Open CDR File

Differences between CDR and bitmap formats

Bitmap images

In this article we will review the difference between bitmap image BMP format and vector image CDR.

Bitmaps are images that you are very familiar with and use day to day (photos, drawings, etc.) and are mainly composed of pixels, the pixel being the smallest homogeneous unit of color that is part of a digital image.

Each pixel in the image has a value (color) which is stored in the file. Therefore, the larger the image, the more pixels it will have and therefore the more space it will occupy.

When saving an image, the type of bitmap file used is very important, since the size of the file and its quality will depend on the file storage format.

The main and most used file formats are: JPEG (with compression, selective compression, good quality/size ratio), PNG (supports 8, 24, and 32-bit color quality, without compression, very good image quality) and BMP (supports lossless compression).

Programs for Bitmaps: Adobe Photoshop, Corel PhotoPaint, Adobe (Macromedia) Fireworks and PaintShop Pro.

CDR images

On the other hand, vector images, such as CDRs, correspond to a mathematical model or equation generated by coordinates and other properties (line thickness, color, etc.) to create a drawing. When scaling the drawing, the equations modify their parameters and coefficients to show the figure in larger or smaller size. Transformations other than scaling could be easily applied.

The main advantage of CDR images is their ability to maintain the sharpness and definition of the edges no matter how much they are enlarged, unlike bitmap images, which are pixelated as their original size increases.

CDR images are used in graphic design primarily for logos, posters, corporate images etc.

The main program to work with CDR vector images is Corel Draw, which you can download as a free functional version for 15 days from the following link: https://www.coreldraw.com/la/pages/free-download/ Below is a summary of differences between vector and bitmap files.

Bitmaps (BMP)

• It's an pixelated image.
• It is not scalable, loss of quality.
• The file size does not matter compared to the image quality.

Vector (CDR)

• It is an object or drawing.
• Possibility of scaling without loss of quality.
• The less you occupy, the better.