Difference between Bitmap and meta files

Difference between Bitmap and meta files :
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1.Bitmaps are often used for very complex images originating in the real world, such as digitized photographs or video captures.
2.Metafiles are more suitable for human-generated or machine-generated images, such as architectural drawings.

The difference between bitmaps and metafiles is the difference between raster graphics and vector graphics.

1.Raster graphics treats output devices in terms of discrete pixels; ( Bitmap)
vector graphics treats the output device as a Cartesian coordinate system upon which lines and filled objects can be drawn.( Meta

file)

Bitmaps have two major drawbacks.

1.device dependence. For Example : The most obvious device dependency is color. Displaying a color bitmap on a monochrome

device is often unsatisfactory.

2.bitmap often implies a particular resolution and aspect ratio of an image. Although bitmaps can be stretched or compressed, this

process generally involves duplicating or dropping rows or columns of pixels, and this can lead to distortion in the scaled image. A metafile can

be scaled to almost any size without distortion.

3.bitmaps require a large amount of storage space.

Example :bitmap representation of an entire 640-by-480-pixel, 16-color Video Graphics Array (VGA) screen requires more than 150 KB; a

1024-by-768 image with 24 bits per pixel requires more than 2 MB.
Metafiles usually require much less storage space than bitmaps.


One advantage of bitmaps over metafiles, however, is speed.
Copying a bitmap to a video display is usually much faster than rendering a metafile. In recent years, compression techniques have allowed the

shrinking of bitmaps to a size where they can be effectively transmitted over telephone lines and used extensively in World Wide Web pages on

the Internet.