Difference between bitmap image and vector graphic

To form an image bitmap uses rows of different colored pixels, basically bitmap uses only two colours with each pixel which is either black or white they are created by paint programs like Adobe photoshop. On the other hand vector graphics are images formed using points and curves constructed using mathematical formulas of colours, shapes, lines, curves which together create a picture.

Bitmap carries information regarding the colour of the pixel but vector graphics contain information regarding where to place each of the components. Some of the bitmap types are png, tiff, psd, gif. vector graphics include eps, svf, ps svg etc.

Bitmap reduces the picture quality while changing the size as it is dependent upon resolution on the other hand vector graphics have no effect on resolution so it doesn’t affect the picture quality on being resized, also the file size of bitmap is more than vector.

Bitmap is more effective if you are using it for photographs because it uses a wide range of colours and vectors for logos, abstract images, icons designing, so that it contains few colours. Actually, the working of the bitmap is based on the principal of pixels which stores images in the form of series of tiny dots having different colours, which forms a pattern to form the image, if you zoom on a image and you see separate pixels then it’s a bitmap image. You can also edit your bitmap image by changing the colour of the pixels separately.

Vector graphics are based on pixel patterns to draw lines and curves that combine to form image using geometrical objects, you can edit the image by changing the lines & curves in adobe Illustrator

As a bitmap image has to store information of each individual pixel, its size is bigger than a vector which just needs to store the formulas which are required to make the image. The scalability of a vector graphic is more than a bitmap image which you can observe by stretching a bitmap image you will see separate pixels while scaling it which is more prominent at the edge of the image you can make it less noticeable but it will affect the image quality making it blurry. On the other hand if you scale a vector, it will not lose any image quality because every time you stretch it changes its size using the mathematical formula and looks like the original image without affecting the resolution.

When you create a bitmap image it looks like a painting image by dipping brush whereas vector graphic only paints the outline shapes of the image that’s why it get difficult to print images of bitmap using limited colours and vector gives the same image even after using limited colours

If you want to convert a bitmap image to a vector it is a time taking process based on the complexity of the picture but you can easily convert a vector image to a bitmap image.

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