Block Bit Transfer

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What Does Block Bit Transfer Mean?

A bit block transfer is a procedure to transfer blocks of memory, often in the form of visual pixels, between destinations. The term goes back to the 1970s and the use of this sort of routine for sending bitmap graphics in blocks. For example, A bit block transfer process may be used to render sprites onto a visual background.

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A bit block transfer is also known as bit blit, BLT or BITBLT.

Techopedia Explains Block Bit Transfer

A bit block transfer process may involve transforming blocks of pixels and changing the color value or shade of a block of pixels, or changing the orientation of a visual image. Some video components include bit block transfer capabilities so that they can transfer graphics faster than they otherwise would through conventional means. This may be accomplished by using a “blitter” which is a dedicated circuit intended to copy large quantities of data and send them to a certain memory storage area.

BLT has also been used to describe a bitmap terminal engineered by Rob Pike at Bell Labs, which was later to become the AT&T 5620. Here, the word “blit” is rumored to stand for “bacon, lettuce and interactive tomato.”

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.