LBM, BM and BBM files.
If you want to convert BM_ file to , you can use Microsoft Windows or similar software from the "Compressed Image Archive" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to BM_, try Microsoft Windows or another comparable tool in the "Compressed Image Archive" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our BM_ converter.