How to create a bmp file from byte[] in C#

Question

I have a byte[] array received in TCP Client.The array contains a 24-bit RGB Bitmap file.How to create that bitmap file with given Width ,Height and data?

In C++ I use this

int WriteBitmapFile(const char *filename, int width, int height, unsigned char *imageData)
{
FILE             *filePtr;        // file pointer
BITMAPFILEHEADER bitmapFileHeader;    // bitmap file header
BITMAPINFOHEADER bitmapInfoHeader;    // bitmap info header
DWORD                 imageIdx;    // used for swapping RGB->BGR
unsigned char     tempRGB;            // used for swapping

// open file for writing binary mode
filePtr = fopen(filename, "wb");
if (!filePtr)
    return 0;

// define the bitmap file header
bitmapFileHeader.bfSize = sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER);
bitmapFileHeader.bfType = 0x4D42;
bitmapFileHeader.bfReserved1 = 0;
bitmapFileHeader.bfReserved2 = 0;
bitmapFileHeader.bfOffBits = sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER) + sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);

// define the bitmap information header
bitmapInfoHeader.biSize = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);
bitmapInfoHeader.biPlanes = 1;
bitmapInfoHeader.biBitCount = 32;                        // 24-bit
bitmapInfoHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB;                // no compression
bitmapInfoHeader.biSizeImage = width * abs(height) * 4;    // width * height * (RGB bytes)
bitmapInfoHeader.biXPelsPerMeter = 0;
bitmapInfoHeader.biYPelsPerMeter = 0;
bitmapInfoHeader.biClrUsed = 0;
bitmapInfoHeader.biClrImportant = 0;
bitmapInfoHeader.biWidth = width;                        // bitmap width
bitmapInfoHeader.biHeight = height;                    // bitmap height

// switch the image data from RGB to BGR
for(imageIdx = 0; imageIdx < bitmapInfoHeader.biSizeImage; imageIdx+=4)
{
    tempRGB = imageData[imageIdx];
    imageData[imageIdx] = imageData[imageIdx + 2];
    imageData[imageIdx + 2] = tempRGB;
}

// write the bitmap file header
fwrite(&bitmapFileHeader, 1, sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER), filePtr);

// write the bitmap info header
fwrite(&bitmapInfoHeader, 1, sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER), filePtr);

// write the image data
fwrite(imageData, 1, bitmapInfoHeader.biSizeImage, filePtr);

// close our file
fclose(filePtr);

// Success
return 1;
}

How could I do that in C#?

Answer 1

If the array actually contains a bitmap file, then you can just save the bytes as a file:

File.WriteAllBytes(fileName, imageData);

If the array contains only raw pixel data, you can create a Bitmap object using the data:

unsafe {
   fixed (byte* ptr = imageData) {
      using (Bitmap image = new Bitmap(width, height, stride, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb, new IntPtr(ptr))) {
         image.Save(fileName);
      }
   }
}

The stride value is the number of bytes between the scan lines. If there is no padding between the scan lines, it's width * 3 for a 24bpp format.

This method uses the data in the array without creating another copy of the entire image in memory (which is why it needs the stride value).

If the bitmap data is stored upside down in the array, the stride value should be negative, and the pointer should be the start of the last scan line in memory (ptr + stride * (height - 1)).