XBM to MTV Converter

Change XBM images to MTV — no downloads, works online

Drop files here. 1 GB maximum file size or Sign Up
to
Facebook Amazon Microsoft Tesla Nestle Walmart L'Oreal

Simple Interface

Three steps to convert: upload your XBM, select MTV, and download. The clean interface makes the process intuitive even for first-time users.

Secure Processing

Uploaded XBM images are erased right after conversion, and the resulting MTV files are purged within 24 hours — your data stays private.

Lightning Fast

XBM files are small and convert to MTV in seconds. The cloud-based engine handles the transformation quickly so you can download right away.

How to convert XBM to MTV

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose mtv or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your mtv file right afterwards

About formats

XBM (X BitMap) is a monochrome (1-bit) image format defined as part of the X Window System, originating at MIT around 1987. XBM files are unique among image formats in being valid C source code: each file defines the image as a static array of unsigned char values containing the packed pixel data, preceded by #define statements specifying the image width, height, and optional hot-spot coordinates (for cursor images). The pixel data is stored in hexadecimal byte values within curly braces, with each bit representing one pixel (1 = foreground, 0 = background) and bits ordered LSB-first within each byte. This design was intentional — XBM images could be #included directly into X Window application source code and compiled into the binary, eliminating the need for external file loading and runtime format parsing. The format was used throughout the X11 ecosystem for cursor shapes, window icons, toolbar buttons, and other small UI elements. One advantage is the source-code nature of the format: XBM files can be edited with a text editor, diff'd and merged in version control, generated by shell scripts, and compiled directly into C programs without any image loading library — a level of toolchain integration that no binary image format can match. The format's role as part of the X Window standard ensures it is understood by every X11-aware toolkit and application. While limited to monochrome and no compression, XBM's simplicity makes it an excellent teaching format for understanding bitmap representations. XBM files are supported by all X11 applications, ImageMagick, GIMP, web browsers (as a legacy web format), and programming environments.
Developer: MIT X Consortium
Initial release: 1987
MTV is a simple raster image format created by Mark T. VandeWettering for the MTV Ray Tracer, a ray tracing program released in 1988 as one of the early publicly available ray tracers distributed through Usenet. The format stores 24-bit RGB images with a minimal text header followed by raw pixel data. The header consists of a single line containing the image width and height as ASCII integers, followed immediately by the pixel data where each pixel occupies three bytes (red, green, blue) arranged in row-major order from top-left to bottom-right. The MTV Ray Tracer itself was significant in the history of computer graphics — distributed freely via the comp.graphics Usenet newsgroup, it introduced many programmers and students to the principles of ray tracing: ray-object intersection, reflection, refraction, shadows, and recursive shading. The MTV format was the program's native output, and its simplicity made it easy for users to write custom viewers and converters on whatever platform they had access to — a practical necessity in the fragmented Unix workstation landscape of the late 1980s. One advantage is extreme implementation simplicity: the format can be read in a handful of lines of code in any programming language, with no libraries, no compression algorithms, and no metadata parsing required — just read two integers and then read width x height x 3 bytes of pixel data. The format's historical significance in the computer graphics community provides another dimension — MTV files from early ray tracing experiments represent primary artifacts from the era when ray tracing transitioned from academic research to accessible software. MTV files are supported by ImageMagick and various legacy graphics tools.
Initial release: 1988

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert XBM to MTV?

XBM originated in X11/Unix and has narrow compatibility today. MTV offers ray-tracing image format — a far more practical choice for sharing.

What apps support MTV?

You can view MTV with ImageMagick, specialized ray-tracing software. These tools cover all major desktop and mobile platforms.

Does this converter work on mobile devices?

It works on any device with a web browser. Whether you are on Android, iOS, Windows, or macOS — XBM to MTV conversion is fully supported.

Does converting XBM to MTV affect quality?

Quality is maintained to the extent MTV supports. Since XBM is a monochrome bitmap from the X Window System, the visual data transfers cleanly to MTV.

How long does XBM to MTV conversion take?

Usually just seconds. XBM files are typically small, so the upload, conversion, and download process finishes very quickly on Convertio.

Can I convert multiple XBM files to MTV at once?

Yes — upload several XBM files in one session and Convertio processes them all into MTV simultaneously, saving you time.