Raster Image Processor

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What Does Raster Image Processor Mean?

A raster image processor is a processing tool or resource for raster or bitmap graphics. In handling raster images, a raster image processor works with sets of pixels or bits that are programmed for monochrome or color display. This type of tool often sends the processed image to a printer or handles the transfer between various types of hardware.

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Techopedia Explains Raster Image Processor

A raster image processor may turn a vector image into a raster image, migrate a raster image of different resolutions or use various kinds of filters to manipulate an image.

The idea behind a raster file is that each small bit of the display is coordinated by carefully programmed color information. Formats like BMP and JPEG illustrate the raster image technique. Raster images can be difficult to alter and save, and, typically, the raster image processor has to provide comprehensive techniques for dealing with these relatively inflexible types of files. However, the idea of a raster image has been an underlying part of graphics evolution during the last 30 years of programming and was evident in 1980s-era visual display programs, where users became familiar with graphics handling through software like MacPaint and MS Paint.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects 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 by 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 helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.